November 2008
The end of the first year of 'on line' choir news. Before I make a web page for the 80th birthday party I thought that it would be nice to share all of the pictures from Saturday. I hope that Sharron and I managed to snap everybody. Follow this link to a picasa album and click on any small image that you want to see. The slideshow is a bit clunky (there are lot of pictures) and each picture may take a few seconds to appear. Please download any that you want.
If you can suggest polite captions for any of the picutures please send them to me at oxwelshweb@gmail.com just give the caption and picture number.
October 2008
I have just placed a sample image
from the 2008 Choir
photos on to the 'who's who' page. A better, 'named one'
will follow in due course. The photos were taken by Chris Honeywell from
Working Images.
I have just added some pictures of our concert in Long
Hanborough (18th October) as well as some pictures from the 90's
provided by choir member Phil Gibbs (Editor of 'In Tune' and bass).
The choir performed in Leiden in Holland in
1991 as part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of it's
liberation.
If you do have any pictures that you think may be of interest please send them to me oxwelshweb@gmail.com
The concert in Beckley went well and the choir were treated to a warm reception in the 'Abingdon Arms' afterwards. There will be some photos appearing very soon.
If you are interested, in the last month the choir website has been visited by people from, United Kingdom, France, Germany, United States, Australia, Canada, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Ireland and Japan. The map of Uk visitors shows may local visits. The size of the dot indicates the number of visitors.
A first concert for the choir in
Fulbrook Church and a first public airing of 'Nessun Dorma'
and the 'Jolly Roger'. It was a lovely church and appreciative
audience. If anbody wants to send me any snaps I'll happily
include them on the web site.
PS If you have any other photos
or information for the choir you can email them to me at
oxwelshweb@gmail.com or send longer articles for our free
quarterly newsletter to oxwelshintune@googlemail.com
September 2008
An excellent concert in Witney, sorry about the lack of photos. The Choir had a series of extra rehearsals to prepare for the visit of Alwyn Humphreys who will be coaching us for the Albert Hall Concert next year. Although we have worked hard, it will be reassuring to know that we singing the arrangements in the way that their arranger (Alwyn) intended. Emily must be quietly confident as she has included two of the numbers in our concert schedule.
August 2008
A busy start to the new month, with 2 choir weddings. On August 2nd we have Geoff Axe (Tenor and cartoonist - see contact details page), followed on the Sunday by Emily Stamoulis (our MD). The choir sends them and their partners our very best wishes for the future. Watch the website for some photos on Monday. Sorry I missed Geoffs Wedding, any photos to oxwelshweb@gmail.com
July 2008
Despite the poor weather we have managed to produce sunshine in our recent concerts. Do look at the Rousham and Ditchley pictures. The Ditchley concert featured a new (to us) soloist called Voirrey Carr.
The photo page has been split in two as it was begining to get rather large. The older pictures (pre 2008) now have their own page.
June 2008
A wet start to the month, an excellent concert at Leafield on the 7th, unfortunatley we forgot our cameras. If anybody has a picture please send it to oxwelshweb@gmail.com and I will include it on our 'Photos' page. It's also time for 'In Tune' please send any articles to oxwelshintune@googlemail.com if they don't make this edition, don't worry, they will probably be included in the next one!
May 2008
Sadly we didn't get throught
to the semi-finals of the choir of the year.
The good news is that thanks to Emily,
the music team and lots of hard work, we did put in a very creditable performance with a very varied programme. The marksheets from the judges confirmed that we did perform very well, giving a few helpful pointers towards any future competition performance. It was our first competition for over 20 years and it
was an experience that we will all learn from and remember.
I've added an extra script to the bottom of the home page which displays the current date in Welsh as well as English. If it works I'll put it on to the other pages. Thanks to Lyn Davies and colleagues at work for the advice.
April 2008
On the last day of April we are launching an 'InTune' archive. It contains a selection of articles from the last 4 years which can be downloaded or viewed as 'pdf' files. If you want your own copy of In Tune its tells you how to get one and also has an email address for people wishing to submit articles for the newsletter. (oxwelshintune@googlemail.com)
We have moved in to the new venue (Lord Nuffield Club) and it already feels like home.
The 'Old' website is no more. It had served us well for two years, but still contained code from the very first site which was over 6 years old. The new site is W3C compliant which means that it will be easier to maintain in future and will also be more accessible to disabled users. I hope you like the little Welsh flag 'favicon'. As its all new, there will be mistakes and suggestions. I'd appreciate being told about them, please email me at oxwelshweb@gmail.com
March 2008
Our Rehearsal venue is changing. From April it will be at the Lord Nuffield Centre in Cowley. Thursday night 7.30 to 9.30 and in the bar afterwards (optional!). Click here for more details
We enjoyed the games on Saturday (click for some pictures) and were invited back to the Cardiff Rugby Club after the match.
You missed a great St Davids Concert... click here for some pictures of the 'boys' (and Emily) in our new uniforms.
Our next event is in Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium 28th March . Our programme is rather short and you do have to sit through two Rugby Matches... Ah well, the things we suffer for our music.
February 2008
Tickets are now on sale for our St Davids Day concert
(Saturday March 1st)
at the Amey Hall, Abingdon.
Tickets (£10) from:
Wells Stores, Peachcroft Farm, 12 Acre Rd, Abingdon
Dcs Johncare, 7/8 Radley Rd Industrial Estate, Abingdon
Blackwells Music Shop, Broad St, Oxford
Ron Salter 01869 331245
John Prout 01235 521307
Once again we welcome Rhian Williams (Soprano), Sujoya Elin Paul Bullock (harpist) and our Dragon.
January 2008
The choir are performing in Cardiff for the BBC Choir of the Year 1/4 finals. 18th May in Cardiff
The new Cd is released. It will be on sale at concerts priced £10 and will also be available by post for £10.50 . For more information on content and an order form click on the CD.
The Choir is 80 this year, our President Haydn Cooper, who has been a member since the 30's, celebrated his 90th birthday.
December 2007
We have some new photos in the gallery. Pictures of the Town Hall concert in September and the CD recording session in November.
The choir is holding its Welsh evening at the Victoria Arms in Marston on Sunday 23 September starting at 8pm. No charge for entry.
November 2007
It's an extra busy time for the Choir!
We thought that it would just be the usual round of mince pies and Christmas carols - how wrong could we be.
Firstly, our home is Cowley Centre is being redeveloped. For a while it looked as if we would be homeless for our 80th birthday. Don't worry, we found a new home, also in Cowley and we will continue to rehearse on Thursday evenings. See March 2008 (above).
Secondly, we are preparing to record a new CD on December 2nd 2007. This will feature a new selection of songs, with a good balance of previously unrecorded (by us) Welsh favorites as well as some new works. These will show how much the choir has developed under the baton of our new MD, Emily Stamoulis. The final selection of songs will be decided after the recording session.
The CD will be available in the new year.