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Birmingham Youth Choir

Di.Poppitt

Di.Poppitt

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
In the very early fifties there was a bright idea to form a youth choir to give a performence at the Town Hall. I don't know how other schools chose their budding diva's, but mine Canterbury Road girls, decided that we should line up in the hall, class by class. While one teacher played the piano another walked along our line stopping to listen to each of us as we sang together. I knew I could hold a tune and I really wanted to be chosen, so when I was tapped on the head I nearly choked. There were about six or eight of us and we used to go off once a week for rehearsals in the Town Hall. All of the schools in Birmignahm were reperesented, and we filled the tier below the beautiful organ pipes. Our conductor was Charles Groves, he must have been a very young man then, and in later years I watched him almost with pride as he conducted the last night of the proms.

There were a lot of ups and downs during the weeks of rehearsal, some times we left almost in tears because we hadn't sung well, and we cared, but there were times when we surprised ourselves and everybody else. There was one piece that the more we rehearsed the worse it got, it was called 'How Beautiful are the Feet' :roll: Eventually Charles Groves admitted defeat, and he told us that it was with great sadness that he had decided it would be to everyone's relief if he removed it from the programme. :D

We might have had a failure but we had a triumph too in 'Hiawatha's Wedding'. We had done justice to it at rehearsal, but on the night of the concert we were majestic, and it brought the house down.
 
Town Hall Concert

Diana,
I can recall attending the Town Hall in the early fifties as part of a schools choir. I too rememberl going to various practices before hand. The only music I can recall is a piece from Pomp and Circumstance - the part that goes something like "All men nust be free, march for liberty with me - brutes and braggarts may have their day, we will never bow the knee' etc. There was also the one on Drake being in his hammock etc. I cannot recall the other music for it could not have been stirring enough for a young lad.
Was this the same performance that you attended.?
No way could I have been considered to have a voice and how I got through the audition is a mystery.
I stood at the back and sang with gusto (whoever he was). Odd I still recall being given the plastic bus tokens to pay my bus fare to and from the show.
My other wonderment was that people paid to come and hear us and even clapped at the end.................
 
Youth Choir

Diana, I too remember the Youth Choir at the Town Hall, but more in sorrow, I am tone deaf and could never sing in tune, Miss Prescott was our music teacher at Burlington Street School, and she would go round the class listening to each girl in turn, when it was my turn she told me just to mouth the words as I was out of tune.I really don't think teachers realise how humiliating it is for children when they say things like that in front of the whole class.

About three of my closest friends were chosen for the choir, and how I envied them when they went off for rehearsals. I'm sure it was a proud day for them and their parents when they performed at the actual concert.
 
I don't reall the music you mention AW, the mists of time and all that. But I had totally forgotten the bus tiokens that we were given, they were green.

It is mean to humiliate children Sylvia, but some of the teachers in our time were masochists weren't they.
 
I sang at the town hall with Burlington Street Primary School, in the 60's. The teacher Miss Bubb announced that any of the girls in the class were able to go should they want to. The boys...... she asked each girl standing next to a boy, if that boy could sing. I was lucky enough, or not so lucky depepnding on your viewpoint, to be deemed good enough by the girl standing next to me.

The tokens were different colours in my day, depending on coin value. They were issued in little bags.
 
It's good to know that the choir was so long lived. It would be nice for kids today if they were encouraged to sing together. I can't imagine they would go for How Beautiful are the Feet, :D but that would't matter, it's the sense of acheivment that counts. We do have a wonderful youth jazz band in east Anglia.
 
:D I can't sing for tuppence, or even bus tokens but mt best friend Carol could from Bloomsbury Girls and so could a couple of others in my class and they too went to that lovely Birmingham town hall to sing with the combined youth choir. But I did use those bus tokens every day for going to school with when I was attending Priestly Smith school in Perry Common Rd. I caught the bus at the buttom of Dartmouth St on Aston Rd I think it was the 65 to Stockland Green and then the 28 up Perry Common Rd to the school. The 64 & 66 also stopped at the Dartmouth St stop to go along Aston Rd. The three buses when their separate ways after reaching Salford Bridge nr Long acre (But I'm sure Diana could correct me if I've got it wrong). Sometimes I got really worried about catching the wrong bus and being late for school because of my poor eyesight.
Yes Rod the colour depended on the value of the token Blue, Green, Red, Orange, and Yellow - not sure now of the order but it was something like; Bl 6d - Gr 3d Re 1d Or 1d.1/2d and Ye 1/2d again these values could be wrong
 
I went to the annual Christmas Concert given by the CBSO at the Symphony Hall a couple of years ago and the Schools' Choir sang there. So, it would seem, they are still going.
 
Paul I was so pleased to hear that the choir is still going strong, isn't that great. I regret never having seen Simon Rattle conduct. Was he still with the CBSO when you went?

You were brave to get all those buses Pom. I knew the 65 and 28 bus's, but not the others. You also had the number 11 to think about in Perry Common road.

You are right about the beautiful Town Hall. I went to jazz concerts there in the 50's. We used to throw paper aeroplanes at Humphry Lyttleton when he and we were in our salad days. But it has another connection with our family. My grandfather was a miner, and in 1908 he was part of a rescue team at Hamstead pit after miners were trapped as the result of a fire. The men volunteered to go down to the coal face before the official team arrived, It was hopeless and 27 men died. Grandad was given a silver medal for bravery, and he and a number of other brave chaps went to the Town Hall to receive their medals from the Lord Mayor. There is a lovely newspaper report of the evening in the library. They were given dinner and there was entertainment, not least being a recital given on the organ. I can only think that they would have been overawed. I wish I had known about this in the days when I used to go there regularly. I think it is now being given some TLC. Praise be. :D
 
Your Grandad must have been a very brave man Diana. I lived in H. Wood and people still used to refer to Hamstead as the colliery. Do you Remember the no 16 bus it said Handsworth Wood and Hamstead on the front and Hamstead was the terminus. The Town Hall is indeed being restord thank goodness :D We saw Elton John there in 1969 before he was really famous. Where can i find the newspaper cutting i would love to read about the accident at the colliery?
 
Dianna, yes I did see Simon Rattle there one year - the next it was "the new boy".

But I have also seen Simon Rattle in Cannon Hill Park feeding the ducks on a Sunday with his kids. [Just read that sentence again :oops: ... NO! he wasn't feeding his kids TO the ducks!] :lol:

Having had some (illegal) experience of Hamstead Colliery, I think anyone would be brave to go down there with out there having been a disaster. Cometh the hour - cometh the man! Perhaps I'm a cynic but I wonder how many volunteers they'd get these days.
 
Pam I sure do remeber the 16 bus. My mother went back home to Hamstead for my birth, and her family nearly all stayed in the village. I used to get the 11 from Witton to Handsworth Wood, then I stood by that wooden fence surrounding the big house waiting for th 16 to Hamstead.
The report on the disaster is in local studies at the central library. It is in the Birmingham Daily Mail, Thursday March 5th 1908. The report of the presentation of thje medals is in the same paper for Tuesday July 7th 1908. Some of it makes heartbreaking reading. there are box's of official reports too, and for lots of reasons the whole rescue attempt was a disaster. My grandad was lucky to have survived it.

Paul I shan't be able to look at Simon Rattle on TV without seeing him feeding his kids to the ducks. :D
Hamstead was the deepest mine in England, and terribly dangerous as you said. They used to get what the men called the Hamstead bumps, when the earth shook.

I did forget to say I've got grandad's silver medal. How proud can one person be.
 
Diana i assume you mean Wellington Road island by the block of flats actually private apartments :lol: famous in the 60s as Noel Gordon lived in one and could be seen driving round HW in her Rolls Royce with the registration number Noel 1.Thanks for the information about the papers i shall have to get myself to the library.
 
HAHHA!!! :lol: I used to see Noel getting outa the Roller in her slippers to do a bit of shopping in College Road. I wonder how much it cost in petrol to drive that short distance. :roll:
 
Pam the bus stop was on Hamstead Road, the house I think was Endwood Court. I know it was pulled down years ago. I used to try to jump up to look at it over the fence. This wa pre 1951, when my aunt bought a house in Great Barr, and I used the midland red after that.

Noel Gordon in slippers . Tee Hee :D
 
Well i think the flats are called Endwood Court so perhaps the house used to be there, i remember the Midland Red bus i used to think they were much more comfy and little up market compared to WM Transport. :p I can remember catching one to come over to Shirley to see my family as a teenager. What happened to them?
 
Town Hall Concerts

I enjoyed reading the posts regarding the Town Hall School concerts. Somehow I ended up in the choir one year. I remember practising the songs at school but can't remember any except one called "The Steiner Cuckoo". It was a yodelling piece and we always collapsed with laughter when practicing.
I remember receiving the tokens for the bus and having
a bit of adventure going to the Town Hall and back again.

A. Wlloughby mentioned in this thread a song with words about fighting for freedom which was often sung at these Town Hall School Concerts
This mention struck a note in my memory as this is probably the Song of Liberty, words written by A.P. Herbert to go along with Elgar's 4th March in the Pomp and Circumstance series..
It was my late brother's favourite song when he attended King Edward's Five Ways in the mid l950's and that was were I first heard it at Speech Day. I myself have wanted to know the words for many years so I trolled the Internet and absolutely nothing turned up for the words to this.

I knew about the music part of it since I have the music for all the Pomp and Circumstance Marches ( 5 in total). Apparently words were only written for two of the Marches... No 1 which is "Land of Hope and Glory" and No 4. Song of Liberty. This would be around WW2.
Eventually after hours of searching I sent an email to the Elgar Society in England and received a very nice e-mail back from a Dominic Guyver.
Mr. Guyver noted that he gets more requests about this song than any
other in relation to Elgar's music. The lyrics to No.4 March-- Song of Liberty are listed below. The music to go along with it can be found at
https://www.masters-music.com/BdSer1.html

Song of Liberty

Fight for freedom, ev'ryone,
Build the ship and man the gun,
Do as you have never done
To set the peoples free.

We, the few, the happy free,
Will fly the flags of Liberty,
Blow the horns of Liberty!
Till the world is free.

All men must be free,
March for Liberty with me;
Brutes and braggarts may
Have their little day,
We shall never bow the knee.

God is drawing His sword,
We are marching with the Lord,
Sing then, brother, sing,
Giving ev'rything,
All you are and hope to be,
To set the peoples free.

Wake and watch and work and win,
Fight and farm and sew and spin,
Fall the faithful people in
To set the peoples free.

But the day the battle's won,
Never say the fight is done,
Make the world a better one,
When the world is free.

All men must be free...

A P Herbert
 
Thanks for that JennyAnn, stirring words. :D

I think we sang Land of Hope and Glory, but it's all a bit misty now.
But anyone who sang Hiawatha's Wedding could never forget it. It is a lot of fun to sing, I only wish I knew who put it to music. :roll:
 
:D Jennyann you should have posted here first :!: We have a number of words to that type of song, or are able to get them. My Hubby is very politically minded as far as freedom and justice for humanity are concerned, so when it comes to freedom and Liberty songs we are sure to have the words here (Just asked his nib's and yes we do). :)
 
Song of Liberty

Thanks Pom, I was amazed that these lyrics were not on the Internet and yes I should have asked the people on this group. Hindsight is great but next time I will.
 
Singing at the Town Hall

I remember in the early summer of 1943 taking part in a choral competition between primary schools, held in the Town Hall. I wasn't quite 10 then, but I probably got selected because I was also in a church choir (St John's Perry Barr). There were about twenty or thirty of us I think, and our headmasyter, Bert Goodyer. Although at Hawthorn Road junior boys we had Miss Tallis who played the piano quite well, for msome reason my mother was asked to accompany the choir for our one piece "Ripple. ripple, winding stream". I remember the year because it was the year a entertainments were arranged under the "Holidays at Home" scheme.
The next time I sang at the Town Hall was in about May 1950, when my voice had broken and I was allowed to do the clever thing and sing bass. We rehearsed at Camp Hill grammar, trained by (I think this was his name) Stanley Adams, with Donald Allgood playing the piano. That was an inter-school festival, conducted by Stanford Robinson, with the CBSO. We did Part 1 of Mendelssohn's "Elijah".
Having become hooked on music I later sang there with the Birmingham Singers, a choir mainly of teachers. The first conductor I remember there was Denis Crosby, a brilliant musician who sadly died very young as a result of his wartime experiences in Burma.
Peter
 
I too sang (with pride) at the Town hall with other children from Cromwell Street Juniors in the early 60's
 
Like EARP, I too sang there with others from Loxton Street, on ( I think ) 3 occasions. Was very proud on the nights, knowing that my Mother was in the audience.
 
I sang in a gathering of schoolchildren at the town hall but it must have been prior to your experiences because I left school in March 1950 and it was a long time before that. E.
 
I was one of the children from Cromwell Street (infants and juniors) that sang at the town hall in the 60's. What I remember most was back stage and the passages which led you to the upper, middle or lower of the tiered stage; we were at the top, near the pipes, now they were big pipes.
Each year we had the B'ham orchestra came to our school to play for us.
 
I dont remember the Choir but I do remember Birmingham Scools Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stanley Adams in the 1970s he helped so many of us Musical kids from poorer back grounds get to do music . It is a pity that old maggie Thatcher Ruined it all for the children of today /
Instrumental lessons were free for all and thats how come ,, with a grant from the Midland Institute that I was able to go to music college (the old Dale end school of music before it got pulled down )
I am a violin teacher and remember I fought hard to keep lessons free for all during the 80s when I taught Violing for Wallsall .
Now I teach and all the kids Pay for their lessons and despite what the govt said at the time .. its the richer kids that get the chances not the poored kids sadly
Jean
 
Jean,, Violins still sounding beautiful in the Refurbed Town Hall,,, ( + a "Youth,,full choir)

( my Gang ) & I recently performed at Town Hall with "Bravura",, an extremely talented young violinist group (B,ham/Sutton)
The improved acoustics of the Town Hall really aided their skillful talents.
Eh it even made our Male Voice Choir sound better,,,lol
B,ham Choir hosted, joined by other local choirs & Worcester making 300+ strong,Audience nearly 1,000 ,,,
B,ham section the largest at 55,, several of whom were at B,ham schools Town Hall performers in early 1960,s as prior posts notify
The Organ & massive pipes are again resplendant with wonderful sound.
So you see,,,all those childhood memoirs are not completely eroded, there,s lfe in the old dog(s) yet,,,
Cheers JohnY (& the "Gang" ages 18 to 81 ) Bohemian Rhaphsody(Queen) or Elgar, take yer pick,,,lol
 
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Seeing this just took me back, i was part of the school choir and we did two concerts at the town hall in the 70's such a blast from the past, i remember there was always one song i couldn't ever get the words right to, but it was great, lots of different schools from around the city coming together, and of course we missed maths so that was an added bonus lol Good to see they restored the Town Hall tho :)
 
It's nice that this old post has been resurected now, in the year that the Town Hall is restored and concerts are held there once more. I will one day go and listen to that beautiful organ. I wonder if there are lunch time concets held there, as in some of London's churches.
 
Wonderful to read about the Town Hall. It does bring back memories, In the 1950s they used to give Youth Concerts there. Each year a series of six concerts at a shilling a concert, afterwards a stroll by the Hall of Memory with the current boyfriend, blush , blush!
The grammar schools also had a Grammar Schools Music Festival when each school sent ten pupils.
 
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