CHOIR MEMBERS SING AWAY

CMVC choir members have been assisting other choirs recently.  On September 28, five members  sang at the Fairfield Hall on the Last Night of the Croydon Proms. They joined a combined choir from the Croydon Philharmonic Choir and the East Surrey Choral Society to sing a selection of classical favourites,  ranging from Verdi's Slaves Chorus to Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

The five CMVC singers were Dick Jones, Ted Mouat and Trevor Watkins (singing tenor) and Stewart Robinson and John Dale (singing bass). The five also enjoyed the rest of the concert which included a range  of orchestral pieces, mezzo soprano Juliette Pochin and 13-year-old violin sensation Rose Staples.

Last Night of the Croydon Proms

Then, last month, CMVC bass Peter Smith sang with the London Welsh Rugby Club Choir in the Netherlands at a commemoration service for 146 Welsh servicemen of the Fifty-Third Welsh division who died there during the liberation of s-Hertogenbosch in 1944.  It was, says Peter, "an honour and a humbling experience".

The Welsh choir sang at a wreath-laying ceremony at the division's memorial monument and joined a local choir to sing at a Liberation concert. It also visited the Arnhem Oosterbeck War Cemetery, where more than 1700 British and Allied servicemen are buried, including many from Croydon.

The ceremony at s-Hertogenbosch, near Arnhem