Braintree Male Voice Choir holding concert for 50th anniversary

Braintree Male Voice Choir is holding a celebratory concert for its 50th anniversary next month.

The choir was originally formed by staff at the then Braintree College of Further Education, under the guidance of musical director Alec Poulton and college principal Iori Williams.

8. Alec Poulton and Elisabeth Miller, the choir’s first two musical directors (Image: N/A)

The choir was later led for 25 years by Elisabeth Miller and more recently by Steve Rumsey and David Wood.

Its current musical director is Thomas Duchan, who is also the musical director of Witham Singers, Hedingham Singers and Felsted Choral Society.

The choir pictured after the Oundle music festival in 2012, where it won two sections (Image: N/A)

Over the years, the choir has travelled extensively, both in this country and abroad, with the highlights including trips to France, Austria and Hungary. 

On the latter visit the choir sang Autumn Leaves in Hungarian, gaining a round of applause from a surprised audience after singing just the first line.

The choir at the Weavers’ Guild annual dinner in 2017 (Image: N/A)

The upcoming concert will feature songs covering the whole of the choir’s history, including early material such as Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet and Men of Harlech, through Let All Men Sing and Rock-a My Soul and coming up to date with I’m Still Standing and Shut Up and Dance.

But the celebration plans have not been without a hitch.

The choir performing at Coggeshall Church in 2017 (Image: N/A)

Choir secretary Ron Fosker said: ‘We had planned to celebrate our anniversary in 2021 as the choir was formed in 1971, but sadly Covid put a stop to that. 

“We got back into action slowly last year and decided we would have the celebration this year rather than miss out altogether.”

A picture taken after a two-concert visit to Somerset in 2018 (Image: N/A)

Braintree Council chairman Andrew Hensman has also agreed to attend as well as past musical directors and two Braintree councillors who recently gave the choir a grant toward help a recruitment drive.

The concert will be at Christ Church in London Road, Braintree, at 3.30pm on Saturday, May 20.

Last year's Christmas concert (Image: N/A)

Tickets are £12.50 and are available through ticketforce.co.uk.

New members are always welcome, with no experience is necessary and there are no auditions. 

Anyone interested should contact Ron Fosker at rfosker@btinternet.com.