29th July, 2023 - Six Mile Festival, Antrim
The Choir was again invited to sing at another summer event hosted by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, this time in Antrim High Street, as part of the Six Mile Festival. The mobile stage was set up beside the Old Courthouse, close to the Barbican Gate, and the choir was the final entertainment of the afternoon, following on from their friends in Ballyclare Male Choir. Heavy rain showers interspersed with dry spells had been passing through all afternoon but as members of the choir assembled beside the stage they were able to listen to the men singing many of their most popular pieces. Then it was the turn of The Clare Chorale but as the choirs swopped places a heavy shower forced the audience to seek shelter. Thankfully it didn’t last long and by the time the choir was ready to start the rain had gone and the sun appeared and importantly the audience returned! Accompanied and conducted by Sheelagh Greer the choir entertained the audience with some of their older pieces together with a few of the most recently introduced pieces such as ‘Yesterday’ and ‘I’ll Tell Me Ma’, all very much enjoyed.
For more images of today’s event please follow this link to the ‘Gallery’ page - Six Mile Festival
The singing season ended with this event but the choir is looking forward to resuming in early September and to adding to an already extensive repertoire of music.
28th July, 2023 - Order of Mercy Award made to Choir Secretary, Anne Demick
Anne Demick, Order of Mercy
It isn’t very often that one individual choir member makes the news but everyone in The Clare Chorale was delighted to hear that our choir secretary, Anne Demick, was presented with the Order of Mercy medal at a ceremony in the Mansion House, London today. Anne has been a volunteer with the Ileostomy Association, which supports people living with an ileostomy or internal pouch, since about 1971. A nomination recognising her many years of voluntary service was made to the League of Mercy Foundation which was founded in 1899 by Royal Charter of Queen Victoria. Its original aim was to establish a large body of voluntary workers who would assist with the maintenance of voluntary hospitals and 'otherwise relieve sickness and suffering'. This changed in 1948 with the establishment of the National Health Service and the League was wound down. It was re-established in 1999 and one of its important roles now is to recognise dedicated volunteers, who have given marvellous service for a period of at least seven years, by awarding them with the prestigious Order of Mercy. Only around fifty people are presented with this medal each year and Anne was delighted to be nominated by the Ileostomy Association. Her husband David accompanied her to London for the ceremony.
Anne is pictured above with Lord Lingfield, President of the League of Mercy, who made the presentation.
Sincere congratulation go to Anne from everyone in The Clare Chorale.
For a brief description of Anne’s involvement with the Ileostomy Association follow this link - Anne Demick
For more information on this organisation follow this link - The League of Mercy Foundation
To read a Belfast Telegraph interview follow this link - Anne Demick Interview
25th June, 2023 - Sentry Hill
In the style of “Proms in the Park” The Clare Chorale was invited by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to sing at Sentry Hill this afternoon. Despite a rather uncertain forecast and localised thunder storms nearby the afternoon weather was almost perfect for an open-air concert in the grounds of this historic farmhouse near Glengormley. There was a good turnout of music lovers who risked the possibility of the odd shower to come and listen to some of the choir’s favourite pieces and they were not disappointed. The very unusual location of an agricultural open shed thankfully did not create any adverse acoustics for the choir and the audience sitting in the sun outside thoroughly enjoyed a full programme of both sacred and secular songs interspersed with solos from a number of choir members.
A very enjoyable afternoon of wonderful music and one that the choir hopes to repeat in a few weeks’ time when the venue will be in Antrim on 29th July. For more details visit the ‘Engagements’ page.
For more images of today’s event please follow this link to the ‘Gallery’ page - Sentry Hill
11th June, 2023 - Ballynure Presbyterian Church 300th Anniversary Celebration Praise
The Clare Chorale lead the praise this evening at a special evening service to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the formation of Ballynure Presbyterian Church. The Celebration Praise Service included readings and hymns and was the first event in a week of celebrations which will culminate in a special morning service next Sunday on the actual date the congregation was formed, 18th June, 300 years on. The choir president, Richard Wallace, is the organiser of a series of events to celebrate this wonderful anniversary and he was delighted to be able to invite The Chorale Chorale to take part in this evening’s service. Despite the beautiful spell of warm and dry weather the church was well filled and the appreciative congregation enjoyed the choir’s wide range of sacred pieces. In particular the men’s singing of ‘Peace in the Valley’ was very well received. George Hewitt from Glengormley Presbyterian Church was the guest organist on the night and choir accompanist was the extremely talented Stuart Beattie.
The service was streamed live on YouTube and can be watched by following this link (the video starts at 5 minutes 9 seconds) - Celebration Praise Video
A few more images can be seen on the Gallery page by following this link - Ballynure Presbyterian Church
Following on from this special service the church produced a news sheet which features the choir and the special events that took place during a week of celebration - follow this link to read it - Ballynure Presbyterian Church News Sheet
3rd - 4th June, 2023 - The Clare Chorale on Tour to Ayr
Images from the choir’s recent tour to Ayr in Scotland can be seen on the Gallery page by following this link - Ayr
24th May, 2023 - Music in Ballyclare Town Hall (May Fair Event)
This evening the town hall in Ballyclare was the venue for a festival of music as part of the town’s May Fair celebrations. The Clare Chorale took part in this free event hosted by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and together with compere William Hill the choir entertained a full hall during a 40 minute slot during which choir performed many of its favourite songs. Also on the bill for the evening were Ballyduff Silver Band, Ballyclare Male Choir and The Star of Knockagh Accordion Band.
Image credit - Michael Stewart
13th May, 2023 - 20th Anniversary Annual Concert (Theatre at the Mill)
For more images of the annual concert follow this link to the Gallery page - Annual Concert 2023
Image credit on stage - Michael Stewart
23rd March, 2023 - CO3 Annual Leadership Awards Ceremony
Established in 1985, Chief Officers 3rd Sector (CO3) is a leading membership-based organisation that focuses on supporting, developing and connecting Third Sector leaders in Northern Ireland. One of its charity members had attended the choir’s anniversary celebration held in Ballyclare town hall in January and through that contact it was suggested that the choir would be ideally suited to provide some entertainment at the end of the awards ceremony in the Europa hotel, Belfast. The event was held in one of the hotel’s smaller function suites at the back of the hotel and it took a little time to get used to the different acoustics but the choir met the challenge and sang a range of its popular pieces including a few recently introduced. At the end of the event many choir members made their way up to the piano bar in the hotel for refreshments and some very enjoyable socialising.
12th March, 2023 - Anniversary Praise Service in 2nd Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church with Ballyclare Male Choir
Ballyclare has long had a tradition of producing talented musicians and singers and at a service tonight in 2nd Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church two well established choirs from the district came together to celebrate significant milestones in their respective history. Ballyclare Male Choir was formed in September 1933 by Mr Albert McClenaghan, a Precentor in 2nd Ballyeaston at the time, and in this the choir’s 90th year it was appropriate that it should return to the place of its formation to celebrate its 90th anniversary. In comparison The Clare Chorale is a relatively young choir but in the 20 years since its formation it too has established itself as a choir of great quality with a wide repertoire of music. There are many strong links between the two choirs and it was felt that it would be appropriate forAnniversary Praise Service’rian Church by the minister of the church, Rev. Chris Glover, who has a great love of choral music and who was delighted to be hosting this special anniversary praise service. He used the words - “Sing and Make Music,” a quotation from Ephesians Chapter 5: V19, as the theme for the evening and the words proved to be particularly poignant as the congregation enjoyed listening to wonderful singing from both choirs.
Margaret Boyd, an Elder in the church, welcomed everyone to the celebration service before it continued unannounced. Ballyclare Male Choir sang the introit ‘As the Deer’ and in separate parts of the service each choir contributed four individual pieces. A member of each choir, Michael McAdoo (TCC) and Rev. Colin Campbell (BMC), read a scripture reading. The service ended with the combined choirs singing the beautiful vesper ‘God be with you till we meet again.’
Following the service everyone enjoyed a delicious supper in the church hall, kindly provided by the church catering team.
Sincere thanks were extended to Rev. Chris Glover, the Kirk Session and the catering team by Dick Grey, chairperson of Ballyclare Male Choir, and by Alan Strong, chairperson of The Clare Chorale, before the evening was brought to a close with the two choirs combining once again to sing a wonderful arrangement of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. To listen to a recording of this hymn or to watch the whole service follow this link to the church’s YouTube channel - 2nd Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church
The videos are entitled ‘Singing for their Supper’ and ‘Anniversary Praise Service.’
For more images of the evening please follow this link to the gallery page - Anniversary Praise Service
10th March, 2023 - Concert in Loanends Presbyterian Church
The weather forecast for Thursday of this week gave snow for parts of Northern Ireland and indeed much of the Ballyclare and Templepatrick areas did experience a reasonable fall during the afternoon and evening making some roads impassable for all but 4-wheel-drive vehicles. Understandably a number of choir members couldn’t make the Thursday evening practice in Ballyclare High School as a result. There was a little anxiety as to whether or not this evening’s concert would go ahead but the thaw set in quite quickly this morning and it was soon given the ‘green light.’
Despite the extremely cold weather the church hall was well filled and the audience thoroughly enjoyed a wide repertoire of chorale music for which The Clare Chorale is well known. Indeed this evening saw the unveiling of three new pieces recently introduced by Sheelagh Greer and they were particularly enjoyed by the appreciative audience.
Sheelagh Greer and Hayley Howe
Hayley Howe, a very accomplished violinist from Lisburn, was the guest musician for the evening and her performance was sublime as she played a range of classical pieces as well as some well-known local ballads, accompanied on the keyboard for a number of them by Sheelagh.
28th January, 2023 - 20th Anniversary Celebration in Ballyclare Town Hall
The Clare Chorale was formed in September 2003 and to start the celebrations off in this its 20th season a very informal concert was held in Ballyclare Town Hall. It was an opportunity for the many supporters of the choir to drop in to listen to the singing and to enjoy some light refreshments. Local dignitaries and representatives of the numerous charities that the choir has supported over its twenty years were formally invited to attend, together with former members of the choir, and there was a good representation from across the local community in the large audience. The choir began by singing a few of its favourite pieces before Richard Wallace in his role as president of the choir formally welcomed The Worshipful the Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman Stephen Ross, to the hall. The Mayor was delighted to be there and was able to enjoy the choir’s singing for a short time before official duties necessitated his early departure. A number of former members were able to come and interact with choir members once again during breaks in singing. The charity being supported this year is the NI Chest, Heart and Stroke and everyone had the opportunity to donate to this very important local charity. Overall this was a wonderful event to begin the choir’s 20th anniversary celebrations and to fundraise for a charity. Visit the Engagements page for more choir events planned for later this year.
Follow this link for photographs of the event on the Gallery page - Ballyclare Town Hall
13th November, 2022 - Charity Come Dancing in the Theatre at the Mill
Mr Leslie McAdoo MBE was choir president for a number of years and he was a prolific fundraiser for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. Sadly both Leslie and his wife Joan passed away in the last year but his son Michael, who is a member of the choir, and his wife Victoria have decided to continue the family support for this charity and they organised a Charity Come Dancing event for this evening. Victoria runs the First Dance NI dance school in Ballyclare and over the past number of months she has been busy coaching eight couples on the finer points of ballroom dancing culminating in a public performance on the stage of the Theatre at the Mill. The choir was delighted to be able to support this very important local charity by singing after the dancing competition was over, with only the announcement of the winner to be made after voting was completed. The choir shared the stage with the wonderful Leading Ladies.
11th November, 2022 - Charity Concert in the Great Hall, Parliament Buildings, Stormont
It has been more than two and a half years since The Clare Chorale last performed in the Great Hall in Parliament Buildings, Stormont and the front of the building was floodlit in red to mark Remembrance Day as the choir and guests made their way up to this wonderful venue for a charity concert in support of Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke. The choir was joined for the this concert by Ballyclare Primary School choir as well as a local and very popular soprano soloist, Emma Quigley. Ursula Ferguson represented the charity and she gave a very informative talk on the work of the charity and how they support people in Northern Ireland living with chest, heart and stroke conditions.
24th September, 2022 - Mothers’ Union Concert
The Clare Chorale made its first public appearance of the season this evening in a concert in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. The occasion was the Mothers’ Union Annual Gathering and the concert closed the two-day international conference of this very prominent organisation within the Anglican Church. Many of the delegates and friends stayed after the business of the conference finished this afternoon and they were thoroughly entertained by a wide range of both sacred and secular pieces sung by the choir. The choir’s Director of Music, Sheelagh Greer, also sang a number of solo pieces which were also greatly appreciated by the audience. The choir led the praise singing and were joined in quite excellent hymn singing by the five hundred strong audience. A shorter concert by normal standards as the hall had to be cleared quite early but one that was really enjoyed by all with many compliments being given at the end. Choir accompanist for the evening Stuart Beattie with Mark Haffield on clarinet. Images courtesy of the Waterfront Hall.
8th September, 2022 - H.M. Queen Elizabeth II
Royal Sympathy.
Members of The Clare Chorale met for practice this week when Alan Strong (Choir Chairman) expressed sincere sympathy to King Charles III and the members of the Royal Family on the death of Queen Elizabeth II. There was approval for this reflection of the stoic, diligent, professional and dedicated service of our Head of State. This was followed by a minute's silence to endorse the reflection.