On Friday 4th of November, Côr y Gleision secured the first prize in the Open Choir Category at Eisteddfod y Cymoedd beating Côr Godre’r Garth who came second, and Bechgyn Bro Taf and Côr Cwm Ni who came joint third. The adjudicators were Eleri Roberts, Musical Director for Côr Heol y March and Meinir Richards, Musical Director for Côr Llanddarog.

This was the tenth year of Eisteddfod y Cymoedd which was established ten years ago to celebrate the Welsh Language in the Rhymney Valley and held at Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni in Caerphilly.

‘I’m so proud of the choir for winning the competition’ says Richard Vaughan the Musical Director ‘I’m so pleased that we had an opportunity to support an Eisteddfod that develops each year and continues to develop new talent in the valley’

The choir will now be preparing for their annual Christmas Concert which will be held at St Peter’s Church in Roath, Cardiff on Thursday the 22nd of December at 7:30.

At the beginning of October a few members of Côr y Gleision completed the Cardiff Half Marathon. A few of the members who took part had previously run a half marathon but some of the members, including Côr y Gleision’s accompanist Rhiannon Pritchard, signed up for the ‘Alfie’s Angels’ series on BBC Wales where Gareth Thomas, former Wales and British Lions Captain trained a group of people who had never run a half marathon before.

‘It was an amazing experience, I never thought I could run so far, we had a lot of fun but was glad to reach that finish line’ says Rhiannon Pritchard

The group managed to raise £4,500 for their different charities including Beating Bowel Cancer, Cancer Research UK, Ochre (promoting awareness of oesophageal cancer) a Muscular Dystrophy

Congratulations to everyone who took part.

At the end of August 2016, Côr y Gleision travelled to Belgium as part of their ten-year anniversary celebrations, holding  cathedral concerts in Bruges and Ghent, and also performing in the ‘Last Post’ ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. The choir also visited cemeteries as part of the 100 year commemorations of the Great War.

Musical Director, Richard Vaughan, said: ‘It was a great honour to perform at such prestigious venues as the cathedrals. The audiences’ reactions were magnificent, and the choir thoroughly enjoyed the experiences’.

Richard had composed a piece of music especially for the tour, to the words of ‘Rhyfel’ (War), a poem written by the Welsh poet Hedd Wyn, who was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. Performing this poignant piece at both concerts was a privilege, and having the opportunity to sing it at Hedd Wyn’s graveside was an emotional experience that will long live in the memory.

The choir and guests were also able to explore and enjoy the wonderful Belgian culture and hospitality at all three locations, as a fitting climax to the anniversary celebrations.

On Saturday 23rd July 2016 Côr y Gleision held their ten-year anniversary concert at Llandaff Cathedral. The choir shared a stage with the British Sinfonietta orchestra as well as the soloists Rhodri Prys Jones and Katy Treharne (‘Christine’ Phantom of the Opera, West End) and the compere for the evening was BBC presenter Iwan Griffiths. The choir performed a number of their popular songs over the last ten years as well as old favourites from the original ‘Codi Canu’ series.

‘The concert summed up ten years of work for us as a choir’ according to Richard Vaughan, the choir’s Musical Director for the past five years. ‘The aim of the concert was to show how we’ve developed as a choir over the past ten years since the first series of Codi Canu and how we continue to go from strength to strength’

‘It was just an amazing experience to sing in such a fabulous place, and the accompaniment of the orchestra and the location brought the music to life, and the sound was a hundred times better’ said Gwenno Williams, one of the original members of the choir and past Chair.

The choir will continue its ten-year anniversary celebrations with a trip to Belgium to hold a number of concerts in Bruges and Ghent as well as performing in the ‘Last Post’ ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres.

The choir managed to secure first prize in the Folk Category at the Cheltenham Festival of Arts on Saturday the 14th of May 2016.

Having competed a number of times over the years at the festival, this year there were also two other choirs from Wales present; Cardiff Ardwyn Singers and Côr Bro Meirion, the former managing to secure first prize in the Sacred Category.

Congratulations to all choirs who had success at the Festival.

This year, the Cardiff Blues Choir will be celebrating 10 years since its formation as part of the Codi Canu series on S4C. To celebrate this milestone in the history of the choir, the choir will be organising a Grand Concert at Llandaff Cathedral with the British Sinfonieta orchestra that will include some of the choir’s favourite songs over the years as well as a number of pieces accompanied by the orchestra. The choir will also be visiting Belgium in the summer as part of their celebrations and will have an opportunity to perform in Menin Gate as part of the events to remember 100 since the First World War.

To order tickets for the Ten Years Anniversary Concert, please contact membershipcorygleision@gmail.com