“Sixties and Cornish Folk Songs, Shanties & Smiles”
“Wowing audiences with their fabulous Cornish, folk, nautical and shanty songs presented with smiles, by the group who have been selected to represent Cornwall live on national ITV programmes; from the deck of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich; from the stages at the prestigious Festival Interceltique in Lorient Brittany; and from the Boardmaster’s stage in Newquay.”
Oll an Gwella Male Chorus are happy to accept bookings for our performances and we continue to have a busy year ahead, with Weddings, Festivals, celebrations and parties. We were ‘up with the larks’ as we appeared with presenter, Andi Peters, singing live from Watergate beach in a July 2021 feature as part of ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’ and the ‘Lorraine’ shows.
We meet regularly for a busy rehearsal programme, usually held (6.30-8.00pm on a Thursday) at “The Newquay Centre” in St Michael’s Road, Newquay, and we are happy to make arrangements for guests & visitors to join us, if we know in advance.
Our 3rd Charity CD was recorded in January 2020, “From the Heart of Cornwall” and is selling well (see webpage “Music”) and the 15 songs featured include Cornish favourites “Cornwall my Home”, “Camborne Hill, “Lamorna”, “Cornish Farewell Shanty”, “Trelawny” and “The White Rose” along with a couple of songs that have delighted Welsh audiences on our visits to South Wales ”Calon Lan” and “Eli Jenkins Prayer”. The rest of the songs on the album represent the Sea Shanty and mining influences of our Cornish homeland, along with songs which confirm our Male Voice Choir background. … in fact the CD is pretty representative of an Oll an Gwella performance. The latest option is to purchase a card with a unique code which gives access to the 3rd album via ‘Bandcamp’ digital music.
Album sales to date together with donations and collections from before ‘lockdown’ have enabled us still to contribute funds to each of our latest chosen charities – currently Cornwall Blood Bikes and Penhaligon’s Friends – both very worthwhile local charities which are staffed by volunteers and use every penny we can offer to carry out their good work. Cornwall Blood Bikes offer an ‘out of hours’ service to distribute urgent medical notes and samples, whilst Penhaligon’s friends offer support to bereaved families, particularly children. We’re proud to have distributed more than £65,000 in total since 2015 when our charity account was opened, as well as supporting lot of other charities with their fund-raising efforts.
Oll an Gwella choristers encourage everyone to smile … and support good local causes … with our wide range of songs, shanties and laughter.
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Who are we? ….. Oll an Gwella …. ‘a bunch of beauties’! All members of Newquay Male Voice Choir, this is a rehearsed, a cappella, male chorus with a repertoire consisting of over 100 songs including Shanties, Cornish folk, 1960s classics, seasonal & sacred music.
Combining their 4-part harmony with infectious humour the group has earned wide acclaim for their extensive repertoire. Wherever they find themselves, Oll an Gwella’s mission is to spread their joy of singing amongst others and everyone is encouraged to participate – from pensioners to youngsters in school workshops. The group’s reputation and popularity has grown steadily with their repertoire. Annually, the group perform “Songs of the Sea” at the International Shanty Festival in Falmouth and offer a little local colour to passengers on cruise liners as they visit the port; they were asked to sing at the celebration dinner marking the centenary of the RAF and performed annually at the HMS Pickle celebrations to recognise the news of the victory at Trafalgar; they sang a range of mining songs at a reception in Pendennis Castle, hosted by ‘Cornish Lithium’ as the extraction industry looks again at possibilities in Cornwall; and separately, booked to sing Cornish Folk songs (with some Kernewek – the Cornish language) at Lowender Celtic Festival; a reception hosted by Cornwall Council to recognise minority Celtic languages; and for both German and London-based film crews.
Whilst entertaining for pleasure, they have raised thousands of pounds for local charities and significant donations have been made to “The Cove” Cancer Centre in Truro, the ‘Royal National Lifeboat Institution’, ‘Cornwall Hospice Care’, as well as their current charities ‘Cornwall Blood Bikes’ and ‘Penhaligon’s Friends.
Oll an Gwella have been delighted to accept invitations to sing at numerous shows and festivals. In 2016 they represented Cornwall at the “Festival Interceltique” in Lorient, Brittany, with 16 performances over a 10-day period, singing to many of the 700,000 visitors attending. In a 12-week period in the summer of 2018, they showed their versatility, with lyrics in Cornish, Welsh and French, as they entertained at the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Show; organised a sea-shanty cruise down the river Fal; performed in Cornish at the “Gorsedh Kernow” cultural festival; auditioned for “Britains got Talent”, performed at a charity concert in Pontypridd and opened the main stage at “Boardmasters” Music Festival, singing a specially commisioned George Ezra number. They have exported their distinctive harmonies across England and Wales and further invites to France have seen performances in St Malo, Dinard and Dinan (as well as Lorient). They have shown themselves to be equally at home singing on elaborate festival sound stages, on the deck of the “Cutty Sark” or in Cathedrals, Schools, retirement homes and nursing homes. They have broadcast live on local radio and have been recorded by “Spotlight” for BBC Television. April 2019 & 2024 saw them singing at the UK’s largest & most popular Charity Garden Day when they performed at “Tregothnan Gardens” for iSight Cornwall and Mental Health charities respectively. In May 2022 & 2024 they were appointed as stewards at the Cornwall International Male Choral Festival as choirs visited Healey’s Cider Farm for an informal day of songs and smiles. They are often engaged to perform at weddings and funerals, offering bespoke performances and they volunteer to sing in “Memory Cafes”, nursing-homes and schools where their choral workshops encourage children’s singing. October 2019 brought a celebration of their 10 years support for the local community. They enjoyed a fabulous trip to Morlaix and Henvic in Brittany, singing in concert with “La Cle des Chants” choir in Morlaix and with “Voisins Voix’in” and “Les Marins des Legendes” choral groups based in Henvic – and enjoying the generous French hospitality offered! Emerging from the Covid pandemic, in July 2021, Oll an Gwella were delighted to be asked to represent the Cornish Choral Scene with a live performance on national Television with Andi Peters when he visited Watergate Bay for ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” and the “Lorraine” show.
