Biddulph Male Voice Choir raise the roof for Saint’s day!

ON Saturday, April 23, 2022, Biddulph Male Voice Choir performed a St George’s Day concert at St Andrew’s Church in The Westlands.

This concert replaced an original event at the church which should have taken place in 2020, and had to be cancelled because of the pandemic.

The choir was delighted that on this occasion it was able to go ahead and that they were able to celebrate England’s Saint’s day with the audience.

The concert was always intended to involve the audience, and started with both the choir and audience singing the National Anthem. This set the tone for the first half of the concert when the choir performed a number of rousing songs including ‘African Prayer,’ With a voice of singing’ and

‘Roman War Song’ interspersed with quieter and more subtle numbers such as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’

‘Let it be me’ ‘The Water is Wide’ (arranged by our accompanist Wendy Brown), ‘Deus Salutis’ and ‘Gwahoddiad.’ This half was brought to a close by the audience joining the choir in a rousing rendition of ‘Rule Britannia.’

After the interval the second half started with the choir and audience singing ‘Land of Hope and

Glory’ before the choir performed the male voice classic ‘Morte Criste’ to loud applause. Then

followed two numbers new to this season’s repertoire, ‘American Trilogy’ and ‘What would I do

without my music,’ before concluding with ‘Working Man’ ‘Mansions of the Lord, and ‘Comrades Song of Hope.’ The audience then joined the choir again in a rendition of ‘Jerusalem’ which closed the concert. However, after sustained applause the choir was persuaded to sing an encore, and gave a very upbeat version of ‘When the saints go marching in.’

As usual the choir was directed by their Musical Director Anthony Marks, and accompanied by their

principal accompanist Ms Wendy Brown.

The choir’s next engagement is at the re-enactment of the dedication of the Cenotaph in Biddulph at 11 am on Sunday, May 1, 2022.

It will be an auspicious day for the choir as both they and the Cenotaph will be 100 years old on the day.

■ Anyone wishing to join the choir should come along to Biddulph High School on Wednesday evening

at 7.00 pm when they will be given a warm welcome. The ability to read music is not essential, and there is no embarrassing audition.