Pontnewydd Male Choir
On the 28th August 1904 a group of men called a meeting in Upper Cwmbran, a small mining village in south east Wales, anxious to form a male choir. This meeting was held in the Bush Inn public house and the choir was to be known as the Upper Cwmbran United Male Voice Party. It was to be the beginning of a choir that would span a remarkable 120 years.
In 1930 the choir changed its name from the Upper Cwmbran United Male Voice Party to the Pontnewydd United Male Voice Party and continued to flourish, electing its first President, Mr. W.T. Horton in 1937. However, in 1939, the threat of war loomed for a 2nd time and with many young choristers joining the Forces and others being unable to attend practice because of heavy work commitments the committee decided to devote the choir’s energy and talents to fund raising for various charities.,
Membership grew in number to 85 during the early 1980’s and the choir ventured to the Netherlands in 1983 on its first overseas tour. There followed in 1988, the first of several exchange visits with the MGV Harmonie Bochenau, a male choirfrom Germany. Within recent times, tours to France, Canada and Spain have taken the sound of Welsh male voice singing to parts of the world that founding choristers, 100 years ago, would only
have dreamed about.
The choir visited Poland where we sang concerts in the prestigious Frederick Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and in the Basilica in Krakow. We were also privileged to sing at the ‘shooting wall’ in Auschwitz, a very emotional experience for the choristers and our supporters.
Other recent highlights include tours of France, Cornwall and Yorkshire and taking part in the Festival of Welsh Massed Male Voices held in the Royal Albert Hall in London in May 2018.
Covid has had a major impact on the choir with membership declining significantly but we are undertaking a recruitment drive as we strive to rebuild our numbers.