A BRIEF HISTORY
This version Dated 30th January 2009

This first attempt at writing the history of the choir is still in the embryonic stage and is bound to be full of errors, and that is where you Ladies come in acting as my editors. I would like this to be as accurate and factual as possible. If you see anything that needs correcting please don't hesitate to tell me about it.
This internet page is a living document which can be updated at any time with new information. It will grow and become more accurate with time.
Adrian

When it comes to writing a brief history it always pays to know what you are getting into, I knew virtually nothing at the beginning of this month and the knowledge I have gained is printed here, for you to enjoy.
This all started at Christmas 2007 when we had some friends round for drinks, they were past members of the Ulster Girls' Choir and they started talking about old time. Dennis Millen, Bob Lucas and myself retired to another room to let the Ladies get on with their memories. Two or three hours later they were still chatting away, so we went back poured ourselves a few more drinks and left the Ladies to get on with it.

A few days later I decided to look up the internet and see if there were any references to the Choir but to my horror there was nothing. I was quite appalled that this great choir had slipped from memory and from the cultural landscape of Ireland. Determined to do something about it I uploaded a small page on 26th January 2008 to see if there was any interest out in the big wide world. (2008 is the correct year.) Nothing happened until January 2009 the following year and I searched again for references to the Choir. I found one reference on an obscure Forum between Giannineo and Christopher which I followed up. The relevant information was contained within a series of Postings which I have incorporated into the body of this missive.

It was all very intriguing and interesting stuff, which gave me the impetus to continue my search and carry on. I did not realise at the time just how many people would have joined and left the Ulster Girls' Choir over a period of thirty years. There must have been hundreds perhaps close to a thousand. The chances of discovering all the names is remote but worth giving it a try, a., what the heck!

It is not known what the ratio of girls from Princess Gardens School and the ladies of Strandtown Church Choir, Belfast actually was, but it is believed they formed the initial nucleus of the choir. These ladies resisted the temptation of Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis which were part of the musical revolution of the 1950's. They knew there was something better out there and they found it in the Ulster Girls Choir. There was a vast repertoire of music available at the time and the choir did not limit themselves to a single type. The rehearsed everything from classical through traditional Irish pieces and included a lot of light opera and songs from stage shows and film.
They were a very flexible company and could turn their hand to just about anything. Miss Brown would not accept anything less than perfection and the Ladies gave her exactly what she wanted.
Although they did many Irish works they tended not to go down the line of a Fèis Ceoil (an Irish cultural festival of music and dance.) but rather more fèisean representing the music and oral literature / culture in Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and Islands. There were several outstanding individuals in the choir who could give performances topping anything on the London scene at the time. The choir was good in depth having a wide range of voices ranging through Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Alto and Contralto. When you have strength through numbers this gives mutual confidence within the group and performance is taken to a higher level.

The one thing that they understood very well is that a choir has only one leader and what the leader wants the leader shall have. This applies to the accompanist who must take directions and blend with the choir rather than attempt to dominate it. The musical accompaniment is exactly what it says. The pianists who accompanied the Ulster Girls Choir were of a very high standard and willingly took direction so that the whole blended into exemplary performances of outstanding quality so rarely experienced today.
During 1951 Madge Bradbury was the accompanist in the Metropolitan Hall, Abbey Street, Dublin, what I do not know but suspect that Madge was the then full time accompanist to the UGC, I hope someone who reads this can give me more details.
Recently I experienced a pitiful performance in a cathedral where the organist was so full of his own superiority that he drowned out not only the choir but the entire congregation of over one thousand voices. He added embellishments to the music, varied the speed of the passage and ended up playing totally out of synchronisation with everyone.
This just did not happen under the directorship of Miss Brown, (an icy glare was sufficient) her ladies sang as a choir and not as a group of prima donnas. The choir went from strength to strength during the 1960's and were invited to perform at many of the top venues all over Ireland. The Grosvenor Hall, The Ulster Hall, Presbyterian Assembly Buildings, Belfast to name but a few. The "William Hill Mulholland" Grand Organ in the Ulster Hall is perhaps the best organ in Belfast and I was privileged to hear The Ulster Girls Choir and that wonderful organ on the same evening. Carol McGibney and Amy Dean were the principal soloist. Carol McGibney who emigrated to Canada would have been before Amy Dean who probably was her replacement but I do not know the relevant dates or their voice classification. It would be interesting to record what pieces they performed. I do know that the UGC ladies because of their vast repertoire could put on an evenings entertainment that would enthral everyone.

I tried e-mailing Giannineo and Christopher and received replies within a couple of days. Giannineo, which is his pen name, for Discussion Forum purposes, will contact his sister, a past member of the Choir. Hopefully his sister (whose name I don't yet know), will have lots of great memories to share.

Giannineo in one of his E-Mail messages to Christopher explained:- Vivienne Brooks lived on the Ormeau Road above her father's sweet shop-just about opposite Lough Brothers. Outfitters and just down from the Orange Hall. Vivienne sang with the Ulster Girls Choir and performed her ventriloquist act in their concert party. Her father Sammy was a Northern Ireland Billiards champion.
She was in our house occasionally as my sister sang in the Ulster Girls' Choir. Whilst giving a concert in Dublin, the girls were hosted out to various Dublin families. My sister was fortunate to stay with the Bewleys' Coffee House people - sheer luxury. The first Boeing 707 to land at Nutts Corner came to take the choir to a tour of U.S.A. and Canada circa 1959. I enjoyed my sister being in the choir as her pals use to spoil me and give me sweets and hugs ..... well, forget the hugs, the sweets were brill.
This chap was just a "Wee laddie" in those days and naturally sweets had a higher value than hugs, today he would have his priorities in the correct order.

There was talk of regular contact between some of the Ladies and they meet up from time to time.
Ann Todd (nee Thompson), a friend of my wife's of long standing was also a member of the Choir, sent me a package of material which I uploaded to page No 1 of the Choir Page. This was really great memorabilia which had lots of names to add to the Roll. Most of the names have now been found for the pictures but there are a few names on the tips of peoples tongues but not out of the mouth yet to come. Next I searched the web for individual names and found an address in Canada for Carol Mc Gibney and received a very nice E-Mail in reply. Carol told me that she had passed my contact details to one of her friends Maureen MacCulloch {Maureen McMillan . . . now Maureen MacCulloch} who also lives in Canada. Carol is away holidaying in Hawaii. Maureen kindly sent me a package which was sufficient for me to open Chapter II and a plethora of names to add to the Roll.
Hopefully Carol Mc Gibney will have other bits and pieces which I can add into the pages, but that will take some time after she returns from Hawaii.

Carol McGibney, who toured Canada as a soloist with the Ulster Girl's Choir, directed the Naramata Community Choir. It was formed in 1962, when Carol McGibney of Naramata, British Columbia, Canada, posted a sign on a tree requesting that anyone who would be interested in getting together to sing join others at her home. That choir is still operating today and has made many recordings.

Carole Lucas (nee Taylor) called at my house on Monday 26th January '09 with another package of material. She and I sat at the computer from 2pm until 5pm adding bits and pieces to the story. During the last few days the amount of new material has been fantastic, but I can take much more.
This page hopefully will form an archive of the Ulster Girls' Choir and the beginning of an archive for the Ulidian Singers. Ladies who are past members are invited to download and save these pages so that knowledge of this choir is perpetuated.
Both Choirs are really inseparable as the membership was virtually the same. This page only goes as far as the Final Concert of the Final, Final, Finale of the last concert. The Ulster Girls Choir had so many last and final concerts I have lost count. With your help, all will become clear eventually. (I Hope)
Most of you will already know that the Choir started in Strand Presbyterian Church. The Ulster Girls Choir initially consisted of the ladies of Strand Presbyterian Church as a Junior Choir sometime during the early 1950's. Choir enlarged rapidly and before long 150 girls had joined.
Whether it was because the Senior Church Choir nailed the organ to the floor or the Choir became so large they switched to the Presbyterian Church House Assembly Buildings which being much larger seats 1,300 people.
Strand Presbyterian church is located in the Belfast district of Strandtown and somehow most people refer to the church located there as Strandtown when it is actually called Strand Presbyterian Church. It is only the Police Station which is correctly referred to as Strandtown.

It was because of the civil unrest in Ulster that the Ulster Girls Choir was disbanded fearing for the safety of the young ladies. Mrs Brown was also Secretary of the Ulster Women's Unionist Council and President in the Business and Professional Women's Association. She was instrumental in bringing the Girls' section of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme to Northern Ireland which made sever demands on her time. She also served on the Committee of the Ulster Savings Trust another time consuming role. She was widowed during 1966 when her husband Charles Kerns passed away. Charles was a member of the Society of Professional Musicians and a past president of the Music Teachers Association.
With ever increasing civil unrest "The Troubles" it became more difficult to attract young ladies into Belfast. During the 1960's 70's and eighties the ladies of the choir began to feel uneasy about being in Belfast at night. I can't blame them, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on many occasions. The young ladies of the choir would not have been targeted by either faction but they could have been unintended victims of shooting or explosions.
Travelling into the city became increasingly difficult as the bus services were severely disrupted and parents were very wary about driving in the city at night. This coupled with television and other activities put too many demands on the young ladies. It was during 1970 that Mrs Brown decided to call it a day. It was a combination of all these things which made it difficult to continue.

The Red Hand of Ulster was used as the logo of the Ulster Girls' Choir translated into Irish "Lámh Dhearg Uladh" it is simply a heraldic symbol denoting the Irish province of Ulster. It is alleged to be the hand of O'Neill which he severed from himself and threw ashore to claim the Island of Ireland. As O'Neill was right handed how come a right hand is shown. If I had been in O'Neill's place I would have used someone else's hand. As far as I can see there was no writing on the logo, I placed it round the hand to make it individual to the choir.

The signature tune of the Ulster Girls Choir was THE LARK IN THE CLEAR AIR written about 1850 by Sir Samuel Ferguson from Belfast. It is a traditional tune Caisleán U, Néill which translated from the Irish means "O'Neill's Castle". If you would like to hear the signature tune there is a link below, click on "The Lark" and it should download for you it is a MIDI file which is very compact. It will recreate the music automatically using the sound card built into your computer. The tune you will hear was sequenced into MIDI formatt by Barry Taylor during 1997 and I have added a cello there are three harps also in the piece. To hear it at its best use "VanBasco's Karaoke Player," which is a free download but software already on your computer will probably do. The words of "The Lark" are printed elsewhere on this page.

Abba summed up my feelings in their song "Thank You for the Music", by way of saying thank you I have included the first verse by way of saying thank you to all of those Songstress of the Ulster Girls Choir and the Ulidian Singers who have passed above.

"Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing,"
"Thanks for all the joy they're bringing,"
"Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty,"
"What would life be? ,"
"Without a song or a dance what are we?,"
"So I say thank you for the music,"
"For giving it to me."

It should be remembered that with the passage of time most of the ladies will now be in their mid sixties and some will now be well into their seventies. This is why it is imperative to collect this material now. Much of our cultural heritage has been lost through time. If it were not for the likes of Willie Drennan a lot more would have vanished into history.
Willie Drennan is a composer, traditional musician, storyteller, poet and writer, who draws much of his material from the Ulster Scots cultural traditions of his native County Antrim.

There is not much known about Vivienne Brooks (No Picture) who did a ventriloquist act for the choir. It would be interesting to know more about her and her act.
I noticed on a programme for a Gala Evening dated Friday, 2nd November 1984 a Vivienne Bryson did a Ventriloquist act. I am presuming that this is the same person. The accompanist on that occasion was Mrs Margaret Hamilton, (she may now be Stinson.) I also notice that Miss Brown went under her married name of Mrs Irene Kerns.
There was a Memorial Concert for Bertha McGowan in the Ulster Hall on 30th November 1966 again more information about her would be nice to have.
Amy Deane, I know, did monologues and solo performances I met her when Marion first joined the Choir but again detailed information is hard to find. Amy also acted as commeré in addition to her other parts, in another programme I found another commeré called Amy Capper. This is one heck of a coincidence or a printing error. Is this Amy Deane's married name,? .. most of my contacts believe she did not marry. I need not have worried., Yes Amy Deane did marry and her married name was indeed Capper.
There were many people who penned pieces for the choir Mrs Elizabeth Quinn mother of Sandra Quinn, from Lisburn wrote some Irish type songs for the choir. My contact apologises as she cannot remember the names for the moment.
A musical score "A Child's Garden" was especially Commissioned by the Ulster Girls' Choir from the Composer Joseph Groocock during 1950. The original text was by the author Robert Louis Stevenson.

BED IN SUMMER
In winter I get up at night,
And dress by yellow candle light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet.
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

Carol McGibney, tells me that Miss Brown came out to Vancouver in the hopes of arranging a trip to the West. She had a niece there of whom she was very fond. She came to visit them in Okanagan. Date of visit not known.
It was during 1959 that the Choir visited Canada and the USA. Miss Brown and Mr Warlow { organiser of the tour } chartered an aircraft to take the Choir on this trip. It was reputed to be a Boeing 707 but we could be mistaken. It was part of the Clipper 7 Fleet. Doreen Guigg was on that flight says it was a Pan American Clipper 7, there were some worries as to whether Nutt's Corner Airport was big enough to take such an aircraft. This was some time before Group Captain David Niven had his RAF runway extended for free. Doreen says, "The plane was chartered by the American sponsors to take the 60 members of the choir on their 3 week tour of the USA / Canada. There were no other passengers on board other than the choir members. The plane re-fuelled at Gander (Newfoundland) in heavy snow before flying on to Idlewild Airport (New York) (now John F. Kennedy).
She was lucky the aircraft did not land at Royal Air Force Goose Bay Labrador an even more God forsaken place in the back end of nowhere, I had the pleasure of serving Her Majesty at Goose Bay 1966.
Carol was engaged to be married to Fred before the choir went to N. America so she did not return to Belfast with the choir, but flew out to Vancouver and thence to Penticton where she was married.
Another possible sponsor was Billy Hastings who at that time owned the Stormont Hotel, It is not known exactly how Mr Hastings fits into the Choirs History. Perhaps one of the Ladies will be able to give me an answer.
It is worthy of note that several of the Ladies of the Ulster Girls Choir are still actively singing in various choirs. The training that these ladies received with the Ulster Girls Choir has obviously benefited the choirs they now belong to. St Mary's Comber is one example, I have also joined St Mary's Choir. I am supposed to sing Bass but the best I can do is a deep grunt. The Choirmaster says the range of my voice is somewhere below a low "G" and above a sharp "H" but as they don't have an H in music we'll just call it Bass.

It is believed that 10 or so of the Choir Members meet together at Belvoir Golf Club. I have been in contact with the Manager at Belvoir who cannot help with any details but it is confirmed that meetings do occur on a regular basis. Perhaps the girls simply meet as a group and not with any "title" as such and that is why the manager does not know of their existence. Patricia Dalzell, ( now Scott ), Sister of John Dalzell, was in the choir and till meets up with some of the girls. Ann Todd (née Thompson) also confirmed that the ladies still meet on occasions in Belvoir Park Golf Club usually the first Tuesday in March, June, September and December and would be delighted to welcome others. This is indeed good to know and the more girls who find out about it the better. I am willing to act as "Poste Restante" for E-Mails until you tell me that you want to communicate directly with each other. I do not want to print E-Mail addresses in this page to give a measure of privacy. Naturally I will also publish any details of future possible activities on this web site.

Another reason I don't want to publish E-Mail addresses on the Web Site as published addresses are liable to attract SPAM. It would be wise if address swapping was done using me as a filter. I am well used to receiving dozens of SPAM E-Mails every day and can delete the spurious ones at source.
Maureen was thinking of returning to Ulster for a short holiday and thought it would be wonderful if she could meet up with some of the Ladies to exchange memories. If I had anything to do with it a few tunes would be fantastic. .... But that's a step too far at this stage.
Hopefully at some future time there will be a reunion as it will bring back memories for the Ladies and for me the possibility of hearing a tune or to.

I remember as a boyfriend and later a husband to a choir member, I was permanently on duty collecting her from concerts over the entire country. Naturally I sat in and listened to the concerts, over the years I was treated to many great musical evenings. I was fortunate in listening to fantastic bands such as the Black Dyke Mills Brass Band, The Central Band of the Royal Air Force including the Squadronaires. Baillies Mills Accordion Band appeared together with the Pipe Band of the RUC and their world famous Silver Band. As a result I have recordings of all these great bands but nothing of the Ulster Girls Choir. If I had the privilege of doing it again I would concentrate on recording the UGC as we will never have the opportunity of listening to them again.

The Ulidian Singers which came after the Ulster Girls Choir comprised of virtually the same singers. David Galashan, Conductor, Choirmaster. This will probably form another Chapter when the work on collating the Ulster Girls' Choir material is exhausted. In the meantime it will do no harm to collect the Ulidian material here.
All good choirs are group of like minded individuals working together for a common purpose. This is directed by a single individual with a vision and endeavour. Discipline self control and dedication to achieve the best possible. It's not all work, there needs to be play and relaxation to draw the individuals into a cohesive and functioning unit.
Respect for the leader is of great import but what is vital is that the leader has unbounded respect for those they lead. Like any other sport or community function there are those whose circumstances of life change and find it difficult to train with the others. Other interests divert their attention away from the choir and falling in love has the highest attrition rate even scoring above changing your job.
This is a fact of life and the leader must get used to it and forge on regardless. There are stars in every choir, gifted members, it takes a lot of practice to achieve those high standards.

The Ulster Girls' Choir as a whole performed far beyond the expectations of the audience. The audience were transported to new heights of delight when they heard traditional Scot's and Irish music being given the Ulster Girls' Choir treatment. These standards of perfection were reached by lots of hard work and a willingness to excel. Lots of effort were put in by the girls in raising money to buy new uniforms. These never came cheap as they were representing Ulster on the worlds stage. Nothing but the best was good enough for them. The accompaniests were the best available and ranked amongst the finest musicians it was possible to find. I do not give praise lightly, in fact I'm often accused of being a grumpy old "sod" , but I have heard this choir and appreciated the quality of their music. After forty odd years why would anybody start writing about a defunct choir after all that time. Well, the answer is, .. I was there to hear them, that's the reason.

However some of the ladies wanted to continue and a sizeable group reformed themselves into the Ulidian Singers under the directorship of Mr David Galashan a very accomplished musical director.
He later became an Honorary Life Member of the Queens Island Victoria Male Choir. The choir again flourished under David Galashan and I believe Amy Dean was his principal soloist and that June Berry acted as choir Secretary. David was also the Musical Director of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Male Voice Choir until his retirement.
Mr David Galashan has been made an Honorary Life Member of the Queens Island Victoria Male Choir. Queens Island Victoria Male Choir formed 1974 is an amalgamation with Queens Island Choir formed 1912 and the Victoria Choir formed 1916, both from Harland & Wolf Shipyard in Belfast.
Whenever the Ulidian Singers folded, the members who wished joined the Downshire Ladies Choir, which was an older version of the Ulidian under their conductor Billy Thompson. It is sad to note that Billy Thompson is now singing with the Heavenly Choir. Date of passing not known. It was not a case of forming the Downshire Ladies Choir they just joined the existing choir. 1998 Philis Boyd was appointed as their conductor.

On January 12th 2009 I met David Galashan and had a long conversation with him in his home. He is a remarkable man for the age of 81 years. He still sports a full beard but it has become peroxide blonde. Tonight he will be heading out to choir practice. He was kind enough to lend me his copy of Short Story Magazine which has the pictures of the Ulidian Singers. He told me that the Ulidian Singers have now become Downshire Ladies Choir.

---

RESERVE MATERIAL BELOW

---

The following needs further explanation:-

1. The night the key broke in the petrol cap.
2. The driver "from hell", actually "Carrowdore" ... large rock, "Prepare to meet thy God."
3. No Scooping!!! No crossing legs.
4. Coffee House ...Where ????.
5. Baker Boy caps ... what are they ???
6. The choir sang at Radio City Music Hall in New York
7. 6/10/51: Metropolitan Hall, Abbey Street, Dublin, Ulster Girls Choir with Madge Bradbury.
8. Bus trapped in Ballywalter Park on the night they visited Lord Dunleath.
9. The Ulster Girls ' Choir gave a concert in January 1967 and a garden FETE in Chambers Park later in the year which raised £350. It should be noted that this was a very large sum of money for that period. Where is Chambers Park. ???
10. Christ Church Cathedral Oxford
    Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal
    Which location.
    
11. Did Marion or Barbara recognise Florence McCrum.? No sorry!
    Can anyone see Florence in any of the pictures.?
    This name is familiar to me but I can't make the connection.
    
12. If anyone knows where the choir records are held it would be a valuable source of details for this page.