Welcome

Ashington & District
Male Voice Choir

A community choir with a rich tradition

Ashington Vocal - Winter 2024 Edition

Welcome to the third edition of Ashington Vocal, the newsletter of Ashington & District Male Voice Choir.

The newsletter, which will normally be produced quarterly, is aimed at keeping the community, patrons and stakeholders better informed about what is going on or will be happening in the Choir. You will automatically receive future editions, unless you opt out.

Each newsletter will also be posted in a sub-section under ‘News’ on the Choir website, https://www.ashingtonmalevoicechoir.org.uk.

Message from the Chairman – I have great honour and pleasure, as Chairman, in reflecting on what has been a very successful year in 2024 for Ashington & District Male Voice Choir and look forward to a fruitful New Year!

Our concerts across the region have increased allowing us to engage with more people in our local communities, to promote the Choir and recruit new members. You will note later that the membership is now growing and it was a pleasure to welcome two younger singers recently. The Choir has continued to positively support local charities through our events. We have also relaunched our Patrons Scheme recently. Our links with stakeholders have been strengthened and their support is appreciated. We were also able to run some training sessions during the summer to develop the musical skills and understanding of members. A new singing group, ‘The Ashtones’ will soon be with us.

Our members, including our music team of Neil Morton and Derek Brett, have worked very hard to achieve our on-going success. My sincere thanks go out to all and their families at this busy time of year.

May I take this opportunity, on behalf of all members of Ashington & District Male Voice Choir, to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2025.

George Blanchflower, Chairman, ADMVC

Great and Diverse Programme of Events – The Choir’s concert programme ‘kicked off’ to a well-received ‘Annual Concert’ at Holy Sepulchre Church in Ashington on Saturday, 18th May 2024. Our guest artists were ‘Eclectic Lite’.

On Saturday, 8th June, the Choir returned to Woodhorn Museum to take part in the Memorial Service at the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic. This was very appropriate with it being the 40th Anniversary of the Miners’ Strike and it was fitting that the Choir performed ‘The Colliers’ Requiem’.

The impact of the Strike and the importance of our local heritage was not forgotten when the Choir travelled south of the River Tyne to give two performances in the Pit Hill Chapel at Beamish Museum on Saturday, 6th July.

On Friday, 25th October, the Choir was honoured to support Ashington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Town Councils at the ‘Celebrating Over 70 Years of Town Twinning’ event in The Maritime Centre. It was a pleasure to sing to visitors from the City of Remscheid in Northwest Germany. Their community had provided great support to the region during and after the Miners’’ Strike. The Choir had several musical exchanges with The Dahlerbruck Choir from the neighbouring community of Schalksmuhle.

We will round off 2024 with two ‘Christmas Concerts’ which we are looking forward to at St. Cuthbert’s Church, Bedlington and St. Mary’s Church, Morpeth on Saturdays, 14th and 21st December respectively.

Positive Promotion of the Choir and Our Rich Heritage – Promotion of the Choir is now more proactive, and the benefits are being realised.

Last Spring, a new website was launched, and the Choir is more active on social media. Over 280,000 people were reached with 308 posts on Facebook. All of these posts are simultaneously posted on the website as ‘Latest News’. Our rich and varied musical repertoire is also proactively promoted. Concerts and events are regularly recorded with musical videos being created and published on a new YouTube channel. All videos from this channel are linked to the website, as well as being posted on Facebook.

The Choir is also capturing the best from its archives and a series of double-sided information sheets have been created and published to promote our rich heritage.

The local media has been supportive in publishing articles on the Choir during the year. We have featured on the ‘BBC’, in ‘Newcastle World’ and ‘Northumberland Gazette’. The Choir regularly contributes to the ABC Publication, which is distributed across Southeast Northumberland, and we are often referred to on Town Council social media sites.

Our Recruitment is ‘Bucking the Trend’

- Recruiting new members is so important to replacing members who decide to leave but ultimately to safeguard the long-term future of the Choir.

Many choirs in the region are declining in numbers, particularly since Covid, and attendance numbers at concerts are dropping. Male voice choirs, such as Backworth, Felling and Sunderland are declining in membership. Ashington is ‘bucking the trend’ as our numbers continue to increase, even considering natural losses.

During 2024, we have recruited at least 6 new members. It was a pleasure just last week to welcome two new younger members, who will be good to help us broaden our appeal. We also have another two potential members who have indicated they would like to join the Choir soon.

Our Recruitment Subgroup is actively looking at new ways to attract new members. It is little wonder that the Choir has set a target of raising the membership to 50 by Spring 2026.

This is an exciting time to join Ashington & District Male Voice Choir. Membership can be fun, rewarding and a great social experience. Singing has also been proven to have positive health benefits.

Why don’t you make that New Year resolution and join the Choir. You could also be proud to wear that famous ‘blue blazer’ or in the summer, ‘blue polo shirt’!

We are Delighted to Support Local Charities and Communities – Our local communities are the ‘lifeblood of the Choir’ in providing new members to keep alive male voice singing and to support our various activities.

The Choir has been delighted to continue to support local charities through musical performances.

On Friday, 20th September, the Choir gave their first performance in a supermarket when they sang two spots at Asda in Ashington in support of the Wansbeck Valley Foodbank. The Foodbank raised £76.60 on the day as well as receiving food donations.

The Choir performed the ‘Celebrating Local Heroes’ Concert at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on Sunday, 20th October. The popular and talented soloist, Susan Robertson, was the supporting artist. The Church and the RNLI each received a cheque to the sum of £500 from the Choir. In addition, the RNLI raised £273 from the raffle.

On Friday, 15th November, the Choir performed a ‘Charity Concert’ at County Hall in Morpeth. The Choir helped to raise £713 for the nominated charity, ‘Young Lives vs Cancer’.

Members of the Choir were honoured to attend four Remembrance Day commemorations in Ashington, Bedlington, Choppington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea to support community singing over the 10th and 11th November.

Our engagement with local communities has not just been about singing. Members of the Choir attended the ‘Ashington Community Fair’ on Sunday, 7th July and the ‘Hirst Summer Fair’ on Saturday, 3rd August to ‘meet and greet’ members of the community.

In our build up to the festive season and our ‘Christmas Concerts’ in Bedlington and Morpeth, the Choir supported communities in Blyth and Ashington by performing at ‘Christmas Lights Switch-Ons’ on Saturday, 23rd and Thursday, 28th November respectively.

Relaunch of Our Patrons’ Scheme – Patrons have always been special to the Choir and as such, we have recently re-launched our ‘Patron Scheme’.

You can become a Choir Patron for an annual donation of £15 or more. Patrons receive this newsletter ‘Ashington Vocal’ with all the latest news and what is going on in the choir. In addition, Patrons are offered a free ticket for both our Annual and Christmas concerts.

Patrons’ Donations are due at the start of each financial year (April) and there is no qualifying period for the free ticket offer.

To become a Patron, this can be arranged through the choir website (www.ashingtonmalevoicechoir.org.uk) or by contacting the Choir Treasurer, Bob Tonge, Tel. No. 01670 826719.

The main benefits of becoming a Patron are:

•Full access to our choir website (except the members area).

•Invitations to our two fund raising concerts Annual and Christmas with a free ticket for each of these.

•Reserve seating at these events.

•Our Newly revised Newsletter Ashington Vocal sent direct to your email address.

By becoming a Patron, you are preserving the heritage of the Male Voice Choir and helping to secure its future. You are also helping the Choir to maintain links and support local communities and Charities through its activities.

Why don’t you make a New Year resolution and become a Patron of Ashington & District Male Voice Choir?

Great Support from Key Stakeholders – The Choir has also been very active in strengthening its links with key stakeholders. We have been keen to identify areas of mutual benefit as we strive to raise the profile of the Choir and attract new members.

Several of our key Town Councils have been very supportive and have provided grants to support our activities in their local communities.

We were especially grateful to Ashington Town Council, who provided a grant of £2,000. This grant has enabled the Choir to expand its programme of concerts and appearances within the town to improve community engagement, purchase new A5 promotional flyers, business cards and display banners, support member training to develop their musical skills, and purchase additional music which will be introduced into the Choir repertoire during 2025. An information sheet has been created and published to demonstrate our deliverables from the grant. The Council also made additional donations to special events, such as the ‘Remscheid Visit’ and the ‘Christmas Lights Switch-On’.

The Choir has also worked with Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and West Bedlington Town Councils and is grateful for the grants of £300 received from each. Events of mutual benefit have and are being supported in each of their local communities.

'The Ashtones’ will be New for 2025– Unfortunately, the success of the Choir comes at a cost! Our popularity, especially as we approached Christmas and expanded our engagement in local communities, resulted in the Choir having to decline several potential bookings and opportunities. We take this opportunity to once again apologise to those individuals and organisations who approached us, please keep in contact for the future!

It is not always necessary or practical for the full Choir and our music team to attend our expanding programme. We have acknowledged this and are creating a small singing group. This new group, which will be known as ‘The Ashtones’, has started rehearsing and hope to be ready to start performing in the Spring of 2025.

We hope that the new group will be able to supplement our availability for smaller events and help our recruitment drive for 2026!

New Programme developing for 2025 – Planning for our Programme in 2025 is already well underway!

At the moment, this will be a combination of popular and standard favourites mixed with a number of concerts planned at new venues.

Our ‘Annual Concert’ will be held on Saturday, 17th May 2025 but we will be returning to St. John’s Church in North Seaton, where many of our past successful concerts have been held. Kath Ireland will be our supporting artist.

We hope to be performing again at the Memorial Service at the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic in Woodhorn Museum on Saturday, 14th June 2025. On Saturday, 5th July 2025, we will make our annual visit to Beamish Museum when the Choir will be performing in the Silver Band Hall.

Arrangements are in hand for our ‘Annual Christmas Concert’ to be held at St. Cuthbert’s Church in Bedlington on Saturday, 13th December 2025. A number of other events leading up to Christmas 2025 are already being considered.

Our first ‘Charity Concert’ will be held on St. Valentines Day, Friday, 14th February 2025. The Choir will take part in a musical evening at the Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Sports and Community Hub to support ‘Brighter Story for All’ and the ‘RNLI’. The Choir is also hoping to be back supporting the Wansbeck Valley Foodbank at Asda in Ashington during May 2025.

We are also currently finalising arrangements for concerts at two new venues:

•Saturday, 8th March 2025 – Druridge Bay Community Centre, Hadston

•Saturday, 10th May 2025 – St. Michael & All Angels Church, Houghton-le-Spring (Possible joint event with The Gilpen Singers)

2025 is already building up to be an exciting year for Ashington & District Male Voice Choir!

Looking Forward to Anniversary Year – 2026 will be a significant year for the Choir as we will be celebrating 110 Years since Our Foundation back in 1916.

The Choir is already making plans to celebrate this monumental occasion both for the Choir and the tradition of the region. We are proud to have been founded and are still going strong in the town which was known as ‘the largest coal mining village in the world’!

Our coal mining heritage and the Northumbrian and Tyneside folklore are well represented in our repertoire. We plan to celebrate this heritage during Our 110 Anniversary Year with a key concert on Saturday, 21st March 2026 and a series of regional events.

We have already planned to create a suite of new heritage music on the theme of ‘Ashington’, which will focus on the history of the town, some of its famous personalities, and the strength of community spirit.

The new music, which we hope to create and learn during 2025, will form the centrepiece of the heritage programmes in 2026.

Watch out for further updates on this exciting project!

Kevin Lillie

Public Relations and Stakeholder Officer

Ashington & District Male Voice Choir

December 2024

Forthcoming Events

Friday 14 Feb 25 7:00 pm
Charity Musical Evening

Supporting 'Brighter Storey for All' and 'Newbiggin RNLI'

Venue: Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Sports and Community Hub

More details...

Saturday 8 Mar 25 7:00 pm
Community Concert