Christmas is a busy and yet a happy time for our choir ending with a social gathering and buffet, or a Dinner. This year we arranged a Buffet/Get together, and all our Vice Presidents were invited to join us. As usual we had a superb selection of food. Special Christmas gifts were given to Jean and Beverley to thank them for all their hard work throughout the year, and for putting up with all of us. However, one other presentation was very sad for us all.

One of our Second Sopranos, Sally Roper, a teacher in Cardiff, had decided to take early retirement and go back to her native Yorkshire to be near her elderly mother and all her family. But Sally was not just a chorister, she was our Assistant Director of Music, our Deputy Accompanist and our solo Flautist ! Sally has a terrific personality and has got us to even sing “The Halleluia Chorus” and “The Lonely Goatherd”in the past. So just before Christmas Sally conducted us for the last time, and was presented with a cheque and a bouquet. Sally now lives in Hull. Her post will be hard to fill. Probably never by one person.

Submitted by Marjorie Gray, Publicity Officer.

On Cctober 9th we gave a concert at St Cenydd Community School to raise funds for the Caerphilly Friends of Music. This local group raises money to take live music into local schools.

Jean Davies conducted us and Beverley Baker was our accompanist. The choir sang 12 songs and one selection from "Oliver".Our final song these days is our quodlibet of "I Believe" and Gounod/Bach's "Ave Maria". This proved to be popular with the audience.

One of our group of songs was conducted by our deputy music director - Sally Roper. Marjorie Gray compered the concert and introduced all the others taking part.

Two soloists came from St Martin Comprehensive School. They were Laura Bonar, a talented 15 year old violinist and Omri Tau a 13 year old euphonium player.

Lots of people in the audience had come to hear the choir from the nearby Cwrt Rawlin Primary School. Lots of those young children had learned most of the pieces since school restarted in September.

Over £500 was raised to pay for musicians to perform in local schools.

On October 1st we travelled to Aberdare to give a concert at Siloh Chapel. This concert was arranged by the Cynon Valley Cancer Research group.

The concert was compered by the well-known broadcaster Roy Noble. He is a master of jokes and funny stories.

Appearing with us were the Mountain Ash Rugby Club singers. We have sung with them before. All their songs are unaccompanied.

There was also a talented young harpist and a great theatre group from Aberdare called the Colstars. They were all teenagers (or younger) and they sang a selection from Peter Pan with such enthusiasm and confidence. It was a very enjoyable concert.

September 21st was the date of our annual visit to the senior citizen's centre in St Julians, Newport.

We sang to a full hall and the audience there are always very enthusiastic.Besides the choir singing eleven songs, Judith Mcleish sang a solo and the trio of Judith, Jayne and Sue sang three songs.

The concert was compered by Marjorie Gray, who also made us all laugh with four humorous poems. We are sure the audience had a very enjoyable evening.