Polperro Fishermen’s Choir celebrates 100th anniversary
They'll be hosting a series of centenary concerts
Polperro Fishermen's Choir are marking 100 years, with a special free concert taking place at Looe's RNLI boathouse this evening.
The choir was formed at a time when those that earned their living from the sea sang hymns to acknowledge their Christian faith.
Ten decades on, they continue to enchant audiences whilst also raising money for charity.
Members are drawn from a range of different backgrounds and include 86-year-old former carpenter Murray Collings, the choir’s longest serving member.
Born in Polperro, Murray first joined in 1952 at the age of just 14.
"I’ve always had a lot of pleasure from the choir. It has been part of my life for 71 years and has seen me through good times and bad."
Eva Cloke, one of the choir’s two founders, still wielded the baton at the time as musical director whilst her husband sang, like Murray, in the bass section.
At the other end of the age scale are quantity surveyor Harrison Elliott, 21 and Alfie Commander aged 20. Harrison’s grandfather Jim Elliott is also in the choir.
Father and son Jon and Peter Foster are both tenors. After holidaying in Looe and attending one of the choir’s concerts in Looe Lifeboat Station, Peter fulfilled his ambition of opening a bakery.
"We discovered Polperro quite by chance and found premises there that were available. We opened Pedyr’s Bake House in March 2020 - on the very day that Britain went into the first Covid lockdown.
"It wasn’t quite the opening we were anticipating, but every cloud has a silver lining. With the village closed to outsiders, all our customers were local, so we got to know them, and they got to know us."
Tony Gummow has been a PFC member for thirty years.
"As a young boy I sang regularly in a church choir for five years until my voice broke.
"I didn’t sing for the next twenty-five years until I moved back to Cornwall and met my local GP in Looe, Dr Peter Brewer. Pete was the choir’s best recruiter - he asked all his male patients if they could sing and encouraged them to join.
"I’ve sung in Chatsworth House, Quiberon in Brittany, the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly, Guernsey and the Albert Hall but singing fortnightly on Polperro quay throughout the summer is particularly special.
"It takes us back to the roots of the choir 100 years ago, when the fishermen sang as they mended their nets. We always sing at high tide, and I love hearing the sound we make as it fills the steep sided valley."
Retired Royal Navy Commodore David Lashbrooke is another of the choir’s 44 members.
"When my wife died in 2011, a very good friend suggested I join a choir and end what had been a 45-year break from singing. Polperro Fishermen’s Choir gave me a very warm welcome in 2014 when I moved to Cornwall and joined them as a tenor.
"These days we are often confused with the Fishermen’s Friends from Port Isaac, not far away. We have a similar name, both come from a small Cornish fishing village where we give free concerts, and we sometimes sing at the same event.
"But, whilst we allow Fishermen’s Friends have the fame, our choir has the pedigree!"
Apart from a few relatively short periods with interim conductors, there have only been three main musical directors in the choir’s 100-year history: Eva Cloke (more than 45 years), Jack Libby (over 28 years) and now former Royal Marine bandsman Phil Carrigan who took over in 1999.
The role of accompanist has been taken by professional musician and composer Lorraine Forsdick since 2012.
TV presenter and Polperro resident Richard Madeley is the choir’s president.
Tonight's concert in Looe is the first in a series of performances taking place throughout the remainder of this year to mark the choir's centenary.