Tour to Begium 2025
The Association are planning to organise a tour to Belgium in 2025 - initial details are given below. We want to assess the interest from member choirs before proceeding. Could you please ask your choristers whether any would consider participating as individuals in such a massed choir tour?
Please respond directly to Phillip Tolley, the WAMC Executive member who is leading on the planning. Email philliptolley@colcanto.co.uk
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The Welsh Association of Male Choirs have, since 2002, arranged visits abroad under the name of the Association, for choirs who would not normally be able to tour due to their size or the administrative burden. The last tour in August 2016 was to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as part of our Baltics States tour, where sixty seven people enjoyed a tour which included concerts in Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn.
The original plans were for a further tour in 2022 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Association. However, Covid disrupted our preparations, and we are only now in a position to recommence these Association Choir Tours.
The Association is proposing a 6 day/5 night tour to Belgium (Ghent). This tour would include two concerts plus the chance to take part in the Menin Gate Late Post ceremony. The tour would also include a full day in Brussels as well as optional trips to Brugge, Ypres/Flanders Field Museum and Cemeteries, and an optional River Cruise.
The proposed date of this tour is 18 – 23 August 2025. Costs are not yet finalised as it is difficult to get an indication of prices for hotels in August 2025. They will also depend upon the number of people travelling and exchange rates. An indicative price based on the 2016 tour numbers would be £870.00 per person (sharing double/twin). This includes executive coach travel, ferry crossing from Dover-Calais return, 5 nights B&B in 4* hotel. One evening meal on arrival and the organisation of two fully promoted concerts and the Menin Gate Ceremony. An indication of the single supplement would be around £60pppn.
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Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn 19-28 August, 2016
Sixty seven people travelled in all and for the first three nights we stayed in Vilnius with a concert on Sunday, 21 August. The party then moved on to Riga for another three nights with a concert in St Saviour's Anglican Church in the city on Wednesday evening, 24 August. The last three days of the tour was spent in Tallinn where as well as visiting places of interest the choir took part in a concert at Mustpaeda Maja (The Hall of the Black Heads) in the city centre on Saturday, 27 August.
All three concerts took place in front of appreciative audiences and the WAMC choir was in fine voice throughout with Alwyn Humpheys providing humorous interludes when not conducting. His wife, Joy, was as professional as always with her musical accompaniment and her support for our excellent soloist, Ellen Williams, should not go unrecorded.
On reflection, the tour to the Baltic States created fond memories for all and provided everyone with an opportunity to make new friends and to renew old acquaintances.
Previous TOURS
2002 - South Africa
2004 - Australia and New Zealand
2006 - China and Hong Kong
2007 - Patagonia
2009 - South Africa
2012 - Russia
2014 - Ljubjana, Vienna and Krakow
2016 - Baltic States Visit (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia)