IT IS now a fixture in the community’s calendar at Honley.
A concert at the village’s Southgate Theatre which offers terrific tunes, plenty of laughter and a chance to support local musical talent.
This now annual event is organised by Norman Mellor, chairman of Honley Male Voice Choir who is well used to running concerts to support a variety of charities.
This year’s Honley concert is on March 3 and will have a music hall flavour offering a touch of ancient and modern.
There will be two quartets of singers from Norman’s home choir including some of its best known soloists.
Chris Comber, who has appeared in shows at Marsden and at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, will lead performers in The Lambeth Walk and will also be reminding us of Jake The Peg.
Chris’s mum and stepdad, Viv and Malcolm Payne will also be joining in the fun offering the chill of melodrama in the sketch, Murder In The Red Barn.
Bob Smith sings with the male voice choir but is a dab hand at monologues. Expect plenty of laughs from him.
But when it comes to raising smiles, singer Elaine Cockram is hard to beat. Elaine’s a seasoned performer with many of the area’s musical societies and sings a great song. She’s also great fun.
Norman will be taking a turn on stage and will be singing a song that’s offered a bit of a mystery.
“It’s a wonderful old song called I'm Only An Old Rough Diamond,” he said.
“It used to be sung by one of our older members but I could never find the music.
“A musical historian in Halifax found me a recording of it by a singer called Malcolm McEachern and pianist Gordon Balmforth was able to transcribe it for me. It’s taken me 40 years to find the music.”
McEachern was a Thirties’ singer from Australia who was known for his huge bass voice and for his work in a duo known as Flotsam and Jetsam.
There are recordings of his voice but Norman has yet to turn up anyone who has copies of his music. So at the concert in Southgate Theatre (7pm) you’ll hear a song that’s a bit of a rarity.
