It's great that we are well into the start of our journey singing with other choirs!  It gives us a different learning curve and it benchmarks how far we have come since we were formed in 2010.

OK - you may say that after 9 years, it's about time...   ...but we disagree.

We were not formed with the intention to be a slick prize-winning competition choir which also gets a 'Strictly Come Dancing' 10 for its choreography...

...nor were we formed by public subscription...

...nor, contrary to what has been said recently about choirs with a community ethos, do we have an auditions policy...

...we were formed to give our founding members, and those who have joined us since and swelled our numbers and our quality, the chance to sing.   Not 'sing if you're good enough', or sing 'within a raft of defined instructions', but sing, pure and simple.  The only great aspiration is that we have in our memory the songs we deliver in a joint concert and our standard repertoire in our own concert productions - but we are, after all, a male voice choir.  For a group of unauditioned men, that is a worthy achievement to show 9 years of work.

...and it's our first #FridayFeeling of the new rehearsal season (a sort of 'post-rehearsal night' reflection!)!  Since we haven't had an actual rehearsal break this time, it feels like we haven't been away...   ...but, of course, we have!

It was great talking about our Grantham experience at our rehearsal last night and also giving our Tenor 2 and Vice-Chairman Jerry a huge pat on the back for organising our trip away.  It was also fun meeting up again with our Radcliffe-on-Trent friends and we thank them for putting on an afterglow for us all to enjoy!  The best thing though was that we performed well to a new audience and it was that which really made the trip a successful one!

But until we have a chance to plan our next excursion away, we need to concentrate...  Our summer season rehearsals have started, leading to concerts in Loddon and at our Mile Cross home in July, then in September, we are welcoming Millhouse Green MVC as our visitors.  We have our new songlist and we are up and running...   ...but we are not an exclusive club, and it's always easier for newcomers to join us at the start of our rehearsal seasons than in the fortnight before a big concert!!!

So, calling all Gents!  Our Open Rehearsals are on and you can come and see what we do and how we do it - without charge, audition, or obligation.  You can even throw yourself right into it and have a sing on us - but if you are still unsure, we can sit you with someone to explain what we are doing!

So here's your chance to continue your singing hobby, or to start a new one...!   Remember that Grantham is only the start...!  ...and as a certain Director of Norwich City FC [they're now in the Premier League, if you hadn't heard...?] once said, " Let's Be Having You!!!".

Well, we've only gone and done it...!
Added another 'tick' next to our bucket list items - we've just appeared in a Concert engagement outside of East Anglia...   ...and it was great!

Not only was it great fun meeting up again with our friends of the Radcliffe-on-Trent Male Voice Choir both during the Concert and afterwards...

Not only was it our first great concert exchange visit completed...

Not only was it a great Concert, with both RoTMVC and ourselves producing two singing sets each which were very well received by our Grantham audience...

Not only did the great massed finale of both choirs raise the roof as only 60+ male voices singing together can...

But also, we did it...!  We went on tour!  It was short, it was fun and it was great!

In 'male voice choir' terms, we are still new, at just nine years old...!  Compare with our hosts this weekend, the Radcliffe-on-Trent Male Voice Choir - formed in 1983 - and 'the oldest boy band in the world', the Fron (Côr Meibion Froncysyllte, or Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir), which was formed to take part in the 1947 Eisteddfod.

So, we're trying to do good in different ways, but are deeply aware that we still have plenty to learn about how powerful our voices are in bringing about change ...!

It's a great joy then not only to be meeting up with our singing chums from Radcliffe-on-Trent on Saturday, but also that our joint concert will benefit the ongoing community project central to the objectives of our ChristChurch Grantham venue (pictured opposite).

Back in Norwich, we show again our support for a Charity of the Year, and for 2019, our choice is the Support Group for Norwich's Priscilla Bacon Lodge Hospice.  While the hospice continues its valuable work, the support group, an independent body of volunteers, steps in to provide the additional items and extras to do 'what it says on the tin', making things just a little easier for patients and their families when they need it most.   Further information about the Priscilla Bacon Support Group is on their website at: https://supportingpbl.org.uk/ and your kind generosity at our concerts through the year in the Group's Bucket Collections and by supporting our concert raffles with its 50/50 proceeds share, would be greatly appreciated and most welcomed.

Our voices really can be the 'helping hands' that bring about change!

Phoenix Male Voice Choir's
2019 Charity of the Year:
Priscilla Bacon Support Group,
Priscilla Bacon Lodge,
Colman Hospital,
Unthank Road,
Norwich, Norfolk,
NR2 2PJ.
Charity number: 278667

Norwich's Phoenix MVC Visiting Grantham -
Click the link for information:
www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/concert-to-boost-grantham-church-project-9066042/

The long weekends of Easter and the early May Bank Holiday are behind us and there is plenty to reflect on!  To start with, our usual huge thanks to everyone who attended our end-of-April Concert.  We hope you enjoyed your evening, especially since there was another major attraction in town that night!  More later!

It's also a chance to see what we are up to in the next few weeks...

We are looking forward to visiting Grantham this coming Saturday evening.  It will be the first time we have been in a concert so far outside our Norfolk base and we are pleased to be meeting up to sing again again with our friends from Nottingham's Radcliffe-on-Trent Male Voice Choir.  The cause benefitting from the concert is the community project to restore and improve the facilities of the Grantham ChristChurch venue and further information about the evening is available from the click link opposite!

The concert marks the end of our Spring Season so to start the new singing season, we are delighted once again to invite all adult men interested in seeing how a male voice choir works to our Open Rehearsals on Thursday evenings in the second half of May.  Whilst our Open Rehearsals form part of our recruitment processes and we hope that our rehearsal guests will go on to join our singing men, there is no obligation to do so, and it's an ideal chance to see our 'behind the scenes' work.  These three rehearsals are an opportunity for our current members and our guests to run through the content of our summer singing programme and start the learning process.

We then rehearse towards our July 2019 appearances in Loddon and our own Concert on Saturday 27th July in Norwich.  Remember that the venue for this concert is changed as the original arrangements to appear in Thompson fell through, so we will now be putting on a full evening's concert at our Mile Cross Methodist Church home base.

Finally, to the 'something else' that happened last weekend...  

...Massive Congratulations to the Players, Staff, Manager and Directors of Norwich City Football Club on their magnificent achievement not only to join the Premier League, but to do so as Champions of the Championship!  Of course, getting there is one thing, so we wish everyone involved at the Club every success at the top level, and a long and exciting stay!

I wonder if there is a premier league of male voice choirs.....?