Choirs help fulfil gran’s dying wish

TWO male voice choirs joined together to fulfil a grandmother’s dying wish by singing Myfanwy at her funeral.

Nigel Pothecary had got in touch with us in a bid to find a choir to sing at the funeral of his mum Glenys.

And it led to members of Cwm Rhondda and Cwmbach choirs coming forward to sing at the funeral in Bath, where Mrs Pothecary had lived since moving from Cardiff.

Nigel, 57, described it as “a difficult but fabulous day”.

Speaking about the choirs, he said: “They were beautiful.”

He added: “I heard singer Gareth Toms say there were 22 or 23 singers but other people counted more.

“It was fabulous, they came back after and did what choirs do, and continued to sing at the wake. I said to my daughter and my wife this morning that it was the first celebration of life that I’ve been to. Everyone was sad but they were all very happy too and had a memorable day.”

The funeral was held at St Bartholomew’s Church, King Edward Road, Bath, on Tuesday.

Mrs Pothecary, originally from Bwlch, Powys, moved to Bath after leaving Cardiff to start a new life.

Nigel said his cousin’s husband also read a poem at the funeral which Mrs Pothecary had given to him.

He said: “Everything went as planned, they sung Myfanwy as the coffin came in. Then we all sang Abide By Me, I did the eulogy, my cousin’s husband read the poem and then we sang Love Divine.” The choir also sang Gwahoddiad. “We ended with How Great Thou Art and then we had Paul Robeson’s version of I’ll Walk Beside You,” Nigel said.

Grandmother of 10 Mrs Pothecary died aged 85 on Tuesday, August 1, at the Royal United Hospital, Bath.

She had undergone surgery for a broken hip, having already contracted pneumonia and sepsis.

“If she could have been there she would have been stuck in the corner loving every minute of it while saying ‘You shouldn’t have bothered, you shouldn’t have made all this fuss,’” Nigel said.

Mr Toms, of Cwm Rhondda male voice choir and Cwmbach choirs, said the day went “extremely well.”

“We ended up with 24 singers and the family were over the moon,” he said. “I’ve never been to a wake before where there was social singing. The boys just burst into song and the family enjoyed it.”