About Bridgend Male Choir / Am Gôr Meibion Penybont

The Bridgend Male Choir (Cor Meibion Pen-Y-Bont) was established in August 1960 as the Bridgend & District Police Choir, when membership was mainly police officers. The name then changed in 1987 to the Bridgend and District Male Choir with the name simplified in 2006 to Bridgend Male Choir.

Ffurfiwyd Côr Meibion Pen-y-bont yn Awst 1960 fel Côr Heddlu Pen-y-bont a’r Cylch, ac ar y pryd yr oedd y mwyafrif o’r aelodau yn heddlu. Newidwyd yr enw yn 1987 i Côr Meibion Pen-y-bont a’r Cylch, cyn ei symleiddio yn 2006, fel Côr Meibion Pen-y-bont.

Choir Present

Bridgend Male Choir, whose motto is 'Friendship Through Music', is a member of the Welsh Association of Male Voice Choirs and is now composed of some 80 members led by a professionally qualified music team. The choir is made up of men from all walks of life who have a passion for music and a desire to share their music with others. Concerts and functions are regularly staged with approximately 50 choristers. They have a large repertoire, which encompasses all aspects of Welsh male choral music, including contemporary compositions, traditional music, hymns and folk songs as well as many musical arrangements from other countries and cultures.

The majority of the concerts the choir perform are in aid of deserving charities and good causes throughout the UK and abroad.

Rehearsals take place at Oldcastle School, Bridgend, CF31 3ED, South Wales, on Thursday evenings from 7.30pm – 9.30pm and visitors are most welcome to come along and enjoy the rehearsal.

The choir is an equal opportunities organisation.

Y Côr Presennol

Mae Côr Meibion Pen-y--bont yn aelod o Undeb Corau Meibion Cymru. Arwyddair y côr yw “Cyfeillgarwch drwyr miwsig ”, ac mae tua 80 o aelodau, gydag oddeutu 50 o gantorion yn llwyfannu yn rheolaidd mewn cyngherddau a digwyddiadau tebyg, dan arweiniad tîm o gerddorion proffesiynol. Daw’r aelodau o bob math o alwedigaethau, ac maent wedi eu uno trwy eu diddordeb mewn canu a’r awydd i rannu eu cerddoriaeth gydag eraill. Mae gan y côr rhestr eang o ganeuon, gan gynnwys caneuon cyfoes a thraddodiadol, emynau, caneuon gwerin a threfniadau o ganeuon o wahanol wledydd a diwylliant.

Mae Côr Meibion Pen-y-bont, drwy eu perfformiadau, yn cefnogi, ac yn helpu codi arian, er lles elusennau haeddiannol drwy’r D.U. a gwledydd tramor.

Cynhelir yr ymarferion yn Ysgol Gynradd Hengastell, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr, CF31 3ED, De Cymru, ar Nos Iau 7.30 – 9.30 yh. Mae croeso i ymwelwyr ddod i’r ymarferion.

Mae Côr Meibion Pen-y-bont yn hybu cyfleoedd cyfartal.

Bridgend Male Choir - Historical Past

In 2010, the Choir celebrated its 50th Birthday and was awarded a Citizenship Award from the Mayor of Bridgend County Borough Council for 50 years of fundraising, having generated in excess of £1Million for charity and for being ambassadors for Bridgend.

Over past decades the choir has won a number of musical competitions and Eisteddfodau. A remarkable double victory was scored at the 1991 Concorso Internazionale Di Canto Corale, a prestigious festival held in Verona taking in 20 top choirs from 6 countries, resulting in an award of another silver cup in April 2003.

This was followed by:

▫ 1st prize, winning the Welsh Fusilier’s Cup, at the 2004 Welsh National

Eisteddfod in Newport and again at Swansea in 2006;

▫ “Best Male Choir” in S4C’s Cor Cymru (Choir of Wales) competition in 2005;

▫ Winning both the Folk Song and Male Voice sections at Cheltenham Music Festival in 2006, and awarded

"the best choir from all competitions.

▫ Joint Runner Up at the Isle of Man Festival of Choirs Competition in 2013.

▫ Winning the Male Choir section at Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod in July 2014.

Visits abroad have included three visits to Bridgend's German twin town of Langenau (1979), two to Berlin, one to Canada, one to France, two to Jersey and two to Italy. Others include the Republic of Ireland (2004), then known as 'Eire', and Spain (2005). 2006 saw the Choir in the German cities of Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg and the towns of Shwieberdingen and Weissacht-Flacht; 2007 brought a tour to Northern Ireland, including Belfast, Craigavon and Dunmurry and in 2008 to the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, to participate in its Liberation celebrations.

The 50th Anniversary Tour in 2010 was to the north west of England, with concerts on the Wirral and at Burnley; this was followed in July 2011 with the Choir touring in the Scottish Highlands. In 2012, the Choir travelled to North Wales giving concerts at Llandudno's St John's Methodist Church and at St Asaph Cathedral. October 2013 witnessed the Choir's first ever visit to the Isle of Man where it performed at the Villa Marina in the IOM Music Festival.

The Choir was extremely proud in 2014 to have been invited to return to the Netherlands to participate in the 70th WW2 Liberation Concert at 's-Hertogenbosch, coincidentally also the 100th Anniversary of the start of World War 1. Choristers sang and laid a wreath at the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium, an equally moving occasion. October 2016 saw the choir successfully visit Dublin and Drogheda where three concerts were staged and substantial funds raised for the Dublin Lions and Malta Services respectively. Choristers visited Majorca in October 2017 where amongst other venues they performed in front of over 1000 at the magnificent Gothic Cathedral in Palma.

The Choir has shared the professional stage with such as Wales' national treasure Katherine Jenkins and Max Boyce, soprano Shan Cothi and tenor Dennis O'Neill, and operatic bass/ baritone, Sir Willard White. In November 2007, the choir sang the Welsh National Anthem prior to Joe Calzaghe World Title fight against Mikkel Kessler which was screened live to a world wide audience on Sky Sports. A list of singers and celebrities the Choir has sung with can be found under concert reviews.

Bridgend Male Choir is proud that the original website was registered with the National Library for Wales having been included in the UK Web Archiving Consortium as "an important part of Wales' documentary heritage".