Our origins
Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir was founded in 1934 as a village choir. Over many years it has developed into a choir of significant status; and not just in the United Kingdom! The Choir has travelled abroad extensively and has many admirers overseas.
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 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"
In October 1947 nine people sadly died when a coach carrying choir members and supporters crashed whilst travelling to a music festival. The tragic incident was reported in the Times.