Thursday, January 20, 2022
A Christmas concert in January? The popular Bath WelcomeChorus mixed-voice choir, conducted by Grenville Jones, were forced to close their Christmas concert on Saturday December 18 just after starting, when a potential fire hazard meant that St Michael’s Church in the city centre had to be evacuated. Grenville Jones said; “After working for so many week rehearsing and preparing the items for the concert we were all pretty devastated when we quite literally had to leave the Church in the knowledge that the concert would not continue as the Fire Brigade had been called out to what later proved to be a minor fault in a heating unit. “With the support of St Michael’s Church, the venue for that concert, we are returning on Saturday January 29 for what will be a Christmas Concert in January! We will perform most of the items that we had rehearsed for the December concert with some new additions. It will be a very special evening for the choir and our audience.” There are some tickets available for the concert priced £15 or on sale on the door from 7pm. The WelcomeChorus with over 70 members, have a busy schedule ahead for 2022 including a performance at Malmesbury Abbey on Saturday July 2 with the Malmesbury Community Choir. Prospective new members are always welcome on Thursday evenings from 7.45pm-9.30pm at St Bart’s Church in King Edward Road, Oldfield Park. www.welcomechorus.org.uk ENDS Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
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PRESS RELEASE Friday December 31 2021 Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934. The popularity of choir singing is well known and a project started by Bath-based musician Grenville Jones, based on afternoon singing, is taking off across the West of England. Grenville’s reputation as choir leader extends across the UK and it was back in 2008 that his City of Bath Male Choir reached a World-wide audience through the BBC’s popular Saturday night series ‘Last Choir Standing’. “Together with friends who were also choir leaders we recognized the issues that came, especially with older singers in the winter, with problems of attending rehearsals on cold dark evenings. An obvious solution to me seemed to be Singing in the Afternoon and I started the Bath Good Afternoon Choir in my home City 9 years ago. “The project then took off and there are now 19 Good Afternoon Choirs across the West of England with plans to start more this year (2022).” As the number of choirs have grown they have raised many thousands of pounds for local charities and during the recent Christmas period over 20 locally-based groups were supported by the choirs raising around £3,000. The Good Afternoon Choirs take place across the South West on… Mondays - Bristol at Oatley House Hall St Monica Trust (at the new time) 2pm-4pm. Cheltenham at Highbury Congregational Church from 1pm-3pm. Frome at Holy Trinity Church from 2pm-4pm. Truro at Truro Methodist Church (Parlour) from 1pm-3pm. Tuesdays - Cheddar Valley at Shipham Hall from 1pm-3pm. Cirencester & Stroud at Cirencester Baptist Church from 2pm-4pm. Taunton at Temple Methodist Church from 2pm-4pm. Wells at St Thomas Church from 2pm-4pm. Wednedays - Keynsham at St John’s / Keynsham Parish Church from 2pm-4pm. North Somerset at Nailsea Methodist Church from 1pm-3pm. South Gloucestershire at Kingswood Community Centre (Great Hall) from 2pm-4pm. Yate & Chipping Sodbury at St Mary’s Church from 2pm-4pm. Thursdays - Bath at Bath Central URC (Argyle Hall) from 2pm-4pm. Swindon at Freshbrook Church from 1pm-3pm. Thornbury at Turnberries Community Centre from 1pm-3pm. Fridays - Devizes at St Andrew’s Church from 2pm-4pm. Falmouth at Falmouth Methodist Church (Wesley Hall) from 1pm-3pm. Salisbury at Salisbury Baptist Church from 1pm-3pm. Yeovil at The Gateway / Yeovil Community Church from 1pm-3pm. Grenville himself takes four of the choirs in and around Bath and the other Good Afternoon Choirs are all led by local talented musicians. Each choir has an individual page with full information on the website www.goodafternoonchoir.org There are no auditions required to join your local Good Afternoon Choir and the leaders are always keen to point out that the emphasis is on fun, friendship and singing together. Across the 19 choirs there are over 900 singers and fund raising concerts and singing tours are being planned for this year (2022). The choirs start back week commencing January 10 with an open invitation to any potential new members to go along and ‘discover’ your local Good Afternoon Choir. “The members of the choirs choose the local organisation they wish to support with their concerts and fundraising and this year we will raise many thousands of pounds for deserving local causes,” said Grenville. ENDS Image
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Wednesday 14 July 2021 Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934. www.grenvillejones.biz Back to singing! As the Government lifts Lockdown from next Monday July 19 the relaxation on indoor groups gives a green light to singing and choirs across the UK. Recognised as one of the leaders in choral singing, Bath-based, Grenville Jones will be restarting and launching a number of new choirs across the West of England in the weeks ahead. Said Grenville; “We certainly have not been idle during these last few months and plans are in place. My popular Good Afternoon Choirs in Devizes, Wells, Keynsham and Bath as well as South Gloucestershire, Frome, Yeovil, Bristol, Thornbury, North Somerset and Yate and Chipping Sodbury were all forced to stop. They will all restart (as detailed below) with the addition of nine new Good Afternoon Choirs for folks in Cheltenham, Swindon, Cirencester and Stroud, Salisbury, Taunton, Cheddar Valley, Truro and Falmouth. “In addition Grenville’s two evening choirs, the celebrated Bath Male Choir and his Bath Welcome Chorusmixed-voice choir of over 100 voices will begin rehearsals again in early September. “It’s been such a hard time for the members of our choirs who have desperately missed the singing and social friendships, but at last, we can look forward to being together again, singing, smiling and planning concerts which will support many local organisations and charities,” adds Grenville. “We introduced Zoom rehearsals as well as popular YouTube sofa singing during 2020/2021, but it’s just wonderful to be back ‘live’ again.” There are no auditions required to join Grenville’s Good Afternoon Choirs. The accent is clearly on enjoyment through music together and making new friends. Over 800 people sang in the choir’s that were forced to close last March. The Good Afternoon Choirs… Wells Good Afternoon Choir will be moving to a new venue at St Thomas Church and starting back on Tuesday August 17 with Grenville leading and accompanist Sheila Ross. Keynsham Good Afternoon Choir will start back on Wednesday August 18 with Grenville at the new venue of St John’s / Keynsham Parish Church with Sandie Middleton as accompanist. The new Swindon Good Afternoon Choir will launch on Thursday August 26 with John Sandford and an open rehearsal at Freshbrook Church. The new Salisbury Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal at Salisbury United Reformed Church on Friday August 27 with Andy Brockway as conductor. The new Taunton Good Afternoon Choir will launch on Tuesday August 31 at Temple Methodist Church with talented local musician Chris Grabham. North Somerset Good Afternoon Choir returns to Nailsea Methodist Church on Wednesday September 1 with, a new leader, Ruth Jenkins and accompanist Celia Holland. South Gloucestershire Good Afternoon Choir starts back with leader Matt Finch on Wednesday September 1 at Kingswood Community Centre’s Great Hall. Bath Good Afternoon Choir with Grenville will be starting back on Thursday September 2 at Bath Central United Reformed Church / Argyle Hall with accompanist Sandie Middleton. Thornbury Good Afternoon Choir will start back on Thursday September 2 at Thornbury United Reformed Church with a new leader, the multi talented Brendan Casey. Yeovil Good Afternoon Choir starts back on Friday September 3 with new conductor Chris Grabham at The Gateway, Yeovil Community Church. Cornwall – two new Good Afternoon Choirs will start in Truro and Falmouth. The Truro Good Afternoon Choir will be taken by Andy Farris with the first open rehearsal ‘come and meet us’ on Monday September 6 at Truro Methodist Church. The Falmouth Good Afternoon Choir will also be taken by Andy starting on Friday September 3 with an open rehearsal at Falmouth Methodist Church. Bristol Good Afternoon Choir will start back on Monday September 6 with John Sandford as the new leader at the new venue of St Monica Trust’s Oatley House Hall. Frome Good Afternoon Choir starts back with its popular leader and conductor Matt Finch on Monday September 6 at Holy Trinity Church. The new Cheddar Valley Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal on Tuesday September 7 at Shipham Hall with Kate Lynch and accompanist Robert Anderson. Yate & Chipping Sodbury Good Afternoon Choir starts back on Wednesday September 8 at St Mary’s Church with Sian Walters and Carolyn Dutton as accompanist. Devizes Good Afternoon Choir will start back again with Grenville on Friday September 10 at St Andrew’s Church and accompanist Tim Charity. The new Cheltenham Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal on Monday September 13 at Emmanuel Church with Sandra Burne and accompanist Mark Harmer. The new Cirencester & Stroud Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal on Tuesday October 5 at Cirencester Baptist Church with John Sandford. ENDS www.goodafternoonchoir.org When will we sing again? As a respected choir leader and founder of the Golden-Oldies ‘Sing&Smile’ Charity, Grenville Jones has added his voice to the call for clearer Government guidance on the future of amateur singing indoors. Yesterday in the House of Commons Bath MP Wera Hobhouse asked this question. Ms Hobhouse said; “Our wonderful choirs and choral societies exist across the country. Unlike professional organisations, amateur choirs are not allowed to rehearse in groups of more than six indoors, although the Covid risk is exactly the same. Does the current Government not recognise the contribution that voluntary organisations and amateur choirs make to society at large? “In the West we have the Golden-Oldies Charity that uses singing to tackle loneliness and isolation amongst older people.” The Golden-Oldies Charity, fondly known as ‘Goldies’ was started by Grenville Jones in Bath 13 years ago it has grown across England and Wales to the point, prior to Lockdown, that 220 fun daytime singalong sessions attracted hundreds of older people. These take place in Church halls, Libraries and community rooms. Everyone is welcome and attendees include adults with learning difficulties and those living with Dementia. The ethos is simple, to give those who live lonely lives fun events to look forward to with the accent firmly on the social benefits of being together. Grenville has been associated with choirs for the last 30 years and prior to Lockdown was running 22 choirs across the West of England, seven of which he conducted himself each week. Grenville said; “Together with choir leaders and those involved in amateur music across the UK we are all looking ahead to June 21st with apprehension… will the relaxation of rules come into place that will enable us again to meet together indoors to sing? “For myself, this not only means that my choirs can start to sing in the afternoon and evenings but it also means that we can restart our fun singalong sessions with the 60 freelance leaders that are at the heart of our Goldies Charity. “These take place from Bradford to Cornwall and from Essex across to the whole of South Wales (Goldies Cymru). “We all understand the health risks but, as Ms Hobhouse pointed out we ask why there are rules for professional singers but no regard for amateurs. “Many thousands enjoy singing as a hobby and the effect on the wellbeing of those people cannot be underestimated. I know myself how desperate folk are to get back to their singing group again and we look to our Government to tell us exactly what the situation is. “Hopefully this will be made clear within the next few days so we can again start to plan our rehearsals across the United Kingdom.” Together with many others Grenville has taken to the internet these past few months. He has been leading Zoom singing sessions with two of his choirs each week as well as leading a pre-recorded Wednesday Online choir with over 300 members from across the World. The Charity launched www.goldieslive.com soon after the first Lockdown and there are now two weekly fun online sessions, accessed via YouTube and Facebook as well as a dedicated Welsh language session, once a month. ENDS Picture Caption …. All together again? PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 12 November 2020 Goldies SOFA songs hit the right note Older isolated people across England and Wales are singing on their sofas every week with the Golden-Oldies Charity. “Goldies” as it is more fondly known, was forced by Covid to cancel all of its 220 FUN daytime Sing & Smile sessions back in March. Within weeks the Charity introduced online singing with its popular formula of 60s hits and sessions shared by Rachel Parry and Cheryl Davies, two of the charity’s popular session leaders in Wales. Grenville Jones, Goldies founder takes up the story: “The response was immediate and in July we were able to get funding to increase to twice weekly sessions. Rachel going live every Tuesday and Cheryl leading the singalongs every Thursday.” As the sessions have progressed, they have been supported, promoted and followed by many other Age-Related organisations across England and Wales. The Tuesday sessions with Rachel now take a more magazine-style approach with inserted public health information videos and ‘appearances’ from many of the session leaders who previously delivered the daytime sessions. With a designated website www.goldieslive.com the pre-recorded sessions go live on YouTube and on Facebook every week where they can, of course, be revisited at any time. There is feedback every week from across the UK. Mary Tamburella sent one of the many, many comments received in recent weeks. “Thank you, I really do love the sessions. My sister in law lives with me. She has dementia and I play them to her most nights before bed.” Grenville adds; “If Goldies was important to lonely older isolated people prior to Covid, then now our work is even more vital to combat isolation and well-being, reaching out to those who are vulnerable and stuck at home.” With Christmas on the horizon Rachel and Cheryl are currently working towards a very special Christmas Carol Concert which will be broadcast the Wednesday prior to Christmas Day. It will include popular carols and special performances for everyone to enjoy at home. Even in Lockdown everyone can enjoy a Goldies Christmas. ENDS All enquiries to Grenville Jones 0777 828 2934 Pictured - Rachel and Cheryl “Bring Me Sunshine” Wednesday, November 4, 2020 This time last year (November 2019) members of the City of Bath Male Choir were in Boston, a memorable singing tour to packed audiences. As with all other choirs world-wide live singing for Bath’s celebrated Male Choir came to an abrupt Lockdown stop in March. The choir have been rehearsing through Zoom in recent months and are delighted to be performing again as part of an online carol service which will be broadcast on Sunday December 20. Grenville Jones is Founder of Bath Male Choir, he said; “It’s great for the guys to be singing again and they have been enjoying ‘attending’ their Zoom rehearsals every Tuesday. These have been taken by my youngest son Laurie and he has prepared members of Bath Male Choir for the broadcast performance for the online Christmas Show. “The choir will sing a beautiful piece ‘There is Faint Music’. This, incidentally, was a piece that the choir heard first on their concert tour to Japan six years ago.” Members of Bath Male Choir come from across the area. Laurie Jones (40) is head of music at a Bristol Secondary School and also conducts the Malmesbury Community Choir. The online Christmas Concert is produced by Bath-based Matt Finch and will include performances by a number of choirs from across England. ENDS Our image shows Bath Male Choir in concert early in March 2020 at Richmond Methodist Church in Yorkshire. Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934. Coronavirus - Golden-Oldies Charity “Goldies” has cancelled all daytime SING&SMILE sessions3/11/2020 PRESS NOTICE .. Coronavirus
Wednesday 11 March 2020 THE Golden-Oldies Charity “Goldies” has cancelled all daytime SING&SMILE sessions across England and Wales for the next five weeks because of the Coronavirus COVID-19. The charity, based in Bath, runs its popular FUN sessions for older vulnerable people at over 200 venues in community rooms, church halls and libraries. Thousands attend from Yorkshire to Cornwall, across Essex, East London, the South West Counties and South Wales as Goldies Cymru. The sessions are run by 72 dedicated local freelance leaders. Founder Grenville Jones said; “We know that many of the people who attend our Goldies Sing&Smile sessions are over 80 and are extremely vulnerable in this current situation. Our first responsibility is to care for their wellbeing. “If the situation improves, as we all hope it will, Goldies will recommence the week commencing Monday April 20th. “We have contacted all of our session leaders and all the venues. Goldies sessions bring joy and are very important to so many older people. We hope that SONGS&SMILES will soon be back .” ENDS ……contact is Grenville on 0777 828 2934 Elderly care provider, Elder spoke to Grenville Jones, choirmaster of Golden Oldies. When he set up the first Golden Oldies in 2007, he had no idea that his singing groups for older people would take off so successfully. With over 200 regular sessions now held across the UK, “Goldies” as it’s known, provides a sociable and relaxed place for singers and non-singers to meet and enjoy themselves. We talked to Grenville about the positive power of making music together at any level.
How did you come to set up Goldies? My background is as a choir leader and I've taken evening choirs for a long time - one of my choirs is the Bath Male Choir, which got to the finals of the BBC’s Last Choir Standing. In 2007 I watched a Channel Four programme called Young at Heart, which featured an American choir for older people. It was very moving and I remember one part where the choir went to a prison and sang to some pretty serious criminals who were crying as they listened. “There’s a reluctance to step across the doorstep and a temptation to just put the television on. We’re giving people the opportunity to be sociable – with a good old-fashioned sing-along” Not long after, I was talking to a friend and renowned choir leader about singing and we were discussing the best part of a rehearsal. We both agreed that it was the atmosphere at the end, when everyone is packing up to go home. People are usually laughing and having fun at this point in the atmosphere that comes from making music together. It occurred to me there was an opportunity to take that atmosphere and drop it into community rooms and church halls and other places where people meet during the week, so I decided to start a charity. We had support from Bath Housing Association for the first four sessions, which I took myself. Two ladies who lived in sheltered housing nearby turned up to one of the first - and probably only came because they had nothing else to do. A friend asked me how it went, and I said, “I think it went well, but I'm not sure people will come and if they do then who is going to take all the sessions? How could it go forward and succeed and develop? And my friend said,” If you have faith in it, it will work.” I remember that clearly. Now, years later, we run over 200 regular sessions across England and Wales and have 67 session leaders. What is the aim of Goldies? There are so many older people who live isolated lives and have so little to look forward to in society today. I believe that governments do, generally speaking, care for older people in their homes reasonably well, but there are no social activities anymore. It’s left for people like me and other wonderful organisations to fill that gap. There’s a reluctance to step across the doorstep and a temptation to just put the television on – and figures show that 51 percent of people say the only company they have is the TV on a daily basis. We’re trying to give people the opportunity to be sociable – with a good old-fashioned sing-along. Who is the typical Goldie? If you had asked me all those years ago to describe the “typical Goldie” I would probably have said, ‘likely to be an elderly lady, now widowed, who doesn’t have many opportunities to get out and be with other people.” Of course, that has changed as we have grown - now it's also those in early stage dementia who come to special memory sessions with our memory books, or adults with learning difficulties who come to sing, as well as our traditional attendees. A young lady with depression has joined one of our sessions in Wales because the folk there are so full of fun. It's the highlight of her week - and she's got 50 aunties and uncles who care for her and look forward to seeing her every week. And of course, we also have a schools intergenerational programme now– for which we won the National Lottery Education award last year - a major achievement for a small charity. In the beginning I would never would have thought that we'd have reached out to people with those sort of issues - but Goldies is for everyone. Why do you not consider Goldies to be a choir? I always say that Goldies is not a choir – because you don't have to be a singer to come to a session. It’s a bit like going to your pub and joining in when someone starts playing songs on the piano, and we base sessions on the music of the 60s and 70s - which takes people back to happier times and brings them joy. I led a session years ago in Swindon where we were singing The Wonder of You by Elvis. A couple was sitting in the corner and the husband was obviously in the early stages of dementia and had no light in his eyes. When we started singing though, the light came on again all of a sudden - and I saw him singing to her and her singing to him. At the end of the song he wrapped his arms around her, and they had a huge kiss – for them was a magical moment. A few months later he passed on and the family got in touch to say that when the wife came home from that session, she had told her family about how he had come alive to this song. Perhaps that was one of his favourite songs or perhaps he was an Elvis fan? I can't explain that really - but that song reached through all the fog and brought him back to life – and I can explain the privilege of being able to make that happen. The power of singing is well documented now – and we're not the only organisation to help people with isolation through music. But I think we are fairly unique in the way that we deliver our sessions which are open to everyone. How do the sessions work? The sessions are monthly, and can be held in a community room or other gathering place. People sit round tables or in circles - every session has its own way of doing things. The session leader hands out the song books, which we have as a deliberate policy because reading the songs from the book exercises the brain. We ask the people who come to choose the songs for our song books every year and suggest songs that they'd like to sing. The session leader will then ask the group what they fancy starting off with, and some might say Hi Ho Silver Lining or a bit of Tom Jones. “Goldies is not a choir – because you don't have to be a singer to join in. It’s a bit like going to your pub and joining in when someone starts playing songs on the piano…” Then those who love to sing will sing, and others not - but after about thirty minutes someone will ask for Dancing Queen or another lively song and some people will start to dance. By the end of 60 minutes the room is buzzing, full of laughter and joking and everyone always leaves the session with a smile on their face. How do you find volunteers to lead the sessions? Generally, session leaders find us - I don't know how that happens. Personally, I think it's a bit of divine intervention. You need to be fairly extrovert to be a session leader - not everyone can stand up in front of a group of people. And we have session leaders who are singers and sing in a gospel choir community choir for example, but also people who aren’t singers and just care a lot about what we do. When we start a new session, we might put an advertisement in the local paper to say we're looking for session leaders which sometimes gets a response. More often than not though, the session leaders come to us because they may have bought their mum or dad to a session, or perhaps seen Goldies at a local school. Cliff Richard is your patron - did you know him beforehand? I knew from the outset of the charity that he was the person I would want, because of what he stands for in his outlook and his beliefs and because he'd witnessed dementia first-hand with members of his own family. So, I wrote to him a few times and eventually had a message back to say he had agreed to be our patron. I met him a few years ago when he was doing a show up in the Midlands. I took a group of Goldies with me and we went backstage, where he came and chatted to them - and then let us watch the band’s warm up on the stage, which was great. How would you like Goldies to develop in the next few years? London is our big challenge. I always knew that one day taking Goldies into the capital would come as a request. But to do that wouldn’t be about setting up five sessions, or 50 –it is more like 150 sessions and I only have one full time member of staff. North Wales is another area we want to develop into, and we've had a huge amount of lottery support there. And generally, across the UK I’d like the 200 sessions to be 500…and why shouldn’t they be? If we have 67 session leaders now, then why not 200? I believe in life that if you want something you have to work hard to make it happen and persevere… This article first appeared on Elder, a solution providing an alternative to residential care home by providing access to first rate live-in care, elderly care and dementia care. You can read more interviews from Elder’s Magazine here. //ENDS// PRESS RELEASE
Thursday September 12th, 2019 Eighty singers from across the Bath and Bristol area will be setting out for Truro next Friday, September 20th. Members of the Good Afternoon Choirs will be singing at a joint concert with the SING Choir from Truro and Falmouth for a concert at Truro Methodist Church on Saturday September 21st starting at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm). This is a free admission concert supporting the work of Cornwall Hospice Care. Bath based musician Grenville Jones is the founder of the Good Afternoon Choirs and there are now 10 across the Bath and Bristol area, with over 900 singers. The visiting group of 80 represent all of the choirs and as well as the Saturday evening concert, they will also perform at Truro Cathedral on Saturday afternoon (21st September) from 1-2pm. Grenville said: “We have visited Cornwall on a number of occasions and always have a memorable time. It is great to be working with Matthew Thomason and Giles Woolley with their SING Choir. I am sure that we will all have a great time together making music and supporting a very special Cornwall charity.” Ends RESS RELEASE
Monday, April 29, 2019 Two concert dates for readers diaries! Saturday June 1 and Saturday June 29 – both concerts at St Michael’s Church in the centre of Bath featuring choirs led by Bath’s Mr Music, Grenville Jones . Bath’s celebrated Male Choir will be holding their annual concert on Saturday June 1. The choir hit the headlines when they appeared on the BBC’s ‘Last Choir Standing’ series, reaching the final stages. Since that time they have sung around the UK, toured Japan, sung at the Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate on Remembrance Day. Later this year, will set out for Boston, Massachusetts. At their June concert they welcome a visiting choir from America who are touring England called Encore Chorale. Grenville enjoys the reputation of being one of the UK’s best-known choir leaders. He was one of the ‘100’ judges on the recent popular BBC1 Saturday night TV series, ‘All Together Now’. Tickets for the annual concert, which starts at 7.30pm, are priced £15 from Bath Box Office www.bathboxoffice.org.uk Also at St Michael’s Church on Saturday June 29 at 7.30pm Grenville’s 70 strong Welcome Community Choir will launch an appeal to support the Mencap Super Saturday Club. Based at Three Ways School in Bath, they provide weekly activities for children with additional needs between the ages of 5-18 years old. This will be the first fundraising concert and will feature the brilliant soprano Kirsten Barker. Find out more about the Welcome Choir on www.welcomechoir.org Tickets for the June 29 concert are priced £12 (under 12s £8) and are available from 01761 472468. ENDS Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934. |