CHOIR MEMORIES
"My fondest memory is when, as a member of the Paisley Male Voice Choir, I sang with the Choir and the Glasgow Police Choir at a concert in Glasgow in the 1950s and again when, as a 60th birthday present, I heard the Choir in Ross on Wye. Two unforgettable experiences!. I‘m 80 years of age now and my singing voice is not too good but I still sing with the Pollokshaws Methodist Church Choir in Glasgow. I have to say that my miming skills are getting really good!! Thanks for all the pleasure you have given me over the years and with every good wish for the future."
Richard Scott
Giffnock
Glasgow
"I well remember February 1969 Derek Devinett (1 st Bass) suggesting to me that I may enjoy becoming a member of the famous Treorchy Male Choir. Full of trepidation I went along one Tuesday evening and took the obligatory “voice test”. John Cynan (Conductor) and Tom Jones (Accompanist) were my adjudicators. Tom played a note on his piano and I had to try to copy it. How difficult it was when Tom started playing some “half notes” for me to follow. I couldn't read a note of music and found it very difficult to follow his lead. I thought that I had made a complete hash of it.
"To my surprise Tom kept going down and down the scale until we eventually finished. I was fully expecting to be a top tenor but by this stage thought I would be very lucky if I ever became a member as I felt that I had failed my audition completely. To my surprise John Cynan offered me a position at 2 nd Bass section B. I couldn't believe it!
"He then positioned me between Harry Price and Danny Williams, two giants of the Choir. What a privilege it was to sing with Harry in my right ear and Danny in my left! I could feel the resonance of their deep voices going through my body. You couldn't fail to learn your part with those two men standing each side of you.
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"I remember sitting on the sands at Rhossili in June 1969 we had just sang "Y Deryn Pur" as the sun was setting and I was chatting to John Cynan and he asked me how I felt now about being a bottom bass; I had been with the Choir five months by then. I told him that it was a great feeling and that I felt very comfortable in that section. He replied by telling me that during my “audition” he felt that when I was singing the lower notes he could hear the quality of my voice coming through. How glad I was that he had made that decision.
"I
went on to make great friends like Mike Peachy, John Hale, Terry Hale & Alun Davies. We were the youngsters of the Choir in those days. We were avid members of the “Rodney's Bus” which always stayed behind after a concert for the “2 nd Concert” as opposed to the “Deacon's Bus” which went home early.
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"One night on a weekend trip away from home Mike, John, Terry, Alun and I went “skinny dipping” in the sea. The water was freezing and it ended up with me dragging Mike Peachy out of the sea as he had turned blue and was in the early stages of hypothermia. I “frog marched” him up and down the beach a couple of times and managed to “thaw” him out wrapped up in several duvets and filling him with copious cups of hot sweet coffee. Thankfully Mike survived the ordeal which was good news for the choir as he was, and still is, a marvelous 2nd bass with a deep rich voice who went on to serve the Choir until 2002. |
"In January 1976 I suggested to my brother Norman that he might like to join the Choir and I can remember singing alongside Will Jones (chairman at the time) and my brother turned up for his audition. Norman was 19 years old and lead singer of a Rock Band (Zenith) in those days and had grown his hair down past his shoulders. Will uttered a cry of “Bloody Hell” when he saw Norman with his full length of hair. I turned to Will and explained that Norman was my brother and he said, “that's okay then we'll give him a chance”. I'm glad the Choir did give him a chance as he is still a member of the First Bass section to this day.
"I'm so grateful to the Choir for so many wonderful experiences and for being given the opportunity of making so many great friends. My heart fills with pride whenever I hear them singing on the radio or television and I am able to say I was a Second Bass section B “Member of the Treorchy Male Choir”.
Stephen Cox
Second Bass Section 1969-1976
"My father's family is originally from Treorchy. One of our "family legends" is after my great-grandmother's father died in a mining accident (William Jones, May 1872), she and her older sister (Margaret Jones and Hannah Jones, ages 5 and 10) used to go to the Treorchy Hotel with a little basket of oranges and a man I was told was called "Caradog" who was the manager of the hotel (and who would certainly have known of their father's death, including his leaving behind a wife and six little girls), encouraged his guests to buy a nice fresh orange every day. I never knew whether or not to believe this, but after reading about Griffith Rhys Jones on your website I'm sure it's true.
"My great-aunts were born in Treorchy; the family finally emigrated in 1895. My great-aunt Sarah Hannah (born in 1888) said Caradog would encourage the guests (call it "the friendly persuasion") at the hotel to buy Maggie's and Hannah's oranges. "These oranges are so fresh," she said he'd claim, "that even if you sailed to Spain and picked one from a tree it wouldn't be any fresher." The guests would then very kindly declare that a fresh orange was just what they wanted.
I'm sure they all knew of the girls' family circumstances and bought the oranges to help the family out (their mother made faggots and brewed beer she sold from her house, another sister worked as a seamstress, etc.). In fact, two of the daughters worked as pit girls in the mine! But they didn't consider their lives hard because the most important thing to them was staying together. They dreaded the possibility the family might be broken up. "As long as we're together, we'll be all right," their Mam told them. |
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"Just wanted to let you know that Caradog was not only a first rate conductor, but went out of his way to help a poor widow and her little girls. Even 100 years later William Jones's granddaughters were still expressing their gratitude for Caradog's help in allowing Maggie and Hannah to sell their oranges so the family could support themselves and stay together.
"Maggie's children always remembered Caradog with great fondness and were always grateful for his helping their mother after her father died. I was told Caradog was "musical" and had something to do with the Treorchy choir ... I didn't realize just how musical he was (or how famous!) until I visited your website. I always knew him as "Caradog, the man who helped Mam's family stay together." And that, in my opinion, is a lovely way to be remembered.
"I visited Treorchy in 1994 and saw the hotel (and had a few drinks at the Red Cow). Seeing everything I had been hearing about for so long was a wonderful experience. I loved Wales, especially the Rhondda Valley and Treorchy, the people were fantastic, the rough cider was first-rate (at the time it was unavailable in my part of the USA), and I hope to visit again.
Elizabeth W. Crane
Walnut Street
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania, USA
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