Wigton Rd Methodist Church, Carlisle

The audience thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon celebrating Male Voice Choir singing. Dalston Male Voice Choir has previously presented a number of excellent concerts at the church and this was no exception. For this concert the choir was joined by Whitehaven Male Voice Choir. Dalston began the concert with a song appropriate for the season, ‘Autumn Leaves’, followed by Flanders and Swann’s ‘Slow Train’, ‘Tydi a Roddaist’ (sung in Welsh) and, as a tribute to Remembrance, ‘When the Boys Come Home’.

The choir was expertly conducted by their musical director Michael Deakin and skilfully accompanied by their pianist, Lorraine Gash. The variety of the songs demonstrated the versatility of the choir and the songs were all performed to the high standard we have come to expect.

Dalston Male Voice Choir has a tradition of supporting young musicians from the local area and the up and coming musician for this concert was the talented young baritone, Jack Milburn. He delighted the audience by singing six songs in two groups of three. These songs included the very entertaining Flanders and Swann’s ‘The Gas Man Cometh’, ‘Edelweiss’ from The Sound of Music, ‘The Water is Wide’, and ‘On the Street Where you Live’ from My Fair Lady. Jack’s love of singing and his passion for Musical Theatre shone through his performance. For his final song Jack was joined by a friend, Alex, another talented young singer, to perform ‘The Sound of Silence’. Whitehaven then performed their section of the concert. The choir sang a range of songs which included ‘Gwahoddiad’, ‘Jamaica Farewell’, ‘The Sound of Silence’ and a Medley from ‘Les Miserables’ which ended with the rousing chorus ‘Do you hear the People Sing?’. The choir was expertly guided through their pieces by Musical Director, Colin Hoodless and beautifully accompanied by Joan Johnston. The audience enjoyed the quality of the singing and the choir demonstrated their ability to sing with the full range of dynamics and clear diction. Their last piece was listed as a ‘surprise item’, which proved to be two songs sung by a barbershop quartet, made up of four members of the choir, which were thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. For the final part of the concert the two choirs joined together to perform four songs, the well known ‘Morte Cristi’ (When I survey the wondrous cross), ‘The Rose’, ‘Love could I only tell thee’ and finally a lovely performance of ‘Speed your Journey’. The voices of the two choirs blended together beautifully and it was hard to believe that the two choirs were performing together for the first time. A vote of thanks was given by the Revd. David Newlove, then the enthusiastic and well deserved applause of the audience persuaded the choirs to finish with an encore, the song ‘Softly’. After this the choirs and audience were able to mingle and chat over a cup of tea or coffee and delicious scones and cakes which nicely rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Susan Kydd

These songs included the very entertaining Flanders and Swann’s ‘The Gas Man Cometh’, ‘Edelweiss’ from The Sound of Music, ‘The Water is Wide’, and ‘On the Street Where you Live’ from My Fair Lady. Jack’s love of singing and his passion for Musical Theatre shone through his performance. For his final song Jack was joined by a friend, Alex, another talented young singer, to perform ‘The Sound of Silence’.

Whitehaven then performed their section of the concert. The choir sang a range of songs which included ‘Gwahoddiad’, ‘Jamaica Farewell’, ‘The Sound of Silence’ and a Medley from ‘Les Miserables’ which ended with the rousing chorus ‘Do you hear the People Sing?’.

The choir was expertly guided through their pieces by Musical Director, Colin Hoodless and beautifully accompanied by Joan Johnston. The audience enjoyed the quality of the singing and the choir demonstrated their ability to sing with the full range of dynamics and clear diction. Their last piece was listed as a ‘surprise item’, which proved to be two songs sung by a barbershop quartet, made up of four members of the choir, which were thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.

For the final part of the concert the two choirs joined together to perform four songs, the well known ‘Morte Cristi’ (When I survey the wondrous cross), ‘The Rose’, ‘Love could I only tell thee’ and finally a lovely performance of ‘Speed your Journey’. The voices of the two choirs blended together beautifully and it was hard to believe that the two choirs were performing together for the first time.

A vote of thanks was given by the Revd. David Newlove, then the enthusiastic and well deserved applause of the audience persuaded the choirs to finish with an encore, the song ‘Softly’. After this the choirs and audience were able to mingle and chat over a cup of tea or coffee and delicious scones and cakes which nicely rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.