Tour to Pleyben, Brittany (2004)

On Friday 28th May 2004 we all got on a bus at a ridiculously early hour to travel down to Plymouth, across to Roscoff and on to the college in Chateaulin, which was to become our home for the next few days. We had been invited by the Male Choir of Brittany, based in Pleyben, to celebrate their tenth anniversary, and they had made most of the arrangements for us, although they did forget to tell us about the bunk beds...

On the Saturday there was an official welcome in Pleyben and some rehearsals before our first concert, shared with an Italian choir, in nearby Chateauneuf de Faou.

On the Sunday we took part in what must surely be one of the longest concerts ever. Each visiting choir performed a selection of items on their own, and we were the last on, over four hours after the concert had started. The choirs then all came together to perform some folk songs that had been arranged specially. The concert was packed out, and the 900 strong audience even had the stamina to demand an encore at the end!

The next day was free, so we took the bus to visit Brest. We returned home on the Tuesday.