The Bro Hafren Choir

by Ann Evans, Director

The choir was formed in October 2000 by Ann Evans and Ian Shirley. The children's ages range from 7 to 11 years approximately and the choir meets every Thursday between 4pm and 5pm at Treowen School. Children from many different schools in the area come together to sing for pleasure. No auditions are necessary to join the choir: the children come because they love to sing. Some members of the choir are Welsh speaking and therefore bilingual. Both boys and girls are equally welcome to sing in our choir and there is a very good mix of voices. Some of the singers stay with the choir when they go to high school.

Since the formation of the choir, the children have sung in many different venues, including: the Methodist Church, Newtown; St David's Church, Newtown; All Saints Church, Newtown; Gregynog Hall, near Newtown; a marquee for Songs of Praise in Newtown Hall grounds; Theatr Hafren several times; and in 2002 the children sang for the Queen at Dolau as part of her Majesty's Golden Jubilee celebrations. The choir also sang for Lord and Lady Davies' daughter's wedding.

We feel it is very important to share our talents with the community. Every Christmas we sing in the Bear Lanes precinct, Newtown, as part of the town's Christmas festivities. We have sung at Bethshan, Plas Cae Crwn (residential homes for the elderly) and Llys Hafren flats in Kerry Road. The children's singing is most appreciated by the elderly people. The choir has sung in joint concerts with Newtown Silver Band, the county Youth Brass Band and Llanwnog mixed choir

Every year, the choir has a Singing Fun Day, when any junior children in the area are invited to come and sample the sort of fun which children can have singing together. This, of course, is a very sociable occasion, when children meet others from different schools. This event is led by a vocal coach not connected with the choir.

At the end of each school year, the choir has an informal open air concert for friends and relatives. This is followed by a picnic (weather permitting).

The repertoire of the choir is wide, including simple folk songs, unaccompanied rounds, two part songs and songs from other cultures. We always include some of our own Welsh songs, both traditional folk and modern ones, in our repertoire.

Since Ian left the area to take up a lecturing post in Canterbury, we have had Anna Bunford, Kath Jones, Dilys Hughes and currently Alwena Nutting as our accompanists.

There are over thirty children in the choir and twenty two of them are taking part in Oliver!. We are thrilled to be the workhouse children in this production.

(Click on the image to return to the Oliver! web page.)