Backworth Male Voice Choir

Chairman: Mel Prater
Secretary: Les Allan; M.B.E. Tel : 0191 252 9489






Backworth Male voice Choir was founded in 1951 by miners from Backworth Colliery.

BMVC has performed in high profile venues, including Cardiff Arms Park and Newcastle Arena. Performances have also been given in the King’s Hall in Newcastle with local baritone Graham Danby and a ‘St George’s Day Concert’ in Whitley bay playhouse with the band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

The first Musical Director was the colliery manager Joe King, and since it's formation BMVC has benefited from many distinguished conductors. These include Howard Davison (serving a record 24 years), and more recently Bob Jeffrey, Kieran Fitzimmons, Judith Blackburn and Andrew Soulsby. Our present Musical Director is Ted Brooks who was appointed early in 2009, and our current accompanist is Gordon Trewhitt who was also appointed in 2009.

In 2003 and 2005 BMVC performed with the Normandy Band, Queen's Division, as the invited choir at the Annual Festival of Remembrance at the Barbican in York to an audience of over two thousand. In March 2004 we were involved in the production of Channel Four's moving documentary ‘The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off’ and also in the "National Association of Choir's"...."Choral Extravaganza" in the Newcastle City Hall in 2007. In 2008, a medley of choir music was recorded on compact disc.

BMVC maintains strong links with other choirs in Europe, and has performed in France and Belgium. In 2005 the choir visited Hamburg in Germany to perform with Liedertafel Harmonie and later, in October 2006, joined Die Meigener Choir in Solingen for BMVC's 50th Anniversary celebrations.
In October 2009, BMVC was invited to perform and socialise with friends in South Wales.

Today BMVC is very much a community choir, attracting members from all walks of life. We are proud to support the work of many local charities through our performances, and have made donations to Newcastle RVI, DeBRA, Macmillan Nurses and Breathe North East. The choir’s distinctive badge displays the colliery winding wheel and a miner’s lamp as vivid reminders of our roots in the local community.