Success at the Cornwall Cornwall
Music Festival.
The Choir won its class at the
County Music Festival on Friday 18th March 2011.
We performed three pieces
1. Ave Verum Corpus
2. Surely the Presence
3. By Babylon's Wave
A very satisfactory outcome for the
Choir and Angela Renshaw, MD.
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Far from 'Ome
A new concept for Male Voice Choir concerts.
On Friday evening, 19th November, the Choir
entertained a sell out audience at Camborne Community College.
David Oates put together a programme of song with a
power-point presentation of the Cornish emigration to Australia,
South Africa and America during the 1800's.
The evening commenced with the song of the
decline in Cornish Mining.
"For Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads
are miners too;
But when the fish and tin are gone, What are the Cornish boys to
do?"
There were items from small groups within the choir and comedy solo
items. The audience was invited to sing, and did so with
gusto, such old favourites as "The White Rose" & "Lamorna".
The evening concluded with everyone singing "Trelawny"
followed by a pasty and cup of tea.
It was a very successful evening and there will be
another themed evening at the same venue on Friday 1st April 2011.
Watch this space!
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At the Annual General Meeting of
the Choir held in July two members were presented with certificates
by Linda Jones, Secretary of the Cornish Federation of Male Voice
Choirs, to mark 40 years in Male Voice Singing.
Rodney Grigg receiving his Certificate from Linda Jones
Danny Johns receiving his Certificate from Linda Jones
After the AGM the Choir celebrated its 70th Anniversary with a
special buffet to which wives and friends were invited.
Angela Renshaw (MD) cuts the 70th Anniversary cake.
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70th Anniversary Concert
Be at
Redruth Methodist Church on
Saturday 18th September 2010 at 7.30 pm
Enjoy a great concert with us
together with Treverva Male Voice Choir,
Camborne and Mabe Ladies Choirs
The fabulous Suzanne Manuell
as guest soloist
The whole evening chaired by
Martyn Oates, BBC TV.
Programmes available from
Choir Members at £7.50 each
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Côr
Merched Glannau'r Gwendraeth.
What a concert we had with the Ladies
from Wales at Camborne Centenary Chapel on Saturday night
(22nd May 2010).
They were a well disciplined, very
tuneful choir with a very entertaining repertoire.
There is no doubt that the men of
Holman-Climax Male Choir would be delighted to sing with them again.
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There is great sadness in the Choir
at this time. We have lost two of our good friends.
Les Campion, a Life Vice President,
passed away. He was in his nineties and had retired from the Choir
but during his many years he had served as Treasurer for almost 40
of those years. His Funeeral is a Penmount Crematorium, Truro
at 1.30 pm on Thursday 22nd April.
Rex Manhire, our current Treasurer,
died suddenly last Thursday 15th April 2010. He had been the
Treasurer for several years and will be greatly missed by us all.
His last concert with the Choir was at Camborne Wesley Chapel on
Sunday 11th April 2010 helping the Camborne Circuit Ladies celebrate
their Anniversary.
His funeral will be at Camborne Wesley Methodist Chapel at 2.30 pm
on Friday 30th April 2010.
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Passing the torch to the younger generation!
Someone once said that the Cornish national instrument was the
voice and in former times that was certainly so. Wherever
Cornish folk gathered, at home or in the distant mining camps of
the world, at work or at leisure, they sang. With Methodism as
the established church in this far flung corner of Britain, they
certainly sang hymns when in chapel, when gathered at sporting
occasions or going up and down the shaft of the mine - they
sang, with each voice harmonising with the other quite naturally
– they didn’t have to be taught to sing, it was their
birthright. Particularly at Christmas time they sang Cornish
Carols, songs known only in the far west. Interestingly, these
are not truly Cornish at all but represent the remnants of the
gallery music once sung throughout Britain before the advent of
organs and suchlike in churches and chapels. They were
collected by a Cornishman, Davies Gilbert who wrote them down in
the eighteenth century when local ad hoc choirs visited his home
at Tredrea Manor, near St Erth singing traditional Christmas
songs. Often they had only two parts, the melody line and a
bass part, then later Victorian musicians added other harmony
lines. These were the origins of some of the most well-known
British carols – The first Nowell, for example owes its survival
and popularity to Davies Gilbert.
The Cornish also have a rich repertoire of folk songs which
often reflected the occupations and pastimes of the peninsula –
miner, fisherman and farmer, they all had their own songs about
aspects of their daily life, though sadly not in the Celtic
language.
Camborne folk still join as one to sing about that time in their
history when “the ‘osses stood still and the wheels went around”
as Trevithick’s first horseless carriage literally changed the
history of the world and pubs fall silent throughout the county
when someone strikes up the beloved “White Rose”.
Some songs, which are claimed by the Cornish, are not local in
origin at all – the popular “Little Eyes” or “Little Lize” was
recorded in the USA in the middle of the twentieth century and
is said to have its origins in North America. Who knows,
perhaps the regular passage of miners between America and
Cornwall, saw its arrival on these shores. These songs continue
to be written and sung by groups like the Camborne based “Proper
Job”– the evergreen St Ives songs made popular in the twentieth
century by the Barber family and more recent songs like the
evocative “Cornish Lads” by Roger Bryant, made famous when it
was written on the wall outside South Crofty when it closed.
Sadly, recent years have seen the decline of the sort of
community singing once so popular in Cornwall and a group of
Cornish people are setting out to reverse that trend and get
people using their voices again. After a year of consolidation
with their new Musical Director, Angela Renshaw, the
Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir are embarking on a series of
initiatives to raise the profile of singing in the community and
to encourage everyone, whatever their age, to learn and sing the
songs of the Cornish. They still perform in the traditional
male voice venues of church and chapel but feel a great chunk of
the population know little of the great choral traditions of
their county.
Already renowned throughout Cornwall for her work with the
Cornwall Boys Choir, Angela is at the forefront of a whole
series of initiatives, starting in Cornish primary schools.
Recently, she and a number of members of the Holman-Climax Choir
went into Bodriggy School at Hayle to kick start the process and
get both children and staff singing.
Angela Renshaw at Bodriggy School, Hayle
Choir member and Cornish Bard, David Oates, set the scene for
the whole school by reminding them of the county’s long and
illustrious history and focused on the story of The Mousehole
Cat, which is essentially about the legend of Tom Bawcock,
looking at its possible ancient origins around the shortest day
of the year and the coming of light and the days of spring.
After a brief explanation of dialect terms like “morgy” and
“clunk”, the men sang the folk song, “Tom Bawcock’s Eve” and
invited the whole group to try the simple melody. This was
followed by another favourite of West Cornwall, “The Old Grey
Duck”, sung to an old carol tune. The group also sang the
beautiful four part harmony, “Calm is the Sea” to show what can
be achieved with a little practice.
David Oates explaining "Tom Bawcock's Eve" & "The old grey
duck"
The junior boys and the choir members then participated in a
workshop where the boys learned a piece well-known to the choir,
“Goin’ to rise up singing” and sang the melody while the choir
members provided the harmony.
After a most successful afternoon plans were laid to build on
the foundations made and the choir hopes to continue supporting
singing in local schools.
This is just just the start for Bodriggy, and other Cornish
schools, with public participation with Holman-Climax as an
initial goal – watch this space for a revival of that great
Cornish tradition, starting with the young people of the county.
David Oates 25 Nov 2009
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