What a fantastic week it has been, as soon as I had come down from the high of last weekend’s choir concert, I was back high again flying through the air again for a bit of holiday sunshine.
As a football club, we raised in excess of £3,500 for Bucks Mind in June when the local football club brought the world-famous Treorchy Choir to Chesham for a memorable night at St Mary’s Church alongside Chesham’s own Chess Valley Choir and some very talented local soloists.
The Welsh male choir has been recognised as one of the greatest choral ensembles of all time for over 140 years and has featured regularly on radio and television broadcasts, alongside numerous commercial recordings. With such a global reputation, expectations were high, but on a warm June evening a packed St Mary’s Church were not disappointed.
It had been 52 years since the choir had last performed in Chesham, but later in the evening when asked if the audience wanted to wait another 52 years before the next event there was an overwhelming shout of “NO!” – so I am already on the case planning for a return of Treorchy to Chesham in 2 years’ time.
It was a wonderful night, like a dream come true for me bringing such a wonderful choir from my homeland of the Rhondda Valley to Chesham and combining it with my passion for our football club, our community and to be able to raise so much money for our charity partner, Bucks Mind.
The event was a sell out with 250 tickets sold as the crowd packed the church. The response to the event has been phenomenal. We wanted to make it open to all so priced the tickets at £25, but I had people coming up to me on the night saying they would easily have paid £75 for such a wonderful show. A huge amount of effort went into planning the event and I would like to thank everyone that made it happen. The football club has gained a lot of experience in organising events over the past couple of years and we are getting more professional every time we do it, which makes me very proud as it demonstrates that we are more than just a place to watch people kick a ball around at the weekend or on a Tuesday night, we are an integral part of the Chesham community. And I want us to grow that role with more events like this in the future.
So, will it be another 52 years before we see the Treorchy male choir back in Chesham? I sincerely hope not. There is clearly an appetite for a return and in my mind, I am pencilling in the return in 2 years’ time, and with the backing of such great support within the community, I am confident we can make it happen. However, before then we have a number of other events that we are putting together including a Sportsman’s Dinner in September when Ian Holloway will be our guest and I know Alex Horne is bubbling over with ideas for what we can do to raise the profile of the football club, the community and the all-important local charities in our area.
Talking of which, look out this Sunday for Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch programme when Alex will be on there with his band, and you might see a few replica football shirts on the screen that you might recognise.
The Chess Suite this weekend plays host to another fine example of local culture as we host an exhibition from local artist Pete Sadler, once again raising some money for Bucks Mind. Admission is £2 with the doors open 10.30am to 4pm on both Saturday & Sunday, with a silent auction for a limited-edition painting featuring the club. So why not pop down and see some fantastic local artwork.
Back on the pitch at Chesham United, the players return to training on 27th June, with pre-season friendlies kicking-off on 8th July with an away trip to Stotfold, before travelling to neighbours Berkhamsted for what should be an entertaining game on Tuesday 11th July. A must for your diary is Tuesday 25th July when Luton Town visit The Meadow for Chesham’s only home pre-season friendly, a full list of warm-up matches can be found on the club’s website at www.cheshamunited.co.uk.
Have a great weekend all
