FOR one much loved choir 2007 was always going to be a special year, but its members would never have dreamed that their 60th anniversary would have been marked with star- studded appearances on some of the biggest TV shows in the land. And how apt that Fron Choir's diamond year followed the one in which their debut commercial album became the fastest selling album of all time. Hot on the heels of the meteoric success of Voices of the Valley came appearances on major shows including Parkinson, The Paul O'Grady show and an invite to the hottest show of the year, The Classical Brits.

NOVEMBER 17 will be a night of true celebration and one that sees the proud choir from near Wrexham celebrate six decades in the business.
The occasion will be marked with a major concert featuring one of Britain's leading brass bands at Wrexham's William Aston Hall.

Foden's Richardson Band from Sandbach, Cheshire, have been in the premier league of brass bands for a number of years and on October 20 they again competed with 20 of Britain's best bands in the 2007 National Championships of Great Britain.

They were successful in gaining a creditable second place, only missing being crowned champions by two marks, an honour that went to the Grimethorpe Colliery Band.

Foden's Richardson will be joining the Fron to celebrate the choir's 60th anniversary – and what a year it has been.

The choir's David Jones said: "Plans to celebrate the 60th anniversary have been in place for some time but little did we think when we accepted a booking at a wedding just over two years ago that it would make us perhaps the most well known choir in Britain."

By chance a guest at the wedding was Daniel Glatman, the former manager of boy band Blue. He was so impressed with the choir's performance that he offered to be their commercial manager – and the rest is history.

On November 20 last year the choir released its first commercial recording under contract to Universal and it became an instant hit.

Under the baton of Ann Atkinson, the choir's conductor who also features as a soloist on the CD, Voices of the Valley became the fastest selling classical CD in history, selling more than 160,000 copies in three days.

It has been awarded a gold and platinum disc; it has held the number one position for 14 weeks and spent more than 30 weeks in the top 10 and more than 40 weeks in the top 30 of the Classic FM charts.

At the end of September it dropped out of the top thirty to 37th, only for the album to re-enter the chart the following week at no 14 - a position that it still holds this week.

The success of the album has not been limited to the Classic FM charts; it has been in the top 40 of the 'pop' charts for eight weeks reaching ninth at its peak. In September, the album was released in Australia and it jumped to the top of the Australian classical charts and again the Fron has been awarded a gold disc for its Australian sales.

The Fron has received many letters of congratulations from individuals and choirs from all over Britain and it is delighted that the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time has brought a resurgence of interest in choral singing.

Already The Fron's average age of 60 has dropped several months, as two of its new recruits are under 18.

"Let us hope this is a trend that will be repeated in choirs throughout the land," Mr Jones said.

In February this year the Fron started a 14-day, nine-concert tour of the UK including three concerts in Wales at the St David's Hall in Cardiff, The Pavilion in Rhyl and at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.

Other venues included the Bridgwater Hall in Manchester and the Symphony Hall, Birmingham. In addition it had the honour of singing the anthems and leading the community singing at the Millennium Stadium to kick off Wales' Six Nation campaign against Ireland.

But according to members, the highlight of the year so far has got to be their appearance at the Classical Brit awards and their nomination for Classical Album of the Year – a title that was closely fought and eventually won by Sir Paul McCartney's Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart).

Their popularity and success has meant that they are very much in demand both for concerts and TV appearances. They have already appeared on Parkinson's Christmas show, The Paul O'Grady show, This Morning, and Country File and recorded Songs of Praise at Rugby School with Lesley Garrett singing World in Union, which was screened, at the start of the Rugby World Cup. Last month, on October 12, they gave a live broadcast of their concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Watford Town Hall on Radio 3's Friday Night is Music Night.

Plans are in motion for a new tour of Britain in March and April, and have been invited on a possible Australian tour in August, including potential concerts in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Formed in 1947 primarily to compete at the newly formed Llangollen International Eisteddfod, the choir has a history to be proud of.

Throughout its 60 years of existence "The Fron" has achieved regular competition success both in Britain and abroad. Success on the competition stage includes wins at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, BBC choir of the Year to name but a few, and it has gained international wins at festivals in Germany, Athens and Malta. They have had concert tours in Canada, USA, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Cyprus.

Mr Jones added: "The 'boys' continuously have to pinch themselves. It is hard for them to believe that all this has happened in 12 months.

It has been extremely hard work but enjoyable both for choristers and the music team of Ann Atkinson, Owen Roberts, Alwena Nutting and Bryan Evans.

"They did have a short break at the end of July, but the new choir year started early on August 23 with a concert in a cow shed on the Rhug Estate for the Welsh caravan club rally. The venue may have been a complete contrast to the superb concert halls they have become accustomed to this year but the audience of almost 1,000 made it another memorable event in this celebration year."

In October they undertook a successful concert tour of Cyprus. As the year draws to an end with their Diamond Celebration Concert at Wrexham there is still a busy concert schedule to complete leading up to Christmas including two big charity concerts – one in Chester Cathedral for Nightingale House on December 14, and one in Manchester Cathedral on December 15 for Help the Aged.

The choir are hoping for a good Christmas break, however with the release of the new CD Voices of the Valley – Encore hitting the shops on November 19, but a break is something that cannot be guaranteed for the busy members.

Mr Jones concluded: "Altogether this can only be described as an amazing 60th year. The choir would like to thank everyone for their good wishes and support without which all that has happened would not have been possible, and certainly would not have been so thoroughly
enjoyable!"