Category: News

  • In Tune With Charity

    In Tune With Charity

    Mansfield & District Male Voice Choir has two Objects as part of its Constitution:

    • The study and practice of Choral music in order to foster public knowledge and appreciation of such music by means of public performance and,
    • To advance such other charitable purposes as the Committee in its absolute discretion determine

    The Choir has, for many years now, supported and continues to support the work of charitable causes. Events Manager, Geoff Mansfield ( pictured below)  explains,

    “We, as a registered charity ourselves, plan three concerts per year for raising and donating proceeds from the concerts. We choose recipients randomly unless we are either specifically approached or decide to support a particular charity.”

    “Last year we supported The Stroke Association and this year Notts. Women’s Aid. We have helped to raise over £12,000 in the last three years from our own concerts and also our contribution to charity concerts organised by others.”

    The forthcoming at QEA on 19 May 2017 (see Events page for details) is a joint concert with our guests from Holland, Amersfoorts Mannenkoor and is a charity event in support of Notts. Women’s Aid.

    Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid are based in Worksop. It was founded in 1984 by a group of women who saw the need for a Refuge to escape domestic abuse in the area. Over time they have grown and now have 53 staff delivering services throughout the whole of North Nottinghamshire. The service is open to women, children and young people who are living with, escaping or recovering from domestic abuse and violence. They subcontract services for male survivors to its partner agency in Nottingham, Equation.

    From October 2015 to October 2016 they received 2553 referrals into its service.

    Jo Humphries is Intervention & Recovery Services Coordinator for the organisation. “We believe our service is an invaluable support to women, children and young people who experience a very serious, often invisible and hidden abuse,” said Jo.

    Jo and the team are very busy in preparation for the concert,

    “We have some nice raffle prizes including male and female gift sets, handmade cake by a professional chocolatier, theatre tickets, family swimming pass, football tickets, Willow Tree Farm pass and a private cricket lesson with a professional.”

    “We also have a number of our staff committed to baking for the tea and refreshments and are running a competition for a £25 John Lewis voucher for the worker who sells the most tickets.”

    Coming to one of our concerts is a way to appreciate some lovely choral music and also an opportunity to meet some lovely people and to support a really good cause.

    The last word goes to Geoff Mansfield, “We are obviously a men’s choir and this concert is in support of those who have suffered and been abused by their menfolk. It’s a good thing for us to do.”

    The music will be great ( as always!), the hospitality will be fantastic and the feeling from supporting such a great charity will be priceless. Hope to see you there!

     

     

  • I Love to Sing….Brian Frith

    I Love to Sing….Brian Frith

    This is the first of a series of blogs featuring individual members of our Choir under the heading “I Love to Sing”. We have a broad range of personalities in our midst, with different interests and many stories to tell. We can’t tell them all here, of course(!) but it’s worth just getting to know a little bit about some of these characters.

    Brian Frith is a bass and has been a member of the Choir for about eight years.

    I asked Brian how he got involved. “A member of the Choir, somebody I worked with at Sherwood [Colliery], Bill Robinson had passed away following a car accident and I went to his memorial service at Mansfield Baptist Church on Rosemary Street in Mansfield. I met up with a few of the other Sherwood lads at the service – Geoff Shooter, Gerald Houldsworth and Harold Rimmell- they got me involved. But I’d always sung in church since I was young”.

    Brian’s other great passion is fly fishing. Brian started in the sport back in 1974 after a particularly bad day on the River Derwent near Matlock fishing with his sons fishing for trout with ground bait. “We then saw a fish take a fly and it was fly fishing for us from that time on”.

    Brian has achieved considerable  distinction in the sport and was Captain of the England disabled fly fishing team at an international event held last year  on the Lake of Menteith, Stirling (Scotland).

    England Fly Fishing team 2016 L-R Trevor Ashby, Brian Frith, Mike Hill, Steve Cranston, Stewart Hulme, Jim Watts, Kenny Waters, Bob Cooper
    International Championship Captains outside Airth Castle. L-R Jason Williams (Wales), Rab Clements (Ireland), Brian Frith (England), George Bell (Scotland)

    Brian also wanted to share a lovely family photo of his daughter Kate and new husband Shane who held their wedding in the beautiful setting of Protarus, Cyprus in August of last year.

    I asked Brian what he thought was the most satisfying thing about being in the Choir.

    “The companionship. Being in a wheelchair I am very independent, as anyone who knows me will tell you but I will always get help if I need it. There are some lovely blokes in the bass section with lovely voices. I enjoy being a part of it.”

    I also asked him what advice he would give to someone thinking of joining the Choir. “Do it!” was the immediate response.

  • Spring Singers

    Spring Singers

    The Choir will perform at three separate events leading up to the tour of Hull and Beverley in the first weekend of June.

    Music Marquee

    Known by many local folk as “the Newark Show”, The Nottinghamshire County Show will be held, as usual, on The Showground, Lincoln Road, Winthorpe, Newark, NG24 2NY on the weekend of the 13th and 14th May 2017. The first of our series of three appearances will be on the Saturday of this event.

    Newark Show, of course, is a well-established part of the agricultural calendar of traditional county shows and offers a very enjoyable day and educational day out for the whole family.  The show is also very important for the agricultural industry itself and provides, for the general public, an insight into such a key sector of our economy and helping to remind us where our food comes from!

    Mansfield & district male voice Choir are honoured to offer our contribution to this high profile event. The “Music Marquee” on the Showground will be alive with music on both the Saturday and the Sunday of the weekend.

    Other performers on the Saturday will be: the Nottinghamshire Police Band (familiar to our audiences from their success at the Albert Hall, Nottingham last year), the Choir of the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene (Newark), Worksop College ‘Berts’ Big Band and the Hope Community Gospel Choir.

    The show itself will start at 10.00am – we have two slots 12.30-13.00 and 14.00-14.30

    We got the gig by referral from our good friends Carlton Male Voice Choir , more specifically their Chairman Rick Morrish. Gabrielle Burgin Lister, the music venue co coordinator for the Show, is an international music adjudicator. She and Meryl Chambers, our Musical Director worked together at Brunt’s School, Mansfield in the music department. Gabrielle attended the Sister Cities concert we gave last year and was delighted with our performance and felt very comfortable in having us sing at this event.

    Choir Marshall and compere for us on the day will be Paul Bennett.

    International Event

    The next event will be the Concert with Amersfoort MVC 19th May at QEA, Mansfield. This is another big event for us. Amersfoort will be embarking on a week-long visit to the UK at which they sing with us on the 19th, Carlton MVC on the 20th and St Edmundsbury MVC on the 21st May.

    Our friends from Holland will be enjoying a day out in Derbyshire on the Saturday; at Masson Mill and Chatsworth House immediately prior to singing with us. They will also be singing in front of the Council House, Old Market Square at some point and will be introduced to the Lord Mayor of Nottingham. Honoured guests indeed!

    Again the referral came from Carlton as the Dutch choir were looking for a good choir as a second concert on their tour. They are singing a themed set which is multilingual and features songs from around Europe.

    Mansfield & District MVC will be asking Amersfoort for a return visit in 2019 to help celebrate our 75th anniversary.

    Compere will be Mario Curtis and marshal Paul Bennett. This is a charity event  in support of Notts. Women’s Aid and representatives from the Charity will be providing catering along with our Supporters’ Group

    Coming Together

    The National Association of Choirs ( East Midland Regional) annual event will be hosted by Mansfield at the United Reformed Church, Sutton-in-Ashfield on Saturday 20th May. The church building at  Sutton is a unique venue with wonderful curved pews. Significant financial investment has been made recently in refurnishing the church building and has great acoustics.

    We performed at the 2015 concert hosted by Bestwood MVC and Bulwell Academy and hosted the event it  2010 at Mansfield Baptist Church on Chesterfield Road. We had a full house on that evening and are hoping for the same success this time!

    For this show there will be five choirs, each doing six songs; Pye Hill & District MVC, Sonara (Ladies choir) The GentleMen (3 songs each side of the interval), Erewash Phoenix Coir (ladies), and ourselves

    One joint piece I’m Goin’ Up a Yonder which all choirs have been rehearsing. Meryl will conduct this joint piece.

    Support is appreciated from Sutton Community Academy for catering and changing room space. Compere Mario Curtis and marshal Paul Bennett.

    This event is a fantastic opportunity for other choirs to come together, making and sharing music and reaching out to our audiences across the Region and we are hoping that many from non-participating choirs will be able to join us.