Press Release
 
Thursday 8 January 2021
Back singing in the afternoon
 
The two new popular Good Afternoon Choirs in Falmouth and Truro are back singing after the Christmas break.
 
Led by local musician Andy Farris (pictured), they started in September and because of the closure of Falmouth Methodist Church, the Friday session from 1pm3pm has moved this week to Emmanuel Baptist Church in Western Terrace.
 
Truro Good Afternoon Choir takes place every Monday day from 1pm-3pm at Truro Methodist Church. There are no auditions for either choir, with the accent on singing popular songs and making friends through music. Both choirs have chosen to raise money for the Children’s Hospice South West through the year with their concerts and fundraising events.
 
There are 20 Good Afternoon Choirs across the West of England with hundreds of singers. In July the two Cornish groups will welcome hundreds of singers to join them for a weekend of music making.
 
Andy Farris said;
 
“Come along and meet us at either Falmouth or Truro, the first rehearsal is free of charge – see you soon and bring a friend.
 
“Get singing in 2022.”
 
www.goodafternoonchoir.org has all the details.
 
Ends
 
Press Contact is founder Grenville on 0777 828 2934.

PRESS RELEASE
 
Friday December 31 2021
 
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
 
 
The popularity of choir singing is well known and a project started by Bath-based musician Grenville Jones, based on afternoon singing, is taking off across the West of England.
 
Grenville’s reputation as choir leader extends across the UK and it was back in 2008 that his City of Bath Male Choir reached a World-wide audience through the BBC’s popular Saturday night series ‘Last Choir Standing’.
 
“Together with friends who were also choir leaders we recognized the issues that came, especially with older singers in the winter, with problems of attending rehearsals on cold dark evenings. An obvious solution to me seemed to be Singing in the Afternoon and I started the Bath Good Afternoon Choir in my home City 9 years ago.
 
“The project then took off and there are now 19 Good Afternoon Choirs across the West of England with plans to start more this year (2022).”
 
As the number of choirs have grown they have raised many thousands of pounds for local charities and during the recent Christmas period over 20 locally-based groups were supported by the choirs raising around £3,000.
 
The Good Afternoon Choirs take place across the South West on…
 
Mondays - Bristol at Oatley House Hall St Monica Trust (at the new time) 2pm-4pm. Cheltenham at Highbury Congregational Church from 1pm-3pm. Frome at Holy Trinity Church from 2pm-4pm. Truro at Truro Methodist Church (Parlour) from 1pm-3pm.
 
Tuesdays - Cheddar Valley at Shipham Hall from 1pm-3pm. Cirencester & Stroud at Cirencester Baptist Church from 2pm-4pm. Taunton at Temple Methodist Church from 2pm-4pm. Wells at St Thomas Church from 2pm-4pm.
 
Wednedays - Keynsham at St John’s / Keynsham Parish Church from 2pm-4pm. North Somerset at Nailsea Methodist Church from 1pm-3pm. South Gloucestershire at Kingswood Community Centre (Great Hall) from 2pm-4pm. Yate & Chipping Sodbury at St Mary’s Church from 2pm-4pm.
 
Thursdays - Bath at Bath Central URC (Argyle Hall) from 2pm-4pm. Swindon at Freshbrook Church from 1pm-3pm. Thornbury at Turnberries Community Centre from 1pm-3pm.
 
Fridays - Devizes at St Andrew’s Church from 2pm-4pm. Falmouth at Falmouth Methodist Church (Wesley Hall) from 1pm-3pm. Salisbury at Salisbury Baptist Church from 1pm-3pm. Yeovil at The Gateway / Yeovil Community Church from 1pm-3pm.
 
Grenville himself takes four of the choirs in and around Bath and the other Good Afternoon Choirs are all led by local talented musicians. Each choir has an individual page with full information on the website www.goodafternoonchoir.org
 
There are no auditions required to join your local Good Afternoon Choir and the leaders are always keen to point out that the emphasis is on fun, friendship and singing together. Across the 19 choirs there are over 900 singers and fund raising concerts and singing tours are being planned for this year (2022).
 
The choirs start back week commencing January 10 with an open invitation to any potential new members to go along and ‘discover’ your local Good Afternoon Choir.
 
“The members of the choirs choose the local organisation they wish to support with their concerts and fundraising and this year we will raise many thousands of pounds for deserving local causes,” said Grenville.
 
ENDS
 
Image
 

• Christmas concerts supporting local organisations, the Wells Good Afternoon Choir performing at their concert in December.

PRESS RELEASE
 
Wednesday 14 July 2021
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
www.grenvillejones.biz
 
 
Back to singing!
 
As the Government lifts Lockdown from next Monday July 19 the relaxation on indoor groups gives a green light to singing and choirs across the UK.
 
Recognised as one of the leaders in choral singing, Bath-based, Grenville Jones will be restarting and launching a number of new choirs across the West of England in the weeks ahead.
 
Said Grenville;
 
“We certainly have not been idle during these last few months and plans are in place. My popular Good Afternoon Choirs in Devizes, Wells, Keynsham and Bath as well as South Gloucestershire, Frome, Yeovil, Bristol, Thornbury, North Somerset and Yate and Chipping Sodbury were all forced to stop. They will all restart (as detailed below) with the addition of nine new Good Afternoon Choirs for folks in Cheltenham, Swindon, Cirencester and Stroud, Salisbury, Taunton, Cheddar Valley, Truro and Falmouth.
 
“In addition Grenville’s two evening choirs, the celebrated Bath Male Choir and his Bath Welcome Chorusmixed-voice choir of over 100 voices will begin rehearsals again in early September.
 
“It’s been such a hard time for the members of our choirs who have desperately missed the singing and social friendships, but at last, we can look forward to being together again, singing, smiling and planning concerts which will support many local organisations and charities,” adds Grenville.
 
“We introduced Zoom rehearsals as well as popular YouTube sofa singing during 2020/2021, but it’s just wonderful to be back ‘live’ again.”
 
There are no auditions required to join Grenville’s Good Afternoon Choirs. The accent is clearly on enjoyment through music together and making new friends. Over 800 people sang in the choir’s that were forced to close last March.
 
The Good Afternoon Choirs…
 
Wells Good Afternoon Choir will be moving to a new venue at St Thomas Church and starting back on Tuesday August 17 with Grenville leading and accompanist Sheila Ross.
 
Keynsham Good Afternoon Choir will start back on Wednesday August 18 with Grenville at the new venue of St John’s / Keynsham Parish Church with Sandie Middleton as accompanist.
 
The new Swindon Good Afternoon Choir will launch on Thursday August 26 with John Sandford and an open rehearsal at Freshbrook Church.
 
The new Salisbury Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal at Salisbury United Reformed Church on Friday August 27 with Andy Brockway as conductor.
 
The new Taunton Good Afternoon Choir will launch on Tuesday August 31 at Temple Methodist Church with talented local musician Chris Grabham.
 
North Somerset Good Afternoon Choir returns to Nailsea Methodist Church on Wednesday September 1 with, a new leader, Ruth Jenkins and accompanist Celia Holland.
 
South Gloucestershire Good Afternoon Choir starts back with leader Matt Finch on Wednesday September 1 at Kingswood Community Centre’s Great Hall.
 
Bath Good Afternoon Choir with Grenville will be starting back on Thursday September 2 at Bath Central United Reformed Church / Argyle Hall with accompanist Sandie Middleton.
 
Thornbury Good Afternoon Choir will start back on Thursday September 2 at Thornbury United Reformed Church with a new leader, the multi talented Brendan Casey.
 
Yeovil Good Afternoon Choir starts back on Friday September 3 with new conductor Chris Grabham at The Gateway, Yeovil Community Church.
 
Cornwall – two new Good Afternoon Choirs will start in Truro and Falmouth. The Truro Good Afternoon Choir will be taken by Andy Farris with the first open rehearsal ‘come and meet us’ on Monday September 6 at Truro Methodist Church. The Falmouth Good Afternoon Choir will also be taken by Andy starting on Friday September 3 with an open rehearsal at Falmouth Methodist Church.
 
Bristol Good Afternoon Choir will start back on Monday September 6 with John Sandford as the new leader at the new venue of St Monica Trust’s Oatley House Hall.
 
Frome Good Afternoon Choir starts back with its popular leader and conductor Matt Finch on Monday September 6 at Holy Trinity Church.
 
The new Cheddar Valley Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal on Tuesday September 7 at Shipham Hall with Kate Lynch and accompanist Robert Anderson.
 
Yate & Chipping Sodbury Good Afternoon Choir starts back on Wednesday September 8 at St Mary’s Church with Sian Walters and Carolyn Dutton as accompanist.
 
Devizes Good Afternoon Choir will start back again with Grenville on Friday September 10 at St Andrew’s Church and accompanist Tim Charity.
 
The new Cheltenham Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal on Monday September 13 at Emmanuel Church with Sandra Burne and accompanist Mark Harmer.
 
The new Cirencester & Stroud Good Afternoon Choir will launch with an open rehearsal on Tuesday October 5 at Cirencester Baptist Church with John Sandford.
 
ENDS
 
www.goodafternoonchoir.org
 

​PRESS RELEASE
 
Tuesday 2 June 2020
 
Sing out from your SOFA!
 
 Enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934
 
Starting TOMORROW from 1.00pm on YouTube and every Wednesday (from June 3) the new GoodAfternoonChoir/online tunes up with weekly one hour internet choir rehearsals taken alternatively by the choir founder, Bath’s Mr Music, Grenville Jones, Bristol based Ben England and Matt Finch who lives in Bath. 
 
Grenville, Ben and Matt lead many of the weekly choirs across the region that had to stop in March due to the Coronavirus. 
 
Prior to lockdown there were Good Afternoon Choirs on Mondays in Bristol and Frome. Tuesdays in Wells, Wednesdays in Yate/Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, Keynsham and North Somerset. Thursdays in Bath and Thornbury and Fridays in Devizes and Yeovil.
 
The members come from all walks of life, many with little or no previous singing experience. However, as Grenville points out, there are no auditions to be a Good Afternoon member as the accent is on fun and making new friends. 
 
The choirs have a strong fundraising ethos and last year alone they raised over £22,000 which was divided between local charities, with recipients chosen by each individual group.
 
The new GoodAfternoonChoir/online will sing the songs that choir members know from their weekly repertoire as well as new pieces specially arranged for them to sing from their sofas! 
 
Others who access the internet can also join with the distinct possibility of creating the largest choir in the World!
 
Rehearsals will be posted on YouTube each week and singers will be able to interact with the choir, choosing pieces they would like to sing and passing messages to the members of their individual choirs that they are missing.
 
Says Grenville;
 
“Since we had to stop rehearsals we have had so many emails from members, many who live alone to tell us how much they miss their singing friends. Our new choir is for them.“
 
Learn more on  www.goodafternoonchoir.org
 
Grenville is also the conductor of the celebrated Bath Male Choir, the mixed-voice Bath Chorus and the popular Bath Welcome Community Choir.
 
He is also founder of the award-winning Golden-Oldies Charity.
 
ENDS
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
 
 
 
 

PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, December 18th, 2019
 
Supporting local Charities in Bristol, Frome, Wells, Keynsham, North Somerset, Yate/Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Bath and Devizes.


Across the Region 100’s of enthusiastic singers now enjoy belonging to their local Good Afternoon Choir. As the Choirs look forward to 2020, they can be proud that local groups and charities they have chosen have received over £22,000 during 2019, through concerts and fundraising events!
 
Bath Music man, Grenville Jones – well known through his many evening choirs and the Award-Winning Golden-Oldies Charity – started the first Good Afternoon Choir in Bath 11 years ago.
 
“I remember talking to a choir conductor friend. We were discussing the problem that comes when older people find it difficult to travel to their evening choir, especially in the Winter months when the roads can be treacherous and weather unpredictable.
 
“It occurred to me that choirs in the Afternoon could have a great appeal and that has certainly proved to be the case. There are now 10 Good Afternoon Choirs and these take place at:
 
“Westbury on Trym Methodist Church from 1-3pm on a Monday (Bristol Good Afternoon Choir)  - Holy Trinity Church, Frome from 2-4pm also on a Monday (FromeGood Afternoon Choir) – Seager Hall, Wells from 2-4pm on a Tuesday (Wells Good Afternoon Choir) – St Mary’s Church, Yate from 2-4pm on a Wednesday (Yate and Chipping Sodbury Good Afternoon Choir) – Keynsham Methodist Church from 2-4pm on Wednesday (Keynsham Good Afternoon Choir) – Also on a Wednesday in Nailsea Methodist Church from 1-3pm (North Somerset Good Afternoon Choir) and Kingswood Community Centre from 2-4pm (South Gloucestershire Good Afternoon Choir) – Bath Central URC from 2-4pm is on a Thursday (Bath Good Afternoon Choir) as well as Thornbury URC from 1-3pm (Thornbury Good Afternoon Choir) and finally on a Friday at St Andrew Church, Devizes from 2-4pm (Devizes Good Afternoon Choir)
 
“We will be starting more choirs in 2020 with Yeovil set to burst into song on Friday February 28th at The GateWay, Yeovil Community Church from 1-3pm and plans for Cardiff, Stroud, Chepstow, Swindon and Chew Valley.”
 
The choir leaders are Grenville, Ben England, Matthew Finch and Sian Walters supported by Sandie Middleton, Tim Charity, Sheila Ross, Carolyn Dutton and Celia Holland.
 
The members of each choir nominates a local charity/charities to support each year. The charities benefitting from the amazing total of £22,000 in 2019 are:
 
The Keynsham Mencap - Music Man Project (£2,830.98 raised by Keynsham GAC) Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (£2,459.65 raised by Wells GAC) Children’s Hospice South West (£2,895.07 raised by Yate/Chipping Sodbury GAC) Devizes Open Doors (£1,185.94 raised by Devizes GAC) Freewheelers EVS Charity (£ 1,695.11 raised by North Somerset GAC) Great Western Air Ambulance (£691.34 raised by Thornbury GAC) Phase Thornbury (£577.34 raised by Thornbury GAC) The Month in Bath (£7,616.56 raised by Bath GAC), We Hear You (£841.26 raised by Frome GAC), The West of England MS Centre/aka The Brightwell (£868.00 raised by Bristol GAC)
 
In addition Cornwall Hospice Care benefitted from £371.87 raised by our Tour party from the Good Afternoon Choirs, Friends of Castle School received £450.00 and St Mary’s Church Fund received £261.08 raised by Thornbury GAC and St Peter’s Hospice were sent £175.00 from Bristol GAC
 
All the choirs will be nominating their charities/local groups for 2020 when they start back in January.
 
The picture shows the 100’s who attended the BIG SING at Clifton Cathedral in June. The 2020 event, when all choirs get together will take place on Tuesday July 7th at Wells Cathedral.
 
Ends
 
PRESS ENQUIRIES TO: Grenville Jones: 07778 282934 / jonesgrenville@aol.com
 
 
 

PRESS RELEASE
 
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
 
Wells United Church was packed to capacity yesterday, Tuesday December 11th, for the Christmas celebration staged by the Wells Good Afternoon Choir.
 
The choir was started by Bath Music Man Grenville Jones in January this year and now has over 60 members. They meet every Tuesday afternoon from 2-4pm at Seager Hall, Union Street, Wells.
 
Special Christmas guests were The Mayor Cllr Celia Wride and Mayoress Miss Sarah Wride and children from St Cuthbert’s Primary School.
 
The service included carols from the choir and the children and at the end of the celebration, Grenville Jones announced that throughout the year, the choir had raised a magnificent sum of £2750.00 for the Bumble – Hope For Tomorrow Charity.
 
Members chose the charity which has benefitted from concerts and fundraising events throughout 2018. The total was achieved with wonderful support from Lloyds Bank who “doubled” the amounts raised at two of the fundraising events. Grenville thanked all the members of the Wells Good Afternoon Choir for their support - they start singing again on Tuesday January 8th from 2-4pm at the Seager Hall.
 
“If you enjoy singing and have afternoons available, then please come along and discover the Wells Good Afternoon Choir.”
 
Ends
 
Our picture shows left to right – Wells Good Afternoon Choir founder, Grenville Jones - Sam James, Wells-based Hope for Tomorrow Nurse - Christine Thomas, volunteer representative of the Charity - The Mayor Cllr Celia Wride and Dave Thomas, volunteer representative of the Charity.
 
For more information on the charity, please see this link:
https://www.hopefortomorrow.org.uk/bumbles-new-body-appeal/
​

​PRESS RELEASE
 
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
 
He’s written a novel about a fictional choir based in Truro and on Saturday May 7, Bath’s music man Grenville Jones brings two of his ‘real’ choirs to sing at Truro Methodist Church.


Grenville is Patron of the Cornwall Community Choirs who will be hosting the FREE ADMISSION concert with a retiring collection for Cornwall Hospice Care.


Last year Grenville published his novel ‘Deep Harmony’ which is based on the loves and lives of a mixed-voice choir in Cornwall called The Verlis Singers. Verlis is thinly disguised as Truro and readers have recognised many of the places referred to in the book which was published on Amazon and Kindle. 


The May 7 concert is entitled Let The People Sing with the 200 strong Cornwall Community Choir and members of the Bath and Devizes Good Afternoon Choirs, renewing the friendship between Grenville and Neil Shepherd, who leads the Cornwall Community Choir across the county. Doors open at 7pm and Neil and Grenville guarantee an evening of song with many opportunities for the audience to join in and sing along.


ENDS


Picture shows Grenville Jones.


Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.

PRESS RELEASE
Monday, March 14, 2016
  
They love to sing at the Devizes Good Afternoon Choir, which meets every Friday afternoon from 2pm-4pm in St Andrew’s Church in Long Street, Devizes.
 
On Saturday April 9 the choir will be joining forces with the Warminster Community Choir to stage a fun night of music and song at the Devizes Corn Exchange.
 
Doors for the concert will open at 7pm and ADMISSION IS FREE with a retiring collection at the end of the concert supporting the Devizes branch of Parkinson’s UK.
 
Westcountry music man Grenville Jones is the founder conductor of the Devizes Good Afternoon Choir, he leads a number of choirs in the region and in the next six weeks launches Good Afternoon Choirs in Keynsham and Bristol.
 
He said;
 
“Over 125 lovely people are members of our Devizes afternoon choir and we have a great time together singing popular melodies and choral classics. This is a non-audition choir so everyone is welcome and in May many of the members from Devizes will be setting out for Cornwall for a singing weekend based in Truro.”
 
Grenville Jones is Patron of the Cornwall Community Choirs who will host the visit of the Devizes singers in May.
 
There is no charge for admission on Saturday April 9 at the Devizes Corn Exchange, doors open at 7pm so early arrival is advised.
 
ENDS
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.