Beginings
The choir was founded on 2 July 1931. J R Green, Tom Johnson and H H Thomas, who were members of Barrow Working Men's Club & Institute, approached other members with an interest in singing, and they were successful in forming the nucleus of a Male Voice Choir. The institute itself was one of the town's oldest social clubs, having been in operation since around 1870. It originally met in the Municipal Buildings on Lawson Street and later in Cornwallis Street. Later, it acquired premises (now disused) in Abbey Road. The new singing group was originally called the Barrow Working Men's Club & Institute Male Voice Choir; it adopted its present name in 1997. (The abbreviation BWMC continued to appear on the choir's blazer badges right up to September 2011.)
Mr Herbert H Thomas from Millom, a local schoolmaster and later a school's music organiser, was selected as effectively the first regular conductor (the initial appointee having resigned after only a fortnight). At the opening rehearsal on 9 July 1931 in the Abbey Road Club, twenty-five choristers presented themselves. The choir had immediate success, gaining first place only twelve weeks later at a revived Barrow-in-Furness Musical Festival. This win was soon repeated at the Workington Musical Festival. In addition to competing in singing festivals (which were featured regularly until the early 1980s and less frequently in subsequent years), the choir assisted local and national charitable organisations by performing in concerts without payment.
Disputes with the parent institute regarding membership requirements led to the choir moving out in 1936 to the Thwaite Street School. Here they operated for some years as an independent unit under the name Barrow & District Male Voice Choir. However, from April 1941, their operations had to be suspended due to the Second World War. In 1945, the choir was able to resume its previous activities and also to accept an invitation to move back to the Working Men's Institute under its original name.
Above are the Barrow Working Men's Club and Institute Male Voice Choir outside the Club on Abbey Road in December 1953. This choir later renamed itself The Barrow Male Voice Choir.
Some notable concerts
In 1946, the choir was invited to broadcast on BBC radio in conjunction with Vickers-Armstrong Shipyard Band in the feature "Sounding Brass and Voices". Then in 1951 it appeared along with several well-known national choirs and brass bands at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in the inaugural presentation and broadcast of "The Rainbow", a tone poem by Christopher Hassle set to music by composer Dr Thomas Wood, by chance a boyhood resident of Settle Street in Barrow.
The choir usually took part in one or two competitive festivals every year, with many successes, winning the prestigious Blackpool Festival in 1969, under the baton of Gilbert Uren. In the late 1970s, the choir was invited to take part in a BBC television programme called A Grand Sing and in January 1980, they emerged from many entrants as winners of the male voice class.
The choir generally performed around fifteen concerts a year, and in 2000 it took part in two mass male voice concerts for the new millennium. One was held at Whitehaven with three hundred voices and another at Manchester with around two thousand voices. The year 2001 saw our 70th birthday and we made it a special year by staging a bumper concert at Barrow's theatre venue Forum 28 and by holding extra social events.
During the next few years the choir was also represented amongst those attending the Festival of Sound and Brass, held in London's Royal Albert Hall (2006 & 2009). In 2008 the choir visited Derbyshire and performed in Tideswell Parish Church alongside Thorntons Brass Band. In October 2010 there was another memorable concert in Forum 28 in conjunction with the touring Wagga City Rugby Male Choir from Australia. The visiting singers included the former Barrow and Great Britain Rugby League star Phil Jackson, making a nostalgic return to the town.
The year 2011 was another anniversary, the choir's 80th and this was celebrated with a concert at the Forum. In 2012 the choir visited South Wales and performed at the Millenium Centre in Cardiff and shared a concert with Cowbridge Male VoiceChoir at All Hallows Church. Travelling further afield in 2014 the choir visited Ireland and sang in Christ Church Cathederal, Dublin and in St Mary's,Tipperary. Much Wenlock Male Voice Choir were hosted here in Cumbria in 2015 and a joint concert was held in the Victoria Hall, Grange over Sands. In 2016 the choir performed a joint concert with Beverly Male Voice Choir in The Methodist Church, Ulverston. Later the same year the choir travelled to Belgium and The Netherlands and performed on the Hull to Rotterdam Ferry, at Mechelen Cathederal and at the Arnhem Airborne Museum. 2017 highlights included a memorial concert for local born musician Thomas Round with Barrow Savoyards, and a joint concert with Much Wenlock Male Voice Choir in Shropshire.
In recent years the Choir has shared performance nights with local musicians including Saxophonist, Jess Gillam at annual concerts in 2011 and 2013 and Tenor, Ian Honeyman in 2012.
2021 saw the choir celebrating 90 years with a joint concert in St James Church, Barrow. The concert included The Ghyll singers celebrating 80 years and Dalton Town Band celebrating 150 Years.
Our Musical Teams
The original conductor, H.H. Thomas, retired in 1951 due to ill health. He was succeeded by Gilbert Uren, who, like his predecessor, worked in civilian life as a teacher and as the local schools' music advisor. Subsequent conductors following Mr Uren's retirement in 1975 were: E (Ted) Wilson, 1976-1977, a bass singer and a former conductor of the Vickers Male Voice Choir; Reginald Lanworn, 1978-1982; William Crawford, 1983-1984; Michael Petty, 1985-2003; Les Stewart in 2004, and Anthony Milledge from 2005 until 2017 when his wife Deborah was appointed Musical Director.
Local solicitor Martyn Tongue gave the choir more than forty years of voluntary service as a piano accompanist up to the 1996 annual concert, when he was succeeded by Rita Matthews and Sue Quarmby, who shared the duties. Rita was succeeded by Christine Searle, who remained with the choir until 2005, when she was succeeded by Margaret Harrison. Sue retired in 2020 and was replaced by Zina Myakicheff Preston.
Here is the choir in 1980 at a plush but unknown venue,
Rehearsal venues
For many years, the choir would hold two rehearsals each week on Mondays and Thursdays, but this was eventually reduced to one per week. A new code of rules had been approved in 1935, whereby members failing to attend three successive rehearsals (without sufficient reason) were liable to be excluded from the choir. Rehearsals were held mostly in an upstairs room at the Working Men's Club's main premises in Abbey Road. The same building also housed the choir's music library, an arrangement which lasted until 1996. Subsequently, the venue had to be transferred to the nearby Salvation Army citadel, although this agreement ended a year or two later. The choir then moved permanently to the Holy Family Catholic Church Hall in Newbarns, which had already been used briefly during the transitional arrangements after vacating the Working Men's Club. In 2018, they moved once again - to the Nan Tait Centre, Abbey Road, Barrow.
Above is the choir at Furness Abbey in 2001, and below in 2010 with Accompanist Margaret Harrison and Musical Director Anthony Milledge
Uniforms
Before the 1980s, there had been no official uniform; members appearing at concerts would generally wear a dark suit or evening dress together with a bow tie. Eventually, light blue shirts were adopted for the choir's television appearance in 1980, and these were supplemented shortly before the 1983 annual concert with navy blue blazers. New maroon blazers and ties were purchased in 1992, with financial support being raised from raffles and various sponsors. Maroon then remained the favoured colour until October 2011, when the choir reverted to a new set of dark blue blazers and ties, on the occasion of their annual concert.
Here is the choir at the South Cumbria Musical Festival in 2018 with Musical Director Deborah Milledge and Accompanists Sue Quarmby and Margaret Harrison
Recent Years
During the COVID pandemic years between 2019 and 2021, members took part in online rehearsals, outdoor rehearsals in Barrow Park Bandstand and also produced an online video.
Today, the choir's membership fluctuates around the thirty mark (although the aim remains to grow still further). It still regularly enters competitions, including the South Cumbria Music Festival at Ulverston and, more recently, the Manchester Annual Choral Competition.
The choir became a registered charity in 2019.
Here is the choir at Manchester Annual Choral Competition in March 2025.
And, finally, at Hawkshead in July 2025.
