Singing Men

You are probably aware that Wales is famous for its very strong tradition of choral singing, largely by men. The Welsh take it very seriously. A friend of ours, Phil John, who was Chuck's host at the Royal Military College of Science when he was a visiting Prof there in 2000-01, is of Welsh background and is in the process of working through a lengthy period of qualifying to be a member of the London Welsh Male Voice Choir. While the men are all Welsh, they tend to live near London, where they rehearse weekly. They put on an annual series of concerts, visiting venues all over the UK and even some as far away as New York's Carnegie Hall.

Recently we visited Phil and his wife, Sue, in their home in Harpenden, just north of London, and after a great lunch with them and two of their three kids, we spent the afternoon visiting Windsor and Eton, near London and the sites, respectively, of Windsor Castle and Eton "College" (which is actually the prestigious high school attended for several centuries by the sons of the elite, on their way to Oxford and Cambridge). In addition to an afternoon of walking through these two historic towns, seeing the Castle again and enjoying dinner in Windsor, we attended a concert of the London Welsh Choir in the hall at Eton College. The nearby picture shows the choir and was taken at Eton on the night of the concert we attended.

The men were in fine voice (as they always are) and put on a great show, with a number of beautiful songs as well as several rousing anthems. A good many of the selections were hymns of various kinds -- and all was done extremely well. Even the songs that were in Welsh were a pleasure to listen to. Their accompanist, Annabel Thwait is a first-rate artist in her own right and added much to the show. One of the choir members acts as MC/raconteur and is a natural at this role, adding even more enjoyment to the show.

The second picture shows Phil, Sue and Kathi browsing through Windsor's Victorian-era train station, which has been turned into a shopping center while keeping the architectural integrity of the old station to a very satisfying degree.

A great evening all-around, after a fun day with Phil and Sue.

Some pictures of our day in Windsor and Eton are at: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/2510079#131798796