police male voice choir

Forewordby Brian KenwellChairman, Police Male Voice Choir(incorporating the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Male Voice Choir)THE PAST FEW YEARS have seen the choir’sannual concert take place in the Spires at ChurchHouse. Due to ongoing refurbishment the venue hasnot been available to us this year and we are indebted to thePrincipal and Board of Governors of the Royal BelfastAcademical Institution for allowing us the use of their excellentfacilities for tonight’s concert.Joining us tonight for the first time is the Northern Ireland Fireand Rescue Service Concert Band under their Director of Music,Martin Wall. The band is in great demand across the provinceand we are delighted they are able to be with us this evening. Iknow you will enjoy their input which will showcase the breadthof their repertoire.Once again we are privileged to have Gene Fitzpatrick as ourcompere. Gene has become a firm favourite with our audiences andI know he will entertain you tonight with his unique style of humour.Those of you who were at our concert in 2009 will remembersoprano Rachael Jones who at that time was a pupil ofHunterhouse College. Rachael is with us again tonight havingcome over from Manchester where she is studying to become aprofessional singer. You will find more information aboutRachael on page 11.Last September Charles Black, who is a founder member of thechoir and has been our conductor for the past fifteen years,retired from his role as conductor. We are deeply indebted toCharles for his commitment to the choir which is evidenced bythe fact that he has chosen to stay with the choir and give us thebenefits of his superb tenor voice.We were fortunate to acquire the services of Mark McGrath asour conductor from the commencement of our season lastSeptember. Mark comes from a family with policingconnections, his grandfather, Andrew Forbes, was a formerDirector of Music of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Band. Youwill find more details of Mark’s career on page 10.I hope you will enjoy our concert as much as we enjoyperforming for you.3