Ffynonellau ar gyfer Uned 2

Ffynh 2A

On the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 1985, the Morriston Orpheus Choir (Côr Meibion Orpheus Treforys) invited the television journalist John Morgan to contribute to a Souvenir Brochure. Under its conductor Ivor E. Sims the Choir had established its reputation by winning first place at National Eisteddfodau in 1946, 1947, 1948 and 1949:

Memories

Such excitement, and such cheering on those late nights in August in the Forties as we welcomed the heroes at the Cross, back from the victories at the Eisteddfod. With my grandparents and one brother I’d set off down Martin Street and along Woodfield Street with what must have been most of the population of the town. It’s true there had been some dissension at 9 Plas-y-Coed where so many of us lived in so small a house. My grandfather William Sayce was firm for the Orpheus. But would his son, my Uncle Stan, my mother’s brother, transfer to the United? My mother, having been a life-long friend of Ivor Sims, believed only in the Orpheus. Even as a child I would follow the discussions with a curiosity that was to become an obsession. Strangely, it did not occur to me as at all peculiar that the two best choirs in Wales – which was itself the best country for choirs – should exist in the very same small community in which we lived, that our own household even should debate which choir we should support. Such easy familiarity with the best is a handy lesson for a child. Briefly I was tempted by the United, partly because they always kept on coming second to the Orpheus at the National. This may have been a natural sympathy for the underdog. I went to United rehearsals in the Horeb school room. My grandfather died in 1945 and men from both choirs sang at his grave in Llangyfelach, an experience as moving as any I can recall. I realized, though, that the Orpheus really was the choir to be near, even though they were the most successful. They were the most powerful and made the loveliest of tenor sounds. Ivor Sims would always insist the choir was ahead of the note, and would permit no self-indulgence. He allowed me to take part in the famous recording of Y Delyn Aur at Siloh in, I think, 1947, even though I had briefly been disloyal and was not truly fit to be a member of that memorable choir. But I had cheered the Orpheus with thousands of others on Morriston Cross on those famous nights; and cheer still. Happy Birthday.

(John Morgan, Morriston Orpheus Golden Jubilee Brochure, 1985 [Tip: daliwch Ctrl a chliciwch dolen i'w agor mewn tab newydd. (Cuddio tip)] )