FOUNDING members of a Dursley choir have been awarded life memberships to mark its 40th anniversary.

At a specially-convened meeting on March 7 members of Dursley Male Voice Choir (DMVC) agreed unanimously to bestow the honour upon Chris Wintle, Ellis Williams and Brian Wetton.

The trio were part of an 18-member choir which first met in late 1978 to found a male voice choir for the Cam and Dursley area.

Since then, DMVC has gone from strength to strength performing around the globe and has been awarded a number of accolades.

Ellis said: “I’ve loved my time with the choir and enjoyed trips abroad to Germany, Canada and Austria.

“I’ve competed in festivals in Bath, the Forest of Dean, Cheltenham and Cornwall, and one of my highlights was winning the Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

"In those early days we were 18-strong and it has been great to see the Choir grow to over 60 members.”

The choir was formed after bank manager Mike Evans, who would become its first musical director, from Cam placed a small advert in the Gazette asking if anyone was interested in starting a male voice choir.

At the same time Rednock School teacher Meurig Lewis and local government officer Eric Davis had written to a number of local organisations seeking support for the formation of a Dursley Male Voice Choir.

They met at the Berkeley Arms in Cam in November 1978 and agreed to push ahead with the formation of the choir.

Brian said: "Music has always been important to me and I often wished I'd taken up a musical instrument whilst still in school, so being able to sing with the choir filled that gap.

"When I was a young chap, Mike Evans put his head over the fence, told me he was thinking of starting a male voice choir in Dursley and asked if I would be interested in coming along.

"Over the years DMVC has become a really significant part of my life and it's hard imagining not turning out on a Wednesday evening for weekly practice.

"I've loved the concerts and tours over the past 40 years and will especially remember our two tours to Canada and our participation in the Massed Male Voice Choir Concert in the Albert Hall."

Dursley Male Voice Choir will perform its annual concerts at the Lister Hall in Dursley on June 1 and 2.