News and past events

Summer Concert 2024 

Yesterday evening we held our annual Summer Concert at Montford Parish Hall. The theme of the evening chosen by our musical director was ‘The Countryside’ and most of the songs had a connection to the theme apart form a couple of our favourites which we managed to slip in to the program. The concert started with a rousing rendition of ‘The Heavens are Telling’ from Haydn’s ‘Creation which features a solo section which was performed wonderfully by Grace, Tim and Jon. There were a couple of fabulous Solo’s…Rosie sang ‘Homeward Bound’ and arrangement by Jay Altherhouse which was spellbinding as was Derry’s piano solo…’Claire De Lune’ by Debussy, we are so lucky to have such a talented Accompanist. There was also a duet, Motje and Grace sang Rossini’s ‘Cat Duet’ which went down a storm with the audience and choir members, a performance worthy of any West End Stage. After a great selection of songs we ended the concert with a song that we’ve thoroughly enjoyed singing this last term, a choral setting of ‘Old McDonald’

As after every concert there are thanks to be made.

*Motje, we are so honoured to have you as our Musical Director, you make Rehearsals such fun, we all loved singing your choices of music last night… thank you.
*Derry, such a phenomenal piano player. A magnificent accompanist and it wonderful to hear your solo last night…thank you.*Jon, thank you for coming along and singing with us last night, such a wonderful voice.
*The Committee, thank you for all your hard work preparing for the concert, There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to prepare for an event like this…thank you. Special thanks to Grace for organising the wonderful refreshments.
*The Choir Members for all your hard work in learning the pieces and performing so well…thank you, and a special thanks to those who donated raffle prizes.
*Ann and Peter for manning the door and selling raffle tickets, you are both such a help to the choir at all our concerts and it’s much appreciated …thank you both.
*Robin and Julie for helping with the refreshments, the Pimm’s was enjoyed by the choir and audience, we are grateful for your help…thank you.
*The audience, thank you for coming along to support our concert, It makes all the hard work worth it when we see you enjoying the singing. Please watch this space for information about our future events.

Any proceeds from the evening will be used by the choir as is tradition, allour other concerts raise money for charity but the Summer concert proceeds will be used to purchase music and help with the general running costs of the choir etc.

I must mention Maurice. Maurice Clark who sings Bass in the choir is moving away from the area and last night was his final concert with us. He was presented with a small gift from the choir by our Chair. We wish you all the best with the move Maurice, do come and see us when you’re back in the area.

The choir is now taking a break over the summer, rehearsals start back on 3rd of September. We always welcome new members so if you are interested in joining a choir please get in touch and come along for a free taster session.You can get in touch via email: yomansingersshrewsbury@gmail.comOr via Facebook Messanger, we will get back to you with more information

Choir Extravaganza 2024

Yesterday we took part in our ‘Choir Extravaganza’ along with our friends The Shifnal Chorale. We had a workshop in the afternoon followed by a concert in the evening, led by Motje Wolf who is musical director of both choirs and accompanied both our accompanist Derry Bertenshaw and Tim Sagar who is the accompanist to The Shifnal Chorale. This was the first time the choirs had sung together and we had a fabulous time making music together. There was a lovely selection of music, each choir singing some of their favourites and then joining together to sing some lovely pieces including Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine (thank you for the video Derry).Both pianist did a solo which were fabulous and thoroughly enjoyed by the choirs and audience.

There are a few thanks to be made:
*Motje: thank you for coming up with the idea of bringing the choirs together and leading us, you always make singing so enjoyable.
*Derry & Tim: your playing was fantastic, I particularly enjoyed your solo’s and your duet during our finale ‘The Rhythm of Life’.
*All those involved in the arranging, setting up and clearing chairs etc, sterling job…thank you.
*Ali & Belinda for making tea and coffee for the choir in the afternoon, thank you both.
*Julie, Ann and Phil for manning the door, selling raffle tickets and doing the refreshments during the interval…your help was invaluable as always.*Both choirs: thank you so much donating the items for the wonderful raffle hampers and for giving your all during the singing .
*Finally the audience. Thank you for choosing to come and support us when there was so much going on around Shrewsbury, we do hope you enjoyed the concert. For those who couldn’t join us we hope you enjoy the video.

Our Summer Concert is in two weeks on Tuesday 16th July at Montford Parish Hall (see poster in previous post) we do hope you can come along to support us.

 West Shrewsbury Hospice Support Group Donation

15th May 2024

The Yeoman Singers are always proud to support local charities and we decided that the proceeds of our Spring concert last month would be donated to the local hospice.

Church Bells Ringing!

20th April 2024

On Saturday one of our Soprano’s Rosie Pinches got married to her fiancé Tom and the Yeoman’s had the huge honour of singing at the wedding. We joined the congregation in singing the three hymn’s: ‘Lord of all hopefulness’,  ‘One more step along the world I go’ and ‘Love Divine’ when the soprano’s surprised Rosie by singing descant in the final verse. During the signing of the register the choir sang Gabriel Faure’s ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’.

It was a truly magical day. Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Russell with love from all the choir

Spring Concert 2024

16th April 2024

On Tuesday 16th April we held our Spring Concert (which had to be postponed before Easter) at Holy Trinity Church Bicton, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Severn Hospice. We were joined for the evening by the Cadence Singers, a small mixed voice choir from Broseley, Shropshire. The Yeoman Singers performed a number of Folk Songs, both traditional and modern, the Cadence Singers performed some Madrigals (music for several voices of the Renaissance period).We had two solos during the evening, Grace Edwards sang Benjamin Britten’s ‘O Waly Waly’, a folk song of Scottish origin and Audrey Walker sang the popular Welsh folk song ‘Calon Lan’ (Pure Heart).Both choirs joined to sing a couple of folk songs together.

It was a lovely evening and as always there are people to thank:

Our Musical Director Dr. Motje Wolf for leading both choirs and our accompanist Dr. Derry Bertenshaw, we are so lucky as a choir to have you both work with us.

The Reverand Hannah Lins and her team at Holy Trinity for letting us use the church and special thanks to Church Warden Wendy Horan for all her help.

Our loyal band of helpers behind the scenes who always come along to help take money on the door, sell raffle tickets and help with refreshments, Julie Kaye, Anne & Peter Malpas and Adrian Bayling. Thank also to Ann for explaining to the audience what the hospice does and where the money will be used.

Grace for organising the refreshments and the choir for all the lovely cakes which went down a treat with both the choirs and audience.

The Cadence Singers for joining us, your singing was beautiful and enjoyed very much by the Yeoman’s and the audience.

And finally to the Committee for all their hard work organising behind the scenes.

HUGE THANKS TO YOU ALL.

We will present a cheque to the Hospice once the money has been counted and expenses paid.

We are now working towards our summer concerts…details to follow.

All Saints Porch Pantry Donations Update

20th Febuary 2024

Social Evening

10th January 2024

Last night the choir started the year off with a social evening at Fitz Village Hall.The evening began with a Shared Supper, the choir all brought food for the buffet and the tables were groaning under the veritable feast which was enjoyed by all….huge thank you to the choir for their generosity.There was a sheet of paper on each table with pictures of the cross section of a number of fruit and vegetables for people to work out what they were…a great ice breaker. Thank you to Wendy for arranging.

We then moved on to a fun quiz which was prepared by our quizmaster for the evening…Phil, who all agreed did a sterling job. Audrey had passed a box around during the supper and everyone drew out a number which was the number of the team they would be joining…a great way of mixing with people we don’t usually sit with. There was lots of chatting and laughter during the quiz, the results of which were very close with only 4 points between the winners and those in last place. First place with 22 points were ‘Sheep, Sheep, Sheep’. Equal Second with 20 points were ‘Stella’ & ‘Jib Jab’. Third with 19 points were ‘The Misfits’ and bringing up the rear with a respectable 18 were ‘Super Five’.

Julie Kaye then gave us a short monologue about a nurse who was in love with a surgeon. It was hilarious and enjoyed very much by everyone….thank you Julie.

The final part of the evening was handed over to our pianist Derry who lead a rousing sing song of popular songs…a very fitting spend to a wonderful evening…thank you Derry.

Finally, thank you to Tom and Andrew for helping me set up the hall ready, and to Phil and Adrienne for washing and drying the dishes while everyone else enjoyed the singing. There was some lovely singing coming from the kitchen too

Plans are now afoot for our next social evening! 

Christmas Concert 2023 

13th December 2023

What a wonderful evening we had at All Saints, Baschurch, our Christmas Concert was a resounding success. We were accompanied by Split Notes wind band who played some lovely Christmas music as well as accompanying the choir and audience during the Carols. As well as some popular Carols with which the audience joined in, we sang some lovely pieces including Handel’s ‘For Unto Us A Child Is Born’, Chilcott’s ‘Midwinter’ and Cecelia McDowell’s ‘Christus Natus Est’ during which one of our Soprano’s Rosie Pinches sang the solo, how beautiful she sounded. We even had a couple of Shepherds in the second half, Grace Edwards and Tim Lee gave a wonderful rendition of Murray’s ‘Sheep, Sheep, Sheep’. Grace coming out of the vestry dressed as a sheep made us all chuckle.

As after every concert we have some thank you to make

• The Choir Committee for all their hard work in the arranging the concert.
• The Reverend Linda Cox and her team at all Saints for hosting us, it’s always a pleasure to sing there.
• Ann & Peter Malpas for printing the tickets and manning the door last night.
• Adrienne and Adrien Bayling for preparing the raffle hampers and Adrien for selling the raffle tickets.
• Wendy Davenhill for printing to programs.
• Grace for arranging the refreshments and the lady’s form All Saints who helped her to serve them and all he washing up…special thanks to Lyn Siviter.
• Our three soloists Rosie, Grace and Tim, you were all fabulous.
• Split Notes, always lovely to hear a band at Christmas.
• Derry, your piano playing was awesome as always, I could listen to you play all day.
• Motje, thank you so much for choosing such wonderful music for us to sing, you were wonderful as always and everyone enjoyed your German Solo.
• The Choir themselves, you’ve all worked so hard preparing and learning the pieces, I was so proud of you all.
• And finally, the audience…a huge thank you for coming along on such a miserable rainy night, we so enjoyed performing for you and thank you for all the lovely positive comments at the end of the evening.

The proceeded will be donated to The All Saints Porch Pantry, we will present them with a cheque in the new year once our treasurer has counted all the money and paid any expenses…please watch this space to see how much we managed to raise for this good cause.

The Yeoman Singers wish you all a very Happy Christmas and good wishes for 2024.
We hope to see you at our next concert on 12th March, details to follow

Macmillan Coffee Fundraiser Update! 

November 29th 2023

Last month The Yeoman Singers held a fundraising coffee morning to raise money towards the choir for new new music etc. It was decided to make a donation from the proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Services Shrewsbury in memory of our dear friend Tina Welch who was a much loved member of the choir.

Carole Green, Treasurer of the Macmillan Shrewsbury Fundraising Group was invited to last nights rehearsal where she was presented with a cheque for £150 by our Chair Audrey Walker. Carole thanked the choir for the donation and assured us that the money would be paid into the Shrewsbury branch and be used within Shropshire.

The choir always takes pride in raising money for charity and this cause is close to our hearts.

Remembrance Service 2023

Novemeber 12th 2023

This evening the choir participated in the Festival of Remembrance at St.Peter and St. Paul’s Church, Fitz. The choir always looks forward to singing at this event and it’s a great honour for us to be invited to do so.

It’s now full steam ahead with our Christmas concert preparations

Farrand: Lord For Your Tender Mercy's Sake

October 19th 2023

As well as being busy preparing for our Christmas concert on 12th December (more details to follow) the choir have been rehearsing for the Remembrance Service at St. Peter & St Paul’s Church, Fitz on the evening of November 12th.

While we are normally positioned in our voice sections, our Musical Director sometimes likes to mix things up and get us all to stand by someone of a different voice group during rehearsal. We did this on Tuesday evening and hope you enjoy this video of us singing Richard Farrant’s ‘Lord For Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake’

Macmillan Coffee Morning

October 26th 2023

A very successful morning at Fitz village Hall.

A big thank you to all those who helped out, donated cakes, plants, books and raffle prizes, and a special thanks to those who came along to support us, it is much appreciated.

We will be making a donation to Macmillan Cancer Services from the proceeds.

Summer Concert - 100 Years of Disney

July 12th 2023

Good morning all! What a wonderful concert we had last night at Montford Parish Hall. One of the biggest audiences we’ve had, it was great to keep having to get more and more seats out. The choir thoroughly enjoyed singing, all the hard work Motje has put in with us certainly paid off…the audience loved it. We made a couple of presentations during the evening. Firstly, a small gift of the choirs appreciation for designing and building the choir website was made to Angharad Williams and we also had a very special guest...Joyce Norman. Joyce has been with the choir since it’s outset in 1991 and has been on the committee for many many years as treasurer but has also filled in as Secretary and Social Secretary. She has been a mainstay of the choir looking after us all. Joyce took a break from choir to look after her husband Peter in his last months and stood down from the committee. In recognition of all she has done for the choir the committee awarded her a “Lifetime Honorary Membership” of The Yeoman Singers and she was also presented with a gift from the choir members as a token of their thanks and affection

I have a few thank yous to make, hopefully I’ve not forgotten anyone!

SPLIT NOTES: it was a first for us having a guest band at our concert, and I don’t think it will be the last . Such an accomplished group and we all enjoyed your programme, there was lots of foot tapping going on in the audience. Thank you for helping to make the concert such a success

MOTJE: we are so lucky to have you as our musical director, your choice of programme was fabulous, we loved singing all the songs. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in preparing us, I think that was our best performance yet

DERRY: once again your piano playing was astounding, you are so talented and the choir are lucky to have you. Your accompanying of the choir and of the soloists as always was fabulous, I particularly loved your arrangement and playing of “When You Wish Upon A. Star” at the beginning

STEVE, JASON, ROSIE & GRACE: your solos were fabulous, well done all

ADRIENNE & ADRIAN: thank you for all your hard work preparing the hampers for the raffle and to Adrian for selling the tickets. Also a huge thank you to the choir for their generous donations to fill the hampers.

TOM: as our Logistics Manager most of the hard work you do is behind the scenes and not seen by the audience, from all the fetching and carrying, setting up the hall, clearing up at the end…I could go on! On behalf of the choir….thank you. Thanks to all those in the choir who helped Tom set up the chairs and clear away at the end.

JULIE KAYE, ANN & PETER MALAPAS: behind every choir is a group of trusty supporters who come and help at all the concerts and the Yeoman Singers are fortunate to have these three who always put in a huge effort printing posters and tickets (Peter), taking the money on the door, serving refreshments and doing all the washing up…there were a lot of glasses last night! Thank you all again for your continued support

HALLS COMMERCIAL: thank you for printing the programmes.

THE CHOIR themselves: you were all awesome last night, great singing, we had so many compliments from the audience Enjoy your summer break and I look forward to seeing most of you at the choir social on the 25th

TIM: thank you for coming along to sing with us.

Finally THE AUDIENCE : it was wonderful to see so many of you and your compliments were much appreciated. There’s a lot of hard work that goes on preparing for a concert and it’s always lovely to have lots of people come to listen to us….we look forward to seeing you at our Christmas concert…look out for details on here, our Facebook page or posters around the area.

If you enjoyed the concert and would like to join the choir, please get in touch yeomansingersshrewsbury@gmail.comWe’d love to see you at our next rehearsal in September.

If anyone took photos/ videos last night could you kindly email them to the choir as we would love to share them on here and on our website…thank you.

English and Finnish Workshop & Concert

April 26th 2023

With special guests: Vox Aurea, award winning children and youth choir from Finland  
Christ Church Baystone Hill, Shrewsbury

What a wonderful day we’ve had at our joint workshop and concert with Vox Aurea. It was an absolute honour to host our Finnish friends and wonderful to hear them perform…wow…they are fabulous. It was lovely too, for the choirs to sing together in both English and Finnish, a great experience for us all.

There are a few thanks we need to make:Firstly to Vox Aurea, their wonderful conductor Sanna Salminen and their team for coming to spend the day with us, it was lovely meeting you all, singing with you, and getting to hear your wonderful programme.

Secondly to our conductor Motje Wolf and accompanist Derry Bertenshaw for your hard work in preparing the choir for this event and leading and accompanying us.

To the committee, there was a lot of work behind the scenes to make the day possible ….thank you all.

To the choir, thank you so much for providing all the food for the buffet which fed both choirs and the support teams…there was a veritable feast

To Phil, Julie and Anne for working so hard in the kitchen, you are always such a good support to the choir and it is much appreciated.

A huge thanks goes to John, the warden at Christchurch Bayston Hill for all his help.

Finally, thank you to those of you who came to the evening, we are glad you enjoyed yourselves…watch out for details of our summer concert, we hope to see you there

There were lots of photographs taken, will share them tomorrow.

P.s a big thank you to Wendy for arranging lunch for Vox Aurea at such short notice.

Motje Wolf and Sanna Salminen on the radio to promote our joint event! 

April 23rd 2023

Motje Wolf and Sanna Salminen, musical directors of The Yeoman Singers and Vox Aurea, were on the radio to promote our joint event! Skip to 1 hour 40 minutes into the programme to hear them! 

Come and sing with The Yeoman Singers Shrewsbury and Vox Aurea! 

17 April 2023