UPDATE: The fire service have been on a site visit and said that they will allow up to 60 people in the room at one time – which effectively means the choir practices can now go ahead,though they still need £10,000 for a new fire escape.
A £10,000 appeal has been launched to prevent two of Wales’s most famous choirs being made homeless.
Their rehearsal room at the Stiwt Theatre, in Rhos, near Wrexham, has become out of bounds because the fire escape doesn’t conform with current building regulations.
That means the Rhos Male Voice Choir and the mixed choir, Cantorion Rhos, have nowhere to practice for the time being.
The rest of the theatre is unaffected but the first floor Assembly Room where the choirs practice is now out of action until a new fire escape is in place.
The former mining village has a rich musical heritage, a fact underlined when the hastily assembled Rhos and District choir scooped the 2010 Codi Canu title in a televised competition run by S4C.
Their performance was perfected during hours of rehearsals under the baton of Rhos-born entertainer and impresario Stifyn Parri and Geraint Parry at the Stiwt.
With a new youth choir about to be launched there, Stiwt manager Rebecca Griffiths says that replacing the fire escape is a matter of urgency.
Rebecca explained: “When the building was reopened in the late 90s some things weren’t replaced.
“We had a new fire escape from one side of the building which services the offices and the community council chamber but the one at the rear of the building which leads from where the choirs practice every night and has done since the beginning of time wasn’t replaced – it was just repaired.
“It has served us well for many years but it no longer conforms with building regulations.
“I would emphasise the rest of the building is absolutely fine and is unaffected by the problem with this one fire escape but until we can get some funding together we can’t use this particular room.
“It’s a big shame because we don’t want to let down the choirs or the other groups that use that room.
Rebecca is exploring the possibility of getting funding from Wrexham Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund but in the meantime a public appeal has been launched to raise money.
In the meantime, she has set up a Just Giving site so that people can make donations via the internet or alternatively they can call at the Stiwt.
She added: “We need to act quite quickly to make sure that we can get the situation rectified.
“We’re a charitable trust and we’re very lucky that lots of people here support us very generously – a pound to two pound each would go a long way to raising the money that we need.”
“We’ve had very generous support from the community in the past but the Stiwt is an important building for future generations.
“Rhos has a long and rich choral heritage which is part of the cultural lifeblood of the village. We have some of the finest singers in Wales.
Bernie Clarke, Chair of the Stiwt’s Trust Board, said: “It’s a heavy financial blow really because we just about keep our head above water at the moment and the cost of replacing the fire escape could be as much as £10,000.”
Gareth Pritchard, a member of the Rhos Male Voice Choir, said: “The Stiwt is important for all the choirs here, we wouldn’t be without it – if they close that room we haven’t got a rehearsal room.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Elwyn Dodd, a member of Cantorion Rhos and a former long-standing member of the Male Voice Choir.
Mr Dodd said: “I was with the Rhos Male Voice Choir for more than 40 years and I remember coming here in the 1930s when my father was a member of the choir.
“I feel personally that we are indebted to the Stiwt and we should pay the place back. You don’t get anything for nothing these days.”
For details on how to make a donation go to www.justgiving.com/supportyourtheatre
