News Archive

Community Evenings - Music for Midsummer

Joint Concert with Cardiff Male ChoirConcert

On Saturday 11th May 2013 Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir hosted Cardiff Male Choir in a joint concert a St Euny Church in Redruth. The Concert which was well attended culminated with both choir joining together to give a spirited rendition of Deus Salutis and Gwahoddiad. After the concert both choirs retired to the Penventon Hotel for some refreshments and a bit more singing!

Cornwall International Male Festival Concert - Regional Gala Concert

On Sunday 5th May 2013 as part of the Cornwall International Male Voice Choir Festival, Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir hosted Bristol Male Voice Choir and the South Wales Gay Men's Chorus in a joint concert in Camborne Centenary Chapel. The Concert, compered by Tiffany Truscott, featured some superb and contrasting styles of singing which was throughly enjoyed by both the choirs and the sizeable audience. The evening ended with the Choirs giving a roof raising rendition of Trelawny after sharing a superb Cornish supper in the hall at the back of the Chapel.

Boys On A Bus

Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir would like to send their congratulations to the Boys on a Bus for their fabulous tour of the county on Saturday 4th May 2013. The Boys on a Bus, made up of the Cornwall Boys Choir and Cornwall Cambiata, set out in two buses each from opposite ends of the County and met up in Truro, each stopping en route to sing with local male voice choirs in the towns they passed through. The tour culminating with the boys from each bus meeting up in the piazza in Truro and singing to the massed crowds of shoppers. They then moved into the Hall for Cornwall and sang to the audience to much applause, when the adjudicators in the Cornwall International Male Voice Choir Festival Competion retired to consider their verdict.

Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir consider themselves truely privileged to have been able to join with the Boys on a Bus when they sang in the piazza in Truro and we hope that we have the opportunity to sing with the Cornwall Boys Choir and Cornwall Cambiata again soon.

DVD – “An evening with Holman Climax Choir and friends”

This has been very well received and we are about to place another order for this record of the most recent community evenings, featuring the choir, 13 year old Angus Webster on piano, the talented Macquarrie family and world class banjoist, John Dowling - £12 (plus £1.50 p+p) – Blu Ray £1 extra - Almost two hours of entertainment.

If you would like one, send a cheque payable to Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir to:

Cardiff Male Voice Choir

Last year at Kehelland Methodist Church we welcomed a male voice choir from North Wales who thrilled all with the intensity and power of their singing.  On Saturday 11th May at 7.30 pm at St Euny Church, Redruth we are welcoming the Cardiff Male Choir in a joint concert.  This will be a traditional concert rather than the format on our community evenings but promises to be an outstanding musical event. In line with our community policy, there will be no charge but you will be invited to make a donation to maintain the fabric of this beautiful building at the conclusion of the evening.  Booking is not necessary for this event – please just turn up!

Holman-Climax Community Evenings

The latest series of our free popular community concerts will take place on the Friday 14th June 2013 and Friday 21st June 2013, starting at 7.15 pm at Camborne Science and International Academy (Camborne School).  The concerts will have as their theme “Golowan” or “Midsummer” – by far the most popular and well-known  holiday and feast day of the Cornish Miner in years gone by – a day when fires would blaze from every hill-top in celebration.  There will be pieces by the choir, both new and traditional, community singing and a recognition of our culture with some dialect stories.  Pasties and a cup of tea will again be available during the interval.

The concert on the 14th June will feature as special guests, top Cornish group “Dalla” and we are very excited that they have agreed to guest with the choir.  Check out their web-site:  http://www.dalla.co.uk/index.php

The concert on the 21st June will feature the well-known soloist from West Cornwall, Hannah Pascoe, whose repertoire is wide-ranging and popular and she delights audiences wherever she appears.

To book a place please e-mail david.oates21@sky.com and state whether you would prefer a beef or vegetarian pasty.

(Because of the demand for the last concerts and the fact we had to turn a few people away, we are not – at least initially – able to offer both concerts to our supporters as in the past – something we regret but we want to allow anyone who wants to come to be able to attend at least one concert.  If that changes, in the time leading up to the concerts, we will let all who have booked know if seats become available. )

Boys On A Bus

On Saturday 4th May 2013 their will be a grand tour of Cornwall with 100 boys on 2 bus, each bus starting at opposite ends of the County, making their way to Truro to sing at the Cornish International Male Voice Choir Festival, stopping en route to sing with member of local male voice choirs. The Cornwall Boys Choir will start out from Lands End and make stops at Penzance, Hayle and Falmouth before heading to Truro. Cornwall Cambiata will start from Saltash and stop at Liskeard and St Austell and then make their way to Truro. A major aim of the project which is funded by the Cornwal Music Hub is to encourage young people to sing and to demonstarte that singing at all ages is not only possible but also enjoyable, health giving and educational.

Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir are proud to support the Boys On A Bus and will be in Truro to welcome them in the Piazza and sing with them.

Trevithick Day 27th April 2013

A selection of images taken of the Choir singing in the square as part of the annual Trevithick Day celebartaions in Camborne

St Euny Concert

Regional Gala Concert at Camborne Centenary

Another first for Holman-Climax Choir

Holman-Climax Choir recently ran the latest of its series of “Community Evenings” which set out to show the world of male voice singing in an entirely different light.  Under its exciting and resourceful Musical Director, Angela Renshaw, the choir seeks to be constantly moving forward and on these occasions it departs from its traditional venues and repertoire and offers the public something entirely new.  The evenings are free, they offer a pasty and a cup of tea at half time and they actively encourage audience participation.  There is an element of traditional male voice repertoire but the choir seeks to offer new pieces of music and presents choir members in contexts other than musical – there are natural comedians in the choir who soon have the audiences in stitches. This is added to with the now obligatory dialect stories from the pen of Camborne’s master of that craft, the late Herbie Lean.  Everything to do with these evenings has a Cornish connection and back projections of appropriate pictures accompany each item.  In this respect, firm favourites are the wonderful cartoons of the Cornish Australian cartoonist, Oswald Pryor.  This isn’t all the audience are invited to participate in, though, as there is always an element of community singing where the songs sung by the Cornish down the years are projected on the screen for all to join with – and they do, with gusto.

Every community evening has an essential ingredient – young, talented people from Cornwall are invited to showcase that talent to the capacity audiences that come to each show and they add greatly to the contribution made by the choir.

Holman-Climax was the first choir in the county to make both records and CD’s and last year it was first again in producing a DVD – “Cornwall, the land I love”  which tells the story – with appropriate music by the choir and stunning film of Cornwall - of the great history of our county and the impact it has had on our way of life today. This DVD proved very popular and sold well. Following the success of that venture the choir has now produced a DVD of it last community evening which featured  a wealth of local talent .  One guest was world known banjoist, John Dowling from Redruth who performed both solo and with his wife Anna. Other guests were the Macquarrie family from Kehelland who both accompanied the choir and performed as a group using fiddle, guitar and drums.  The most recent evening was privileged, too, to hear solo performances by the choir’s new joint accompanist, thirteen year old Angus Webster of Falmouth, who has a prodigious talent at such a young age.  All this and more are on this new DVD entitled “An evening with Holman-Climax Choir and friends” – almost two hours of Cornish entertainment.  This new DVD, and the previous DVD “Cornwall the land I love” are available by post for £12 each plus £1.50 post and packaging by writing to David Oates, 21 Laity Road, Troon, Camborne, TR14 9EL with cheques payable to Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir”.  Anyone wishing to be kept in touch with events such as the community evenings and other likewise Cornish happenings are invited to e-mail David Oates at david.oates21@sky.com to receive regular updates through a data base which already contacts several hundred people regularly.