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Honley Male Voice Choir was formed in 1936 and the choir is now busily preparing for its 75th anniversary in 2011 when a series of events will be held to mark this momentous milestone.
The idea of creating the choir came from Ben Kinder, a well-loved local personality whose main interests were sport and music. Ben, a sales representative who died in 1952 when he was 72, had sung for many years in the now defunct Holme Valley Male Voice Choir.
He decided there was room for another choir in the Holme Valley and he and a group of like-minded friends formed themselves into a committee at a meeting which Ben called at the Wheatsheaf hotel in Honley on October 29th, 1936. Ben was elected Secreary and Ernest Armitage, who had also sung with the Holme Valley Male Voice Choir, became Honley’s first conductor.
Ben’s favourite hymn was Deep Harmony and since the choir’s formation every rehearsal has concluded with the singing of the first verse – Sweet is the work my God, my King. To praise thy name give thanks and sing. To show thy love by morning light and talk of all thy truth at night – so maintaining the link with the choir’s founders and their twin aims of “excellence in male voice singing and good fellowship.”
The choir’s first rehearsal was held on November 6th, 1936 at the Southgate Methodist School, which is now the Honley Theatre, and when the Second World War broke out in September, 1939, the choir had about forty-five members. Twelve joined the armed forces and many others were working over-time doing war work and so in September, 1941, it was decided to suspend the choir’s activities.
But rehearsals were resumed early the following year and the choir’s first touch of international fame followed in December, 1942 when thirty-eight members travelled to the BBC studio in Leeds to record six songs which were broadcast in the USA in a “Britain Sings” programme.
After the war the choir won first prize at the Mrs Sunderland Musical Festival in Huddersfield in three successive years, 1948-50. Since then the choir has had a number of successes at competitions, including winning first prize s at the Blackpool Music Festival in 1964 and the Morecambe Music Festival in 1984.
In 1990 they had further success in the “Mrs Sunderland” and won the first National Male Voice Choir Championship and the Champion of Champions contest a year later.
In 1975 the choir made the first of several trips to the Netherlands – the start of a link with the Ulfts Mannenkoor choir which continues to this day – and in 1991 embarked on a concert tour to Florida, USA. In 1996 they competed in an International Choir Festival in Malta and during the 1990s the choir provided pre-match entertainment at eight national and international Rugby League and Rugby Union matches at Wembley, Twickenham, Old Trafford and Galpharm (Huddersfield) stadiums.
Entertaining audiences always has been more important than competing in contests.
In recent years the choir has staged several theatrical-style theme concerts with movement, drama and comedy and regularly appears at the Huddersfield Town Hall with the country’s top bands. In each of the last five years their guests at their annual Christmas concert has been the world-famous Cory Band – No. 1 in the world for the past three years – and which has been booked to return at the 2010 Christmas concert.
The choir has raised many thousands of pounds for good causes such as the Kirkwood Hospice in Huddersfield and the West Yorkshire Forget Me Nor Trust, which is raising money for a children’s hospice in Huddersfield, and has staged two shows at the Lowther Pavilion in Lytham, the first in 2005 in aid of a new cardiac unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and the second, in 2008, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
In their 73 year history the choir has had six Musical Directors.
The choir’s founder conductor Ernest Armitage who died in April 1957 was in charge until October, 1952 and led the choir to success in a number of contests, including the Mrs. Sunderland Musical Festival in Huddersfield in three successive years.
A close friend of Ben Kinder, he was a prominent local tenor and for some years sang with the Fletcher Singers and broadcast on many occasions and like Ben had been a member of the Holme Valley Male Voice Choir.
He was succeeded by Ronald Daniel who had been a tenor soloist with the Holme Valley choir. Under his direction the membership of the choir grew to more than sixty after it had dropped below 20 and it achieved success in a number of musical festivals. He left the choir in 1974 and in his twenty-two years with Honley he rarely missed a rehearsal despite having to catch two buses from his home in Meltham.
Ronald, who died in 1984, was succeeded by Roy Firth who had been deputy-conductor and principal bass-baritone soloist with Colne Valley Male Voice Choir.
He was a singing pupil of George Stead, one of Britain’s leading chorus masters and in 1951 he reached the Yorkshire Area Final of the Festival of Britain. During his fourteen years at Honley his ability to put audiences at ease with his ready wit and bright personality contributed greatly to the choir’s success on the concert platform.
He also twice led the choir to success at the Morecambe Musical Festival in 1976 and 1984. Roy who was also choirmaster and organist at the Golcar Baptist Church was forced the leave the choir in 1988 because of ill health but after his retirement he joined the Huddersfield Choral Society, where he sang for eight years, and in 1992 was appointed conductor of the Huddersfield U3A mixed choir where he stayed until his death in 1998.
Alan Jenkins, who took over from Roy, led the choir to success in the Mrs. Sunderland and the first National Male Voice Choir Championship in 1990 and the Champion of Champions contest at Widnes the following year. Brought up in the Salvation Army, Alan played euphonium with Stockport Citadel Band and after completing his military service he won a scholarship to study at the Royal Manchester College of Music and later took up a professional career playing the tuba. He was principal tuba with the Halle Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli, from 1956 to 1961 and held the same position for the next seven years with the London Symphony Orchestra and was Professor of Tuba the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1965 to 1968. For the next fourteen years Alan lived in America where he studied voice and choral music at Florida State University and the University of Texas. He was general manager of the Florida International Music Festival for two years and directed several choirs and also worked as a journalist with various newspapers in Florida and Texas.
Following his return to England he was appointed Head of Vocal Studies at Huddersfield Technical College and Features Editor and later Editor of the magazine Brass Band World and was also Musical Director of Hepworth Band for five years and founded and directed the Opus 44 Ladies’ Choir. He left Honley in 1997 to take charge of the Huddersfield Choral Society Youth Choir and was succeeded by Sean De Burca, who at 28 was the youngest conductor of the choir since its formation.
Sean, who graduated from the University of Ulster in 1991 with a BA degree with first class honours in performance and composition, studied for two years at the Royal Northern College of Music and was awarded a post-graduate Diploma in Advance Performance. He taught music at a high school in Denton, near Manchester, where he established a number of choirs and was also Musical Director of the Glossop Operatic and Dramatic Society.
He left Honley after two and a half years to pursue other musical interests and Alan Jenkins returned to the choir in May 2000 and introduced theatre-style theme concerts using movement, comedy and drama. Alan retired in December 2008 along with accompanist John Oldfield and was succeeded by Keith Roberts in January, 2009.
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The choir has started 2012 with a new Musical Director. He is 55 year old Peter Lynch, who has taken over from Alan Jenkins.
Peter has spent all his adult life in music and education and has been teaching music for thirty three years in a number of schools in the Halifax area.
Born in Rossendale, Lancashire, Peter studied at Bretton Hall, Leeds University, where he gained a degree in Music and Education. Among various posts he has held he was Director of Music at Rastrick High School for ten years during which he promoted muic within the local community and raised money for local and national charities.
Later he held a similar post for thirteen years at Rishworth School where he organised many overseas tours to Europe. He directed choirs at every school where he taught and was Musical Director of many dramatic and musical productions at most of them.
Peter, who now teaches at North Halifax Grammar School, has a son, Christopher and a daughter, Amy, who is training to be an opera singer, and a step daughter, Elizabeth. He lives in Krumlin near Halifax with his wife, Rose, who teaches at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax.
Outside his school work, Peter, who sings Baritone or Second Tenor and has a Grade 8 qualification on the trombone, has been involved for some years with local amateur theatre. He was for five years Music Director of the Halifax Light Opera Society and was also Chorus Master of the Halifax Amateur Dramatic Society.
He is also a great lover of jazz, swing and the big band sound and is currently Musical Director of the Calderdale Community Big Band, a post he has held for the past two years.
Sue, a schoolteacher took over in January, 2009 from John Oldfield who had been the choir's accompanist for forty years, and is well known to local concert and theatre audiences. Born in Durham she started piano lessons at the age of eight and as a teenager had occasional classes with Dennis Mathews, then Professor of Music at Newcastle University.Her interest in accompanying developed when she was a pupil at Durham Girls' Grammar School and accompanied the choir and played at school concerts.
In 1975 she began a three year BA (Hons) degree in music at the then Huddersfield Polytechnic, specialising in Performance and Music History and studied piano with Martin Roscoe, organ with Peter Seymour, voice with David Lennox and harpsichord with Graham Cummings.
After graduating in 1978, she gained a teaching certificate at Leeds Polytechnic and taught for three years in schools in the Huddersfield area. She later gave up full time teaching to start a family but continued with her studies and in 1986 gained an LTCL (Performers) diploma. While her two daughters were young she taught the piano and co-ordinated music training for nursery nurses on a part-time basis at Huddersfield Technical College and returned to full-time primary school teaching in the early 1990s. Currently she teaches music and RE to Year 5 pupils at Honley Junior School.
Sue has worked with a number of local choirs and amateur dramatic societies and currently she is accompanist to the Huddersfield Singers and the Woodhouse Operatic Society. She has also accompanied a variety of soloists, including her daughters Debra and Sarah.
She accompanies the annual Primary Schools Music Festival at Huddersfield Town Hall and is a committee member and one of the accompanists for the Holmfirth Music Festival.
The choir's genial and popular organist and deputy accompanist has been with the choir for thirty-five years. He still lives in the house in Armitage Bridge, just outside Huddersfield, where he was born on St. Valentine's Day, February 14th 1935.
Every Sunday he plays the organ for services at three different churches. - St. Paul's Church, Armitage Bridge, St.John's Church, Newsome, Huddersfield, and Salendine Nook Baptist Church. There is one drawback to his stint at Armitage Bridge and Newsome. The same minister looks after both churches, so George has to listen to the same sermon twice!
But on Sunday, February 21st the subject of the sermon at the Salendine Nook Baptist Church will be George himself when the choir will join him at a special Songs of Praise at the church to celebrate his 75th birthday. George, of course, will be playing the organ as usual.
Playing the organ is George's greatest pleasure in life. He first started when he was 14 and he gets a great deal of pleasure from playing the magnificent Father Willis organ at the Huddersfield Town Hall when the choir performs concerts there. A former President of the Huddersfield and District Organists' Association, he is also an accomplished pianist and was for many years accompanist to the Honley Gilbert and Sullivan Society until it closed down several years ago and at present he accompanies Huddersfield's Over Sixties Choir.
