Backworth Male Voice Choir

Backworth Male Voice Choir

www.backworthchoir.co.uk
andy@backworthchoir.co.uk

Chairman: Mel Prater
Secretary: Les Allan; M.B.E. Tel : 0191 252 9498



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

Our 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 Fitsimons and Judith Blackburn. Our present M.D. is Andrew Soulsby who was appointed in 2003, and our current accompanist is Rosie Midgley who was appointed in 2006.

BMVC perform regularly in high profile venues, including Cardiff Arms Park and Newcastle Arena. More recently we have given performances in the King’s Hall in Newcastle with local baritone Graham Danby and a ‘St George’s Day Concert’ in the Whitley bay playhouse with the band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

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 Choirs ‘Choral Extravaganza’ in Newcastle City Hall in 2007. BMVC hope to record their second c.d. early in 2008.

BMVC maintains strong links with other choirs in Europe, and recently performed in France and Belgium. In 2005 we were invited to Hamburg in Germany to perform with Liedertafel Harmonie and joined Die Meigener Choir in Solingen for BMVC's 50 anniversary celebrations in October 2006.

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 recently 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.