Updated October 2004
1.
The Past
During the First World War
there was a branch of the Coventry Ordnance Factory in
Many other Choirs had been
formed from people who had been sent to
There have been no gaps in
performance since 1925, so the Spring Concert held on
The Conductors
The Choir has always been very well
served by its Conductors, and has never forgotten them:
1925 – 1935: Robert Howie
1935 – 1940: John Rankin
1940 – 1946: Sam Kempsall (J Rankin on War service)
1946 – 1951: John Rankin
1951 – 1956: George McVicar
1956 – 1966: John Rankin
1966 – 1982: Ian Milligan
1982 – 1985: Joseph Cullen
1985 – 1995: Elizabeth Izatt
1995 – 1998: David Hamilton
1998 – 2000: Elizabeth Izatt
Jun-Dec 2000: James Hunter
2001 William
Barr
The Accompanists
In addition to the Conductors, our
Concert Accompanists have given many years’ of superb service to the
Choir: Ailie Cullen (1934 – 1952) and
Margaret Rankin (1955 – 1986) between them account for 51 years! From 1986 to 1998 Lynda Green was Concert
Accompanist, and now Claire Haslin has succeeded her.
We must not forget our Rehearsal Accompanists
who perform every Tuesday evening, often having to sit through note-bashing
sessions doing nothing but providing a G or a B flat on demand: Andrew C
Taylor, Hugh Haggarty (40 years between them), Florence Elliott, Marion
Christie, Claire Haslin, Robin Adams, Judith Keaney, Andrew Johnston, Geneviene
Wong and Gavin Brady. In 2002 Elaine
Brennan became our Rehearsal and Concert Accompanist.
The Triumphs and the Disasters
Many would agree that the greatest day
in the Choir’s history – to date – was
In 1960 and again in 1961, the Choir was
first in the Male Voice class in the BBC competition “Let The People Sing”, and
in 1975 we made an LP recording.
In 1972 and 1979 there were Combined
Concerts with other Male Voice Choirs: with the
We have often performed with Brass
Bands, most recently in the Royal Concert Hall with the Scottish Massed Male
Voice Choir and the Kirkintilloch Band.
One of the most memorable of these concerts was in 1977, when we shared
the City Hall platform with the Kettering Band of the Salvation Army. Ian Milligan conducted The Mulligan Musketeers, in which the Choir sound like a Brass
Band, to the great glee of all present.
In 1990, as our contribution to
At the end of 1990 the Glasgow
Philharmonic Choir was one of the Founder Members of the Scottish Massed Male
Voice Choir, and we have maintained our association with them, performing on
several occasions in the Royal Concert Hall.
We are the only Scottish Choir to have
been invited by the London Welsh Male Voice Choir to take part in their
bi-annual Festivals of Male Voice which are held in the Royal Albert Hall. We first took part in 1990 then again in
1994, and we participated again in October 2000.
We have been involved with the National
Association of Choirs and the National Federation of Music Societies, and have
taken part in a number of joint activities, including a memorable performance
of The Messiah in Glasgow Cathedral
in October 1998. From that concert and
some subsequent events we have formed a lasting friendship with the Gleniffer
Singers, who are a Ladies’ Choir.
Our numbers have risen from 38 in 1926
to over 90 in 1962 and are now about 52.
There is always room for more members!
So much for the triumphs, and there are
many more to remember, but what about the disasters? There have been some, and all to do with
buildings. For many years we held our
Annual Concert in the St Andrews Hall, until it was destroyed by fire in the
1960s; then for several years we used the former Gaiety Theatre near Anderston
Cross until the present City Hall was properly refurbished. It was not until the opening of the Royal
Concert Hall which took the strain off the City Hall’s concert bookings that we
could obtain a date in April for our Annual Concert, which up to that time had
to be held on a Wednesday and Friday evening in February.
Our rehearsal accommodation has changed
also: we used to rehearse in the
1.
The
Present
The one constant in the Choir’s history – past, present and future – is
that it consists of people, not
things, and depends on particular people for its success. Our Conductor, William Barr, is making a huge
contribution to the Choir’s success, as have his predecessors, but there are
others whose work is not so well publicised, but without whom there simply
would not be any Choir.
The Choir President is Tom Aitken, who took over from Ian Ritchie in
2003. Other Presidents before Ian
Ritchie were John Adams, Ian Moffat, John G Milloy and J J Lambert Sinclair,
carrying on a fine tradition. Without
their leadership the Choir would have been in a poor state indeed. They have in turn been well supported by
their Vice-Presidents – Alex Stuart is the Vice-President to Tom Aitken.
Ian Ritchie, our immediate Past President, was also for many years the
General Secretary, who has the task of seeing that everything to do with the
Choir gets done. He was succeeded for
ten years by Norman S MacGilp, and Robert J Watson took over in 1997.
The Choir has been very fortunate in its other officials, too: the
Treasurer is William C Wood, who succeeded William B Mitchell. Between them they have given well over 25
years of service. The Librarian was John
D Greig, who had been 25 years in that post until 2001, now succeeded by Ian
Dickinson and John McFarlane, and the rôle of the Choir Secretary, whose task
is to administer Attendance and Concert Seating, has been admirably filled by
John Third, then John Carson, James B Lewis, James Barclay, Eddie McAuley,
Douglas Greig and now Lyle Simpson.
A fairly recent innovation is the post of Concert Manager, who ensures
that all our Concerts run smoothly. We
have been very lucky to have, first Lucie Green, and now Nan McKenzie, looking
after us.
There are now five members of the Choir who have each given more than
40 years service: John D Greig (50 years), John Adams (47), Andrew M McIntosh
(46), James B Lewis (45) and Ian P Ritchie (43). At the end of the last season there were 15
active members, each with 25 or more years’ service. That extraordinary level of commitment is a
tribute to the Choir.
In the 75th Anniversary year, (1999-2000) the Choir decided
to present a series of concerts in aid of the Prince & Princess of Wales
Hospice – one in each of the North, South, East and West of Glasgow, and one
outside Glasgow, in Callander Kirk, as well as a special concert in St Columba’s
Church of Scotland in London, immediately following the Royal Albert Hall
concert. The proceeds from this series
of concerts was donated to the Hospice at the Christmas Concert in December
2000.
We had the opportunity to celebrate our 75th Anniversary with
a special Dinner in the Royal Scottish Automobile Club on Saturday 26 February
2000.
In this our 80th year, we are planning a lot of extra events
(see the link at the top of the page).
We are already planning for our next visit to the Albert Hall, on Saturday
21 October 2006.
The conclusion for the Present is that this is a very active and
healthy Choir which strives to maintain the high standards which have been set
for us by our predecessors.
2.
The
Future
What, then, is to come?
The Choir will continue to
strive for excellence and high standards of performance. Already we have bookings for Concerts as far
ahead as Spring 2005. There will be
changes in personnel, but the principle that people make the Choir – all of
them together, not just the Officials – will remain and guide us into the 21st
Century.
But there is a cloud on the
horizon.
It is not my purpose to be a
prophet: I have no more talent in foresight than anyone else, but the excellent
Scots tradition of Choral singing is in grave danger of being lost. In the past three years several
long-established Choirs have disbanded, including the excellent Paisley Male
Voice Choir, with whom we have shared a platform in the past. The average age of our Choir members is now
about 60. Without new members, soon, and
members who are younger than the average, it is very doubtful that the Choir
will achieve its Century. Commitment to
any form of excellence in this Internet age is increasingly rare, but it is by
no means dead yet. As General Kitchener
didn’t quite say, “Your Choir Needs You!”
In the past year, we have
welcomed several new members, keeping our numbers at about the 60 mark. I would like to think that there will be
other men to carry on where we have to leave off.
Robert J Watson, General
Secretary.