A wonderful concert of remembrance. Huge thank you to all our fabulous soloists – the beautiful soprano Ruth Bisby, our own lovely bass William Johnson, and to Emily Atkinson on the flute, and Flynn who came to play the last post for our act of remembrance. A small group from within the choir, sang a beautiful arrangement of ‘The Parting Glass’, a traditional Irish / Scottish melody sung at the parting of friends.

We were led into the act of remembrance by our choir Veteran Richard who read a moving poem, and then the words before the silence. Such a warm and welcoming church.

Thank you to Canon Keith for his kind words and blessing, and to all the church community who provided such amazing refreshments! The baking is always a highlight of our year. Such an important concert in the choir’s calendar.

#wewillrememberthem

Saturday 20th Sept – it’s never rained quite as much in any one day yet this year! So a very fitting day in which to raise money for the church’s much needed new roof. We’d forgotten how fabulous the acoustics were, and how much of a warm welcome we received. So lovely to sing to those in our local community. We’re really looking forward to performing with Penistone ladies on Sat 6th Dec in this church, and again in Oct next year with the Holme Valley Singers

We’re back from the most fabulous choir weekend away!
A few highlights for you –

Thursday 11th Sept: performance of a lunchtime concert in Durham Cathedral to a packed audience. The most wonderful acoustics and very fitting program, including Harbour, Cwm Rhonda, You Raise Me Up, My Lord What a Morning, and our first performance of Arthur Sullivan’s ‘The Long Day Closes’

Friday 12th Sept: Whole choir trip to Beamish, with a flashmob sing in the visitor centre (which our MD and pianist missed… as they were still riding the vintage tram!) Choir social and informal performances, with special guests from Sunderland Male Voice Choir. We gave another first performance, this time of ‘A Field of Gold’ as a special gift to Brenda Hind, in memory of John.

Saturday 13th Sept: An early breakfast before our MD rehearsed us and checked we were performance ready. The coach went back to Durham today, where a group flashmobbed the main square, by the Markets. The Durham Market Facebook page has 13.3k views to date.

Our evening concert was in the fabulous setting of Hartlepool St. Hilda’s, hosted by Hartlepool Male Voice choir and with Sunderland Male Voice Choir as guests too. Huge thanks to the leadership and MD teams from both choirs. We felt super welcome, and loved the performances from all 3 choirs. The joint items were our favourite – Philip, the MD from Sunderland led us through American Trilogy at the end of the first half, and our MD Rachel finished the concert by uniting the 3 choirs with ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Mis, and Morte Christe.

Huge thank you to the fabulous trip organising team of Paul Pearson and Michael Bond. We can’t wait for next year!

Thank you to David, Kim and Yvonne for inviting us up to Kirkburton to sing in the marvellous All Hallows Church, what a wonderful evening of song and camaraderie. Fantastic singing from both groups, bar and buffet laid on by the HVS team. Lovely start and finish to the concert with joint numbers ‘With a Voice of Singing’ and ‘Anthem’ from Chess. We’re looking forward to their return visit to Penistone / Thurlstone.

We had a fabulous afternoon on Sat 28th June singing in the sunshine. Thanks to Phil for conducting us, and to church for inviting us. What a splendid afternoon we’ve all had.

We were delighted to perform alongside The Dalesmen MVC and the V&A Choral Ensemble in St. Peter’s Church Belper. This was a return visit for us, after the V&A joined us in Silkstone last year.

As well as performing our own sets, we enjoyed some joint male voice choir items with the Dalesmen – Conducted by the very talented (and super sparkly) Paul Marshall, we sang Anthem, Gwahhodiad and American Trilogy. Elliott Walker joined the Dalesmen’s pianist Bill on the organ for a roof raising duet accompaniment to American Trilogy.

The three choirs together performed under the direction of our musical director Rachel Atkinson. We sang Anna Tabblesh’s ‘Harbour’, as well as Alan Barnard’s arrangement of ‘Caro Mio Ben’. The final number was ‘You Raise Me Up’, this time with our very own Philip Sutcliffe on piano, joined by Elliott on the organ. What a sound!

Sat April 26th brought our 44th annual celebrity concert at the Penistone Paramount. This year we welcomed The Band of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service as our celebrities. They played a huge and varied repertoire from the upbeat and fast ‘Jitterbug’, to the most beautiful arrangement of ‘O Magnum Mysterium’.

The choir sang a varied program too, including our winning pieces from the Eskdale festival. The concert joint items were ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ (John Williams for the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’) and Nick Dolling’s arrangement of a ‘Gospel Medley’ which required audience participation too.

Our commère for the evening was Christine Goodwin. A fabulous evening was had by all, and a huge thank you to Barbara Green and her volunteers for preparing supper afterwards.

MILLHOUSE GREEN MALE VOICE CHOIR SCOOP TWO AWARDS AT PRESTIGIOUS ESKDALE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

First place awarded to Millhouse Green Male Voice Choir in the Male Voice Choir and Sea Shanty sections

Around forty members of Millhouse Green Male Voice Choir, led by Musical Director Rachel Atkinson and accompanied by Philip Sutcliffe, travelled to Whitby last weekend to take part in the National Choir Day at Eskdale Festival of the Arts. Last year they took third place but this year they came first in both sections, with over 95 marks awarded by the adjudicator.

A total of ten choirs took part in the National Choir Day, and each choir in the first session sang a set piece, given to them by the festival, as well as a piece chosen by themselves. The session two classes were own choice by category.
The mark of over 95 meant that the performance was classed as “Exceptional – a superlative performance, displaying exceptional artistic individuality”

The adjudicator, Martin Wallington, said of the Millhouse performance of ‘The Impossible Dream’ and ‘The Song of The Jolly Roger’ that it was ‘Uplfiting, energetic singing, very clear diction and a sense of the fun of the text!’, whilst his appraisal of ‘The Wellerman’ in the sea shanty section was that it had ‘Good solos and I could imagine you singing while working on the rigging! – excellent performance’

The choir would like to thank all their supporters, many of whom travelled with them to Whitby. They would also like to thank Penistone Round Table for their financial support.

If you would like to hear these songs performed by the choir, you can do so on Saturday 26th April 2025 at Penistone Paramount at 7.15 p.m., when they will be performing alongside their guests The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Band, for an exceptional evening of music for all.

If you would like to join this award-winning choir, they rehearse every Monday evening at Millhouse Institute, Millhouse Green, S36 9NP at 7.30 p.m. New members are always very welcome and if you wish to speak to anyone about joining please contact choir member Paul Pearson on 07743 440208 or by e-mail on paulpearson56@hotmail.co.uk

Press Release thanks to to Ruth Pearson

This Sept we’re off to the magnificent North East to perform with Hartlepool and Sunderland Male Voice Choirs, as well as a lunchtime concert in Durham Cathedral. We can’t wait. The fabulous Michael (baritone) and Paul (2nd tenor) have been up there this weekend testing everything out for us… hotels, pubs, sunshine… it’s a hard life 😉

The choir were honoured today to sing for John’s family and friends. We sang ‘With a Voice of Singing’ as the service began and ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother’ as memories were shared. What a wonderful tribute for a truly exceptional gentleman.