St David's Concert

This evening we were at St Mary's Church in Swansea City Centre for a St David's concert hosted by Gwalia Singers. The purpose of this concert is to raise funds for the choir to take part in the Celtic Festival at the end of May in Barbados. The choir will be representing the whole of Wales at this event.

The Celtic Festival began in Barbados when a Welsh woman brought her father's Male Voice Choir over to the island and it was a huge success. Since then the festival has been held annually, but no Welsh Male Voice choir has taken part since. The Gwalia Singers will be changing all that.

Tonight's concert also saw performances by the Mid Rhondda Brass Band, who are based in Tonypandy. Founded in 1941 as the Tonypandy Silver Band, its name was changed to Mid Rhondda Brass Band in 1949. In 1995 it became known as the Thomas Coaches Mid Rhondda Band following support from local Coach Proprietor Mr Glyn Thomas.

We also heard sings from The Eclectics, who are a group of friends who love to sing together in harmony unaccompanied. This group have a wide repertoire ranging from African songs to Beatles hits to a song by Henry VIII and we were treated to a good selection of these songs.