Our History

The choir's birthplace was in the parish church of St. Mary's Bolsterstone: members of the church choir formed the nucleus of the infant choir.  The choir celebrated its 60th anniversary in 1994.
The first Conductor was William Evans who was the choirmaster of the Church. William Evans was a very talented musician and his achievements with a small group of men was very significant. William led the Choir for thirty years, when it struggled to keep going, through the war years and through the difficult times immediately after the crash, in which his own father perished, right up to the times when the Choir was on the verge of its greatest achievements. Credit for these goes to Alvin Tipple and Jeffrey Wynn Davies but the architect of the Choir's success was William Evans, whose memorial window overlooks the chancel of the church where for so long he steered the music making of his village.

The Choir has long been associated with its "headquarters" in 'The Castle Inn' next door to the Church and it still rehearses in Bolsterstone Village Hall, which was the Village School until 1993. At the time of the choir's inception there were only 4 public buildings in the village - all clustered round the village square (complete with stocks !) - the Church, the school, the Castle Inn and the Post Office. The school and post office have now closed but the church and the pub remain! The choir has sometimes been described as "England's largest village choir"

EIGHT DEAD IN COACH ACCIDENT
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CHOIR BURIED UNDER MASONRY
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
HUDDERSFIELD, OCT.19

Eight passengers were killed, another eight were seriously injured, and 13 are detained in hospital in consequence of a motor-coach accident in the centre of Holmfirth yesterday afternoon. Most of them were members of Bolsterstone male voice choir on their way to compete in the Holmfirth music festival.

Near the end of the journey the motor-coach, a 32-seater, got out of control on a steep descent into the town and, with the driver, Thomas Yates, of Starmer Street, Cudworth, still at the wheel, it crashed into a warehouse, bringing down tons of masonry which trapped all the passengers.

For nearly two hours rescuers strove to release the passengers from the wrecked coach. Escape holes were dug through the mass of stones and beams from the collapsed building. The rescuers, working in squads, toiled until their hands bled and many became exhausted.

There were three women in the coach, one of whom, Mrs. Aline Helliwell, of Bolsterstone, is dead. The other women are seriously injured. Mr. Alfred Pearson, who died in hospital is the father of nine children, and among the others killed are Mr. Harry Evans, aged 62, of Stocksbridge, father of the choirmaster, Mr. William Evans, who was injured, and Mr. Robert Broadhead, of Stocksbridge, who was recently appointed deputy clerk of Stocksbridge urban council.

Three of the passengers, Mr. Frank Cooke (one of three brothers in the coach), Mr. Verdun Firth, and Mr. Harry Mortimer, on realizing that the coach was out of control jumped clear and escaped with cuts and bruises.

The dead, other than those mentioned above, are:- Mr. Alan Hodgkinson, of Stocksbridge (on leave from the RAF); Mr. Clifford Ellison of Stocksbridge; Mr. Thomas Yates (the driver), and Mr. John Firth, of Stocksbridge.

It was on October 18th, 1947 that a coach conveying the Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir to the Holmfirth Music Festival, got out of control when travelling down Dunford Road and crashed into a warehouse in Holmfirth at a tremendous speed.

A large section of this warehouse wall crashed down upon the coach killing nine members of the party, they were Mrs. Nora Firth (44), Mr. Alfred Pearson (43), Alan Hodgkinson (20), Robert B. Broadhead (48), John Firth (44) and Clifford Ellison, all of Stocksbridge.

Mr Harry Evans (63) and Mrs Aline T. Helliwell (41) of Bolsterstone also the coach driver a Mr Thomas Yates of Cudworth; . Many of the other choir members were very seriously injured and were admitted to hospital.

Bolsterstone Choir Crash Relief Fund which was set up raised £5,038 of which the Holmfirth people did contribute £1,125.

Memorial Window

This memorial window, designed by Ann Sotheran,  was donated to St Mary's Church Bolsterstone in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Holmfirth Crash. The Service of Dedication was held on Saturday 18th July 1997, 50 years to the day after the Crash.

The design of the window has at its centre the landscape of Yorkshire, green rolling hills, with low key representations of mill buildings, mine head winding gear, small villages etc. At the top of the left-hand light is St Mary's, Bolsterstone, representing the village and the community in which the choir is based.

The choir travels widely both at home and abroad, to participate in festivals and competitions, so the members of the choir, in their blue jackets, are shown against the background of a compass rose, indicating the different directions of their travels.

The lower area of the design incorporates flags of the various nations which the choir has visited, and singers from those countries all raising their voices together in friendship with the men from Bolsterstone. Scattered amongst them are some of the trophies won by the choir around the world. At the bottom are the first two lines of music from "Hail Smiling Morn," the choir's signature tune.

At the top of the right -hand light are nine crosses, representing the nine who lost their lives in the coach crash of 1947, shown in blue to provide an instant visual link with the choir. Beside them is the inscription "Remember before God, Thomas Yates, Aline Helliwell, Clifford Ellison, John Firth, Harry Evans, Robert Bocking, Alan Hodgkinson, Alfred Pearson, Nora Adelaide, October 1947