The Choir has it’s roots in the bar of The Tonglwydfawr Inn, Cwmdare in 2012 where Sunday afternoon singsongs led our first Chairman Huw Jones to suggest forming a Choir. It was meant to be a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously and so the inaugural name given to the choir was “Only Drunks Aloud” (ODA) – initials that are still included in the choir logo. The first official Practice was held in June 2012 in Cwmdare Miners Welfare Club – which to this day still hosts Choir Practice. That first Practice attracted 22 potential choristers, a few of that founding number remain as choristers to this day, some of the other original number never returned! With no musical direction to fall back on the choristers sang without exactly knowing the vocal range they belonged to and without forming into the accepted Choir Sections of Top Tenors, 2nd Tenors, Baritones and Bass. Choristers at that time sang alongside those they were in a drinks round with – it was just about the pure enjoyment of singing. It soon became abundantly clear that in order to progress the choir required an input from a person able to provide clear musical direction – the Choir was extremely fortunate that such a person lived in Cwmdare, namely Gwilym Jones a retired Music Teacher. Under Gwilym’s direction the Choir became much better organised musically. As the Choir made progress Head & Music Teacher Jonathan Cooper joined taking over as Musical Director with Gwilym accompanying on piano. Around this time, the early formation of the Choir was the subject of a Wales Online article titled “Only Drunks Aloud Choir Aiming to Raise the Bar!” which was published on 7th March 2013. The number of Choristers steadily increased as did the number of songs in the Choir’s repertoire, so much so that the Choir was invited to sing at the Inauguration of Cwmdare Councillor Ann Crimmings as Mayor of RCTCBC in May 2013 in St Elvan’s Church, Aberdare. The invitation required the Choir to have a more acceptable name than “ODA” and so the choir was renamed as Cwmdare Voices. Due to increased teaching responsibilities Jonathan stepped down as MD in 2014. The Choir was then extremely fortunate in securing the services in January 2015 of Dr Mike Thomas, newly retired from his post as Deputy Head of Blaengwawr Comprehensive School. Mike brought with him a wealth of choral experience having been the MD of the Pelenna Valley MVC for over 20 years. Following on from Gwilym in the early days the Choir has been accompanied on piano by such talented musicians as Phil Juliff, Andrew Chinnock and at present by Rhian Grundy Lewis. Administration of the Choir has been ably carried out by a Committee and Officers drawn from within the choristers. The Chairmanship of the Choir during this time has passed through our first Chairman Huw Jones who served for the first nine years before stepping down due to work commitments. David Manning then served as Chairman between 2021 and 2024 before Nick Evans our current Chairman took over in July 2024. Ian Blake has held the post of Vice-Chairman since it’s inauguration in 2021. The duties of Choir Secretary was carried out initially by Marcus Price. Matthew Burford then took over in 2013 & held the post admirably for 10 years before retiring with present incumbent Gary Powell being elected to the post in 2023. Steven Lloyd was the Choir’s first Treasurer, when Steve stood down, the duties of looking after the choir finances has been in the capable hands of Bob Jenkins. In 2017, at the suggestion of our Musical Director, the Choir introduced a Patron scheme whereby friends, family and supporters could provide financial support while receiving advance notice of events, priority booking of tickets (see the “Become a Patron” drop-down menu on the Website for more details). The Choir has been proud to provide fundraising support to numerous Charities over the years including, for example :- Rowan Tree, Riding for the Disabled, Velindre Hospital, HomeStart, Prostate Cancer UK and Aberdare Friends of Tenovus. Under our Musical Director the Choir has increasingly raised its profile & it’s reputation resulting in prestigious invitations to sing at the Welsh Proms in St David’s Hall Cardiff (twice); the Millenium Stadium Cardiff before the Wales v South Africa match in November 2018 (Wales won 20-11!!); Cardiff Castle; Wales Millenium Centre, St David’s Cathedral Pembrokeshire (twice) and Rugby School in Warwickshire The Choir has also undertaken numerous weekend concert tours both at home and away including to :- Wolfenbuttel, Germany (2017) ; Newquay, Cornwall; Bournemouth; Stoneleigh, Coventry, Chipping Norton (2023). Cwmdare Voices have also provided significant numbers of choristers to the “Cor y Cwm” Choir which toured Australia in 2019 and Barbados in 2023. Cwmdare Voices members have also been at the forefront of organising the series of “Caradogfest” concerts and events in Aberdare since July 2021. Gary Powell, Choir Secretary With acknowledgements to Matthew Burford and David Manning