Choir celebrates its 65th

In January 1943 a group of air raid wardens knew just how to help children in the region banish the post-Christmas blues.

They threw a belated Christmas party and the men gathered around a piano to sing a selection of festive tunes.

However, their impromptu concert proved to be so popular that they decided to set up a choir – and 65 years later the group is still going strong.

“The winter months of the early 1940s were full of the sounds of war when the West Midlands suffered from bombing by German aircraft,” says Norman Smith, 73, who is a member of the choir.

“In January 1943, the Air Raid Wardens of the A3 Post, stationed at Holly Lodge School in Smethwick held a belated Christmas party for their families. 

“During the evening the wardens gathered around Jack Fisk at the piano for community singing.

“A few notes of impromptu harmony crept in which prompted someone to suggest the group formed a choir, and so The A3 Group Wardens Male Voice Choir was born.

“Despite changing our name to Warley Male Voice Choir we are still the same group as even when other choirs fizzled out at the end of the 1940s the air raid wardens vowed to carry on.”

Bill Jones, 82, joined the choir in 1947 when there were 20 members. He says the choir’s first rehearsal took place on Thursday March 18, 1943 in Bernard Martin’s lounge.

“Bernard was a local headmaster and experienced singer from the disbanded West Bromwich Male Voice Choir,” says Bill.

“When other wardens heard about the choir they decided to join and the group became too big for Bernard’s front room.

“The minister of West Smethwick Methodist Church offered the choir the use of his Church Parlour on Thursday evenings for a weekly charge of half-a-crown, to cover the cost of light and heat.

“We have never broken with that tradition and still meet on a Thursday evening.

“In return for the minister’s kindness, when December came, the choir offered the church a carol service to be held on the Monday before Christmas. 

“Monday was chosen because the church would retain some of its heating from the previous day.

“A charge of sixpence was made for a programme and the proceeds handed to the church. The carol service has been one of the choir’s annual highlights since and is always held on the Monday before Christmas. When I joined they were not all ex-air raid wardens as some had come out of the forces.”

Forty years ago choir numbers were at their highest with 60 members. Now there are still 53 members and 43 of them sing in the choir. Norman says the choir has had a number of magical times including singing at the Royal Albert Hall in 1981.

“Another good time in the choir’s history was when we went on a trip to Cologne Cathedral in Germany and the organist stopped playing to allow us to sing, and it drew in crowds of people,” says Norman.

“We are still doing well for numbers although a lot of male voice choirs are suffering because it is difficult to get young people interested in joining.

“We have tried different methods of recruiting more youngsters, such as going out to schools, colleges and universities. However, at the end of the day the most successful method of recruitment is word of mouth, with members introducing someone new.

“However, we find a lot of young people end up moving out of the area to go to university.”

The choir sing traditional male voice music, songs from the shows, spirituals and modern tunes such as Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bill says the plans to close Akrill Methodist Church, in Londonderry Lane, Smethwick, where they practice, won’t stop them performing. He says recently thieves raided the roof for lead and now the repairs for the roof and to replace the lead is going to cost more than the church can afford.

“The church is closing in July because of roof problems and we believe it is going to be demolished,” says Bill.

“We have been based at the church hall for nine years but now we are looking for new premises, but the choir has been based at a number of places including four different local schools. We have always had to be based somewhere with plenty of storage space as we have eight filing cabinets filled with music sheets.”