FOUR days after returning from leading the Dursley Male Voice Choir on a thoroughly successful concert tour of British Columbia in Canada, Barrie Cooper dropped in to the Cheltenham Competitive Festival of Music and won three out of four classes in the solo piano competition.

He won the top prize of the competition - the Open Solo, followed by winning the 'Romantic Music Solo' and the 'Over 35 Solo'. This was the third year running in which he had won the over 35 competition. Barrie, who lives in King's Stanley, became the musical director of the Dursley Male Voice Choir after the death of Colin Lawrence in December last year.

Previous to that he had been principal accompanist to the choir for two years. Next year Barrie intends to lead the choir in the male voice choir section of the competition, won this year by the Wessex Male Voice Choir.

As in the tour of 1998, the Dursley Male Voice came back to the Cotswolds with nothing but praise for the hospitality and friendship of the Canadian people. From Vancouver to Whistler, from Victoria to Nanaimo and Gabriola Island the choir was greeted with nothing but warmth and friendship.

The concert with the Vancouver Orpheus Choir, an outstanding choir in their own right, considered Dursley a class act on and off the stage. Audiences were generous with the approval with standing ovations, not a formality in communities who know their music.

Apart from the obvious 'British' background in British Columbia there was also a considerable Welsh connection.

Many of the members of the Vancouver Orpheus Choir after 25 years in Canada still had Welsh accents and came from towns and villages close to those of some of Dursley's members.

The organiser of the concert in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island was the president of the Mid Island Welsh Association. There was tremendous interest in Dursley and its environs and there is no doubt they put the town on the map in the minds of all whom they met.

An enormous debt of gratitude must go to the guests on the tour. Elaine Smith, the musical director of the Filton Male Voice Choir went as the guest conductor and was involved in every concert both with baton and keyboard. Kevin Robbins, one of the country's leading exponents on the cornet went as soloist and as usual gave virtuoso performances wherever the choir performed.

Paul Phillips, on his first overseas tour as principal accompanist, played with maturity and sensitivity providing the foundation for what was a thoroughly successful tour.

Although the concert tour officially ended after a fortnight some of the party remained for a third week on a purely private basis. The choir had already broken its own world record for a public performance by a male voice choir on the flight to Vancouver.

The new record stands at 38,000 which it is hoped will be ratified by the Guinness Book of Records in the near future. However, there were enough choristers to from a mini choir and under the leadership of Wilf Burns the choir sang in some strange places.

On an excursion to the Athabasca Glacier between Jasper and Banff in the Canadian Rockies the choir sang in a blizzard on the glacier ice to a gathering of totally bewildered and cold fellow travellers.

On another occasion the top of Sulphur Mountain above Banff was a venue at which the choir sang to another group of bemused but appreciative tourists at a breakfast stop surrounded by ranks of snow capped, icing sugar summits shedding their blankets of wispy white clouds in the early morning sunshine.

Back to Dursley and to an excellent turn out at the first practice on their return. A spokesman for the choir said that such an excellent and immediate turn out after the high of Canada is a sure sign of the high level of the moral amongst its members and families. New members are always welcome, top tenors in particular.

The next concert by the Dursley Male Voice is in St James' Church in Dursley on Saturday, June 21 in aid of the James Hopkins Trust for special children and the Kingshill Arts Centre. The concert is to be performed on the last night of the Dursley Parish Church Arts week.

Olivia Raven on flute will be the soloist for the evening. Olivia is well know to the choir and the members look forward to her joining them for a wonderful musical evening.

A firm favourite and friend of the choir in the form of Ken Hitchings will be MC. Tickets from Kingshill House, iMage at Ken Hitchings Studio and Take Note in Cam. The concert will start at 7.30pm.

The choir's annual concert will be held at the Lister Hall on September 13.