Coalville Male Voice Choir will commemorate the 80th anniversary of their formation with a choral performance at the weekend.

The choir was founded in 1944 to help men returning from war to find joy and a refreshed sense of purpose. 

Over their 80 years, the group have performed over 1,000 concerts in a variety of venues.

They regularly appear at local concerts and have also sung at the Royal Albert Hall - they have even joined Tom Jones in Cardiff as part of the 'world choir'.

In the 1980s their singing took them to Italy as part of an exchange visit, where they performed in venues throughout the country. 

Concert secretary, John Howard has been singing with the choir since 2021. 

He said: "I enjoyed singing but never considered joining a choir until my girlfriend saw an advert from Coalville Male Voice Choir asking for new members. She applied on my behalf and the rest is history.

"My favourite things about being in the choir are singing in the concerts, socialising with a great bunch of guys and the banter on practice nights."

One member has been singing in the choir for 75 years and another has followed both his grandad and dad into the group.

Choir secretary Kevin Mchugh said: "We are all individuals brought together by our Musical Director to be a single body of sound, each of us aiming to deliver our best."

The choir perform a wide range of musical numbers like The Beatles, Vera Lynn, show songs and sea shanties.

The group currently have 25 members, but they are always on the lookout for new singers and encourage anyone to join, regardless of musical ability.

The choir members rehearse every week on Thursdays at 7pm.

John added: "We have workshops at the beginning of each year run by our MD Paul which have brought in a couple of new members and he also runs workshops at local organisations upon request which have also yielded a few new members but there is always room for more."

The concert will be held on July 27 at Marlborough Square Methodist Church, Coalville, with more details available here.