Brymbo Male Choir

HISTORY of Brymbo Male Choir

Brymbo Male Choir at Royal Albert Hall 1970 Royal Albert Hall 1970

Many of the male choirs in Wales were born out of close knit communities which developed around the heavy industries, coal mining and steel making being classic examples. Brymbo Male Choir grew from the active community surrounding the local steelworks, and the history of male choirs in Brymbo goes back over the past 100 years.

The present choir was formed in 1959 by a number of choristers from St Mary’s Church Brymbo with the intention of entertaining locally. With the appointment of Conductor Glyn Hughes in 1966 the choir began to broaden its horizons, and over the past years the choir has created an interest by giving choral performances to high levels, with an appreciation by all audiences that attend the many concerts and venues that the choir performs at.

Concerts & Venues

Brymbo Male Choir on Opportunity Knocks Opportunity Knocks

On the travel scene, the Brymbo Male Choir have travelled worldwide, visiting the USA several times and performing at the world famous Disney World resort. The choir has also sung in the State Capital buildings of Washington and Oregon. Further invitations have been received for the choir to visit venues in Norway, Spain, Malta and South Africa.

Concerts have been given at major venues throughout England and Wales and the choir has appeared numerous times on TV and radio. We have shared stages on a number of occasions with some of Britain’s top entertaining stars.

In October 2006, the Brymbo Male Choir appeared at the famous Royal Albert Hall, marking their 7th 1000 voices concert. This concert was accompanied by the band of The Welsh Guards, in full ceremonial uniform. Recent highlights have included a St David’s Day Concert in the awe - inspiring setting of Liverpool Cathedral and an emotion-filled performance, given to commemorate the Fallen at Ypres’ Menin Gate in Belgium.

Brymbo Male Choir on their Florida Tour 1990 Florida Tour 1990

To adapt to a changing society, songs of a lighter vein have been added to the list of Choral Classics, giving entertainment and blends at all ends of the scales in order that people of all ages can enjoy this great gift given to us "The Sound of Music".

The Brymbo Male Choir has produced a total of 7 recordings and the latest CD "Deep Harmony" is available for purchase at all concerts.

50th Anniversary

2009 marked an important milestone for the Choir as they celebrated their 50th year of existance, and many events were held throughout the year.

Recent events

Brymbo Male Choir past and present MDs Past and present MDs

Throughout the year Brymbo Male Choir is kept gainfully employed either serenading brides down the aisle or at a series of annual events such as St. David’s day celebrations, Remembrance Services and Christmas carol services.

The choir have recently formed bonds with other choirs and have performed joint concerts to the delight of both sets of admirers. They were invited to perform with the Silver Ring Choir in Bath and returned the favour the following year when they performed with us at Malpas church.

We have done joint ventures with the likes of Cor DAW, a Welsh language learners choir, and children from both Wat’s Dyke and Rhosnesni school choirs in fund raising concerts. The Choir looks forward to retaining these friendships for many years to come.

To celebrate their 60th anniversary the choir took a tour of Northern France and Belgium at the end of August 2019. They were very privileged to have been asked to sing at the ’Last Post ceremony’ at the Menin Gate as well as in the Cathedral at Ypres. Less formal events took place at Tyne Cott Cemetary and the Welsh cemetery and finally at the Capelle Cheese Festival!

The Covid-19 pandemic, which will go down in history as the most devastating event in our lifetime, naturally caused us to put everything on hold. For us, and choirs all over the UK, many concerts and weddings were cancelled.

We were extremely lucky - non of our members succumbed to Covid-19. The choir members managed to survive and regrouped at the end of 2021 with renewed energy and ready to take up from where they left off.

October 2024 saw the choir on their travels again after the covid restrictions. Brymbo Male choir accepted an invitation from the RAME choir in Plymouth, where they performed at Tor Point to a very appreciative audience.