Club News - 2003

Anvil Chorus at Harmony College

Harmony College 2003

20 members of Anvil Chorus attended Harmony College at Worcester, 22nd-24th in August 2003, and were given a spot on the Saturday night show.
Accord


Accord

The new quartet Accord were also at Harmony College, taking specialist coaching on the quartet stream.



Photos by John Eardley



George Badland and Henry Foster

Old Uniform night

On Tuesday 5th August 2003 the chorus held an "Old Uniform" theme night, an opportunity for members to dig out their past stagewear and walkout kit and parade them in a blaze of colour. Henry provided a prize for the "best dressed" which was won by George in his 1980's stage uniform.		 George Badland and Henry Foster


Elaine Mobsby, Celia Ellis and Margaret Ryley


Elaine, Celia and Margaret are pictured here
sporting the 1993 Snowdon Singout T-shirt





Thanks to John Edlin and John Eardley for the photos



Pablo Downton and Phil Mobsby

Comic Relief - Red Nose Day 2003

Friday March 14th 2003 was BBC Comic Relief day. Phil Mobsby and Pablo Downton volunteered to be part of the phone team taking calls at RAC centre.
"At 1830 hours, Pablo and I reported for duty at RAC Walsall, resplendent in our orange Anvil/RAC polo shirts. Once we got set up and had a coffee, we commenced taking calls just before 19:00, and never stopped taking calls until after midnight.

We had calls from far and wide, Poland, Germany and Ibiza to name some. We had calls from people donating £5, others donating £500. We had calls from students, old age pensioners, we had kids who were giving their pocket money.

We raised over £30K within our small team. It was super fun and the camaraderie that was evident was similar to that found in barbershop."
Phil Mobsby
"Thanks for the invite to help - it was great fun and a great team spirit. My most memorable calls were:
  1. The lady who donated £17.40 - not sure what it was for or why such an odd amount. Didn't get the chance to ask.
  2. The drunk Man U supporter who would double his donation if I was also a Man U Supporter. "I certainly am" I said, (I didn't lie, I really was for those few moments). I got £100.00 out of him.
Phil, can you thank everyone from the RAC for making me so welcome and for feeding and watering me, and CAN I DO IT AGAIN PLEASE ????"
Pablo Downton
For more details see the BBC Comic Relief webpage and the official Red Nose Day website.


Roger Payne, John Brough, Lacy Kyle and Henry Foster

St. Valentine's Day

February 14th is a great day for singing love songs! A quartet from Anvil Chorus were booked by Beatties department store in Solihull to sing to the shoppers for an hour.
An audience for 'The Four of Hearts'

Special Guest Singer

Anvil members John Brough (lead), Lacy Kyle (bass) and Henry Foster (baritone) were joined by Roger Payne (tenor) from the American society, who was in Birmingham as guest educator for the LABBS judges category school. Roger is chorus director of The Big Apple Chorus in New York, immediate past music category chairman, international quartet tenor finalist and prolific barbershop arranger.
Roger Payne (tenor), John Brough (lead), Lacy Kyle (bass) and Henry Foster (baritone)

Booked for next year?

The quartet, who were known as "The Four of Hearts", sang a varied repertoire of love songs and barbershop polecats which have a love theme. The shoppers and staff loved them!


Photographs by George Badland
News 2002    News 2001