A wonderful, uplifting and thought provoking evening at St. John’s in Penistone. Stories of hope, and light after dark times told on ‘Voices of Hope’ audio recordings. Alongside amazing art, creativity and encouragement. We loved all the ‘Trees of Life’ woven in to the displays. Huge thanks to Mick Rowe and her inspirational ideas. We were thrilled to be able to add some voices in song, We loved a bit of improv gospel “Amazing Grace” with the fabulous Lorna. We were super grateful to the support from Julie Curtis in accompanying on the piano. Do take a look at brilliant photography from Kat at Bumblebugs Photography For more info on the ‘Suicide Sucks’, and their ‘Have you got 8 mins mate’ campaign check out their website https://www.suicidesucks.co.uk/
Our last Ready Steady Sing was on Sunday 1st March, St. David’s Day, we warmed up with Calon Lan, and All Through the Night. The breath work, tuning and lyrical lines were incredible. Philip (our pianist, and professional vocal coach), led us though a session on vocal range, and how to accurately find both higher, and lower notes, with good control, tone and support. We have all learnt so much from his sessions, even the choir members coming along, and our MD, who has been loving the vocal training.
Our MD, Rachel, took a session on conducting, so we can all now conduct, and understand how to follow conducting, in both simple and compound time. Such fun!
We worked hard on the pieces we are singing with the choir at the Paramount on March 21st. Don’t Fence Me In (complete with coconuts!) our MDs arrangement of Drunken Sailor (with our newly formed choir folk band!) and the Gospel Medley. We can’t wait to share with our friends, and family.
We’ve had fantastic feedback on the course, bowled over by how much you’ve all enjoyed it. This Monday, 9th, and next Monday, 16th sees RSS members joining MGMVC at the beginning of the practice to rehearse our joint items.
We can’t say thank you enough to those choir and committee members who made this possible – to Paul P for applying for funding, to Dave A for coordinating the events, to Jon J for all the correspondence, to Di A for tea making and welcomes, to John O’B for being the most fab tech team… and to all the members who came along to make everyone so welcome and support the singing.. and newly formed folk band (Ralph, Matthew and Gordon) what a team ❤️🎶
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.
You’ve heard of Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler, how about coming to see Chris and David ‘The Melodic’ Marshes!!
Father and son members of Millhouse Green Male Voice Choir are holding a darts marathon to raise funds for their choir.
Millhouse Green Male Voice Choir are representing Penistone and surrounding area at The Eskdale Festival of the Arts in Whitby in March. Two members of the choir, father and son Chris and David Marsh are raising money to fund the trip by holding a darts marathon at Millhouse Institute on Sunday 2ndFebruary 2025 and you can help them by coming along on the day to cheer them on, join in on the main board, or take part in a nine dart challenge on a second board. The challenge will cost you £2.00 and the aim is to score as many points as you can with nine darts – half of the money raised will go to the winner with the other half going to the choir.
As well as being members of the choir, Chris and David have been avid darts fans and players for many years. Chris has played darts for five different teams over the past twenty years in the Denby Dale and Penistone leagues, receiving the Highest Checkout Award with the 170 checkout. David followed in his fathers’ footsteps at the age of 15, playing for The Spread Eagle team in Penistone and is now the Vice Captain in his local pub league. He also plays on-line for In The Mud Sports.
The marathon will be streamed on-line worldwide and you can donate either in person on the day or via Just Giving using the following link: –
You never know, some choir members might be around to help the day along with a song or two!
The darts marathon will take place between 9.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. on SATURDAY 2nd FEBRUARY 2025 at Millhouse Green Institute, Manchester Road, Millhouse Green, Sheffield, S36 9NR
A fabulous Christmas has been had by all! We’ve sung with the amazing Thurlstone Brass band at Thurlstone Church, performed for the volunteers at Barnsley Hospice, had a Christmas dinner with a sing late into the night at the Dog and Partridge pub, and we finished the year with a fundraising concert at the Millhouse Green Institute!
We wish all our members and supporters a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful new year, see you all in 2025 ♥️🎶
Saturday 9th November, we were invited once again to sing at St. John’s in Dodworth for their annual Concert of Remembrance. We had a number of soloists from within our choir, as well as Richard who read some fitting poetry, and Imogen who (on her 16th birthday) played both a very flamboyant Bolero, and a very beautiful Schindler’s List. Our string quartet played a beautiful Flander’s Field for us, before Flynn led us into a 2 minutes silence with the Last Post. What a poignant and fitting evening of remembrance.
We’re all absolutely buzzing from a wonderful afternoon at the Paramount in Penistone where we shared the stage with local acts ‘The Cardi Boys’, including our very own top tenor Will B, and Ralph Shaw – King of the Ukelele. All 3 acts performed brilliant variety show acts, and we ended the afternoon with a fab joint singalong medley – Kings of Swing! ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ finished the afternoon with the audience on their feet for a standing ovation! Huge thanks to everyone who came, who sang, who acted or who supported! Proceeds are split between causes, the Cardi Boys have chosen BIADS as their local charity. Big thank you to the amazing James Barnett who stepped in as pianist this afternoon, and to our very own baritone / guitarist Michael Bond for joining in with the singalong! We loved Ralph’s harmonica playing, which completed the band. What a fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon 🎶🎶❤️🎹
MGMVC have just come back from the most amazing adventures in Coventry. Thursday 5th Sept we performed twice, once inside Coventry Cathedral and once in the ruins. Highlights included Albert Hay Malotte’s Lord’s Prayer (with soloist top tenor Chris), Grieg’s Ave Maria Stella, Bring Him Home (soloist 2nd tenor Ray) and some fabulous traditional hymns. More poignant singing by the alter of the ruins, including solos by top tenor Will B as part of our own MDs arrangement of ‘War Horse’, and Bogdan Pyasta’s last performance with us as he floated the Ukranian opening to Harbour through the space.
Thursday evening brought a choir social night and a chance to relax together in the hotel (Hilton Doubletree), some of us even managed a dip in the hotel and spa.
Friday brought about an organised trip to Warwick Castle, with the most gorgeous weather, and an evening party with guests from Rugby, Coventry and Stoneleigh Male Voice Choirs. Much talent from all the groups! Highlight of the evening – definitely the song about the oyster… from our very own Ralph Shaw, the singalong a capella numbers from Stan and the Rugby lads, and some Yorkshire dialect poetry from our resident poet laureate Christine.
Our last full day brought an early morning rehearsal. We’ve been so blessed to have the wonderful Donald Stephenson join us a guest bass, and the wonderful 2nd tenor Chris down from the Lake District. After the basses had stayed behind, for extra ‘Love Could I Only Tell Thee’ practice there was a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon… in the rain! But what a fabulous place. Our musical team, undeterred by the rain even managed to eat outside the RSC!
After an early dinner (we’ve all eaten so so much this weekend), we went to our concert venue. A 3 way concert with Rugby and Coventry Male Voice Choirs. What a sound! 6 joint items from the 3 groups – with both music teams working together – MDs Christine and Rachel, and pianists Philip, Ian and Tim. The evening finished with a, very long and very loud, standing ovation.
On return to the hotel the singing just didn’t stop – there were solos, pieces, singalongs… you name it, it was sung! And sung late into the night… and on into the early hours.
We are so so thankful to our trip organisers Ray Hutchinson and Steve Dixon for the incredible job they did. Every weekend away with our group is always special, and this one was no exception.
Sunday morning brought thank yous to our organisers, to Kev our epic coach driver, and a birthday cake and card for 2nd tenor Melvyn. Roll on MGMVC on tour 2025. We can’t wait!
Millhouse Green Male Voice Choir at Coventry Cathedral Ruins
What a fabulous evening we had in Silkstone on Sat 13th July. We enjoyed a fantastic variety of songs and pieces performed by not just us, but our guests the V&A Choral Ensemble and our visiting soloist Bodgan Pyasta. A packed church, and a full program. Huge thanks to the organisers, the refreshments team, our choir soloists and both our very talented accompanists, Philip Sutcliffe and Elliott Walker. It was a fantastic treat to sing both Cwm Rhonda and Albert Hay Malotte’s Lord’s Prayer with the backing of the very powerful 3 manual Viscount organ. Hugely thankful to Elliott for joining us in those. The emotional joint item, Harbour, left both the choirs and audience in tears – such a powerful piece with a 1st verse performed in a capella Ukranian by Bogdan. We’re looking forward to our return visit, joining the V&A in Derbyshire on June 14th next year ❤️🎶
