Great reunion planned

A campaign has been launched to invite former members of an acclaimed Mid Wales girls’ choir to join a special reunion this June. 

Members of the Newtown High School Girls' Group are invited to join a Great Britten themed reunion to mark the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten.

Some former members are traveling  from Canada and Australia to join the reunion which takes place on Saturday, 22 June. It forms part of this year’s Gregynog Festival (20 - 30 June) which is also themed on the great composer who performed at Gregynog with Peter Pears and Osian Ellis in 1972.

The choir performed many pieces by Britten during the 1970s including Noye's Fludde and A Ceremony of Carols which was filmed for BBC Wales Television.

“I felt that the connection between Benjamin Britten and the recordings and concerts featuring the choir, especially those with the harpist Osian Ellis during the 1970s, would provide a wonderful vehicle for a reunion in this centenary year of the composer’s birth,” explained Dr Rhian Davies, Artistic Director of the Gregynog Festival and a former member of the choir.

“It promises to be a most memorable day, looking back at our time as Newtown High School ‘Girls’, the friendships we formed and celebrating the musical achievements which we were all part of.”

The reunion will be held at the community centre in the village of Tregynon, Newtown,  a stone’s throw from the heart of the Festival at Gregynog Hall, and will run from 10.30am to 1.30pm.

Suzanne Edwards, a member of the Festival Board of Directors, who is arranding the event, said: “We hope to attract as many former members as possible who sang in the choir to this special reunion. We are so excited that one member will be joining from Canada and that another who lives in France is doing all she can to attend.”

“One of our hopes of course is to ‘have a sing’ but we are not proposing a full-scale re-enactment of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols!” she added.

Members who attend are encouraged to bring memorabilia of their days with the choir including photographs, programmes and even dresses. The cost is £10 per person which includes tea/coffee and lunch.

To join this special event please contact Suzanne Edwards by Saturday 15 June either by email at zanne@hurstbank.fsnet.co.uk or call 01686 650671