Birmingham Icknield Male Voice Choir - Blog

January 31st, 2021

31/1/2021

It is with great regret that we have to announce the passing of Ken Langston with a heart condition brought on by Covid-19. We send our condolences to Lisa, his daughter, and to the rest of his family. Ken was a long time member of the choir, singing in the 2nd bass section. Ken was an enthusiastic member and regularly sang at local concerts as well as our large annual concerts and the mass choirs of the English Association of Male Voice Choirs. He will be sadly missed by all his friends.
Rest in Peace Ken.

A Christmas message from all at BIMVC.

31/12/2020

A Happy Birthday to Jim Saunders who last weekend celebrated his 90th birthday. He is now officially the elder statesman in the choir. Our congratulations and best wishes to you Jim, from all of us at BIMVC.
Hope you enjoyed our Christmas video message @BIMV_CHOIR check out our Facebook page if you missed it.. Thanks to Phil Ward for his Tweets.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to one and all from all at BIMVC.
Keep safe, keep healthy over the festive season and for 2021.
Meirion Bowen.
Concert Secretary.

Choir Members News

15/12/2020

Jean Banister
For those who remember Jim Banister, along standing ex. choir member and former chairman,I have to inform you that his wife Jean passed away on the 5th December.Jean had been ill for sometime with dementia.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to Jim and his family at this sad time.
John Warr.

Virtual Concert Of Remembrance 2020

27/11/2020

Birmingham Canoldir Male choir hosted a virtual Concert of Remembrance on Saturday,14th November to help raise much needed money for the British Legion's Poppy Appeal.
The concert included excerpts from the 2018 Festival of Remembrance at the Birmingham Town Hall
with the massed choirs of the English Association of Male Voice Choirs.Guests for the virtual concert included RGS Dodderhill Aluminae Ladies Choir with Caroline Vinson.
We wish to thank Canoldir's James Jones MD, for presenting a memorable evening of music and song to lift our spirits.
With the talk of a safe and effective vaccine to ward against Covid-19, very much heralded in the media,we look forward to the time when our choir members can meet up safely in the same room to sing together in perfect harmony,with perhaps a little more practice needed!!
Until that time, keep safe and keep healthy.
Meirion Bowen. Concert Secretary, BIMVC.

Jim Currie - The passing of a dear friend

27/11/2020

It is with regret we announce the sad passing away of our dear friend and first bass chorister,Jim Currie, on Saturday,12th September,2020.Jim had suffered ill health for some considerable time.
His daughters Jeanette, Kirsteen and sisters said, "Dad loved every minute he spent with the choir"
That feeling was mutual. He will be sadly missed. Jim Currie RIP

EAMVC's 120th Anniversary Concert.

3/7/2020

EAMVC's 120th Anniversary Concert.
Birmingham Icknield MVC celebrated our 120th Anniversary, not at The Great Hall, Birmingham University as planned but as a virtual concert on Zoom. It was the best we could do under the circumstances, although we all missed having an audience to sing to. We look forward to those days with great anticipation.
The programme consisted of many of our favourite songs starting with What Would I Do Without My Music, followed by African Prayer among others and finishing off with Morte Criste with its rousing finish. You could almost hear the audience shouting for an encore!
Our thanks to members of Hadley and District MVC and Worcester MVC for joining us for this special occasion and to Steve Roche,our MD for leading us all in song.
A special mention to our Chairman, Alisair Campbell, who along with others, took part in a sponsored walk in Sutton Park, helping raise in excess of £3000.00 for Birmingham St.Mary's Hospice, our chosen charity for this year's EAMVC concert. Well done to all walkers and fundraisers.
Keep safe and keep healthy.
Meirion Bowen.
BIMVC Concert Secretary.

Coronavirus lockdown Update - Meirion Bowen Concert secretary

24/5/2020

Welcome back to a long overdue addition to our blog. We at BIMVC hope that you are all safe and well but also looking forward to the time when we are able to safely meet up with family and friends and to be able to give each other a hug or a handshake whichever being the most appropriate!!
In the last month or we heard that Barbara Ward had sadly passed away. We wish to pass on our sincere condolences to her husband Colin Ward, a fellow chorister at BIMVC as well as to family and friends.
As you know from reading our homepage, we at BIMVC have not been meeting in person for rehearsals since the lockdown back in March and all other choir activities have been cancelled till further notice. However, a large number of choristers have been meeting virtually, to carry on our rehearsals under the leadership of our MD, Steve Roche. it is proving to be a popular weekly slot on our calendar when we are able to practice our vocal skills and keep in touch with fellow choristers. Our thank to Steve for making this enjoyable activity possible.
To keep up with other choir news please follow us on our Facebook page or on our Twitter feeds on BIMVC.org.uk
Our thanks to Phil Ward Jnr for his continued good work.
Meirion Bowen.
Concert secretary,BIMVC

St Pauls Christmas Concert 2019

2/1/2020

A Christmas Concert at St. Paul's Church, Hamstead.
BIMVC enjoyed a good Christmas Concert at St. Paul's, our last concert of 2019.
We got into the Christmas spirit by singing our favourite carols.
It was a wet and cold evening but the appreciative audience turned out in numbers to join in with singing along to the audience participation section of the concert.
Many thanks to June and Stewart for recording and editing the videos which you can listen to on our blog.
We wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2020.
Meirion Bowen
Concert Secretary, BIMVC.

Phil Buzza. The passing of a dear friend.

21/11/2019

It is with regret we announce the passing away of our dear friend and fellow chorister, Phil Buzza.
Phil had suffered ill health for some considerable time.
He joined the choir in 2003 and had served on the committee and was our music librarian for many years.
Music(and singing) was one of Phil's many passions and he was committed to supporting the choir until ill health prevented him from attending choir events.
He will be sadly missed. RIP Phil

BIMVC Annual concert 2019

26/10/2019

Our annual concert held at Emmanuel Church, Wylde Green, on Sat. !9th, October was a great success.
The choir, led by our MD, Steve Roche, opened the concert with When the Saints go Marchin In, accompanied on the piano by Chris Wark, with Clare Ray on drums.
The varied programme of music and song featured three of the choir soloists,Jim Saunders, Alistair Campbell(with Jobe Baker Sullivan) followed by Steve O'Malley.
Our guest artiste for this evening was Lesley Delo who captivated the audience with a repertoire of popular songs, which included the much loved aria by Puccini, Oh My Beloved Father.
ChrisWalk and Steve Roche entertained with a piano duet and as with each of our concerts, the popular audience participation song was led by Jobe with a medley of songs starting with She'll be coming round the Mountain.
The choir and soloist Lesley, brought the concert to a close with Love Changes Everything which the audience greatly appreciated as demonstrated by their generous applause.
Our thanks to the choir wives for providing the refreshments during the interval as well as the front of house team who dealt with tickets and raffles etc.
Finally, our thanks to Fr. John Bridge who arranged for the concert to be held at this beautiful church. We shall be back!
Many thanks to everyone in the large audience, friends and first timers alike, who helped make the evening so special. Hope to see you all again,soon.
Meirion Bowen.
BIMVC.