VENERABLE GLEE CLUB

Evening Star, Issue 21935, 23 January 1935, Page 3

VENERABLE GLEE CLUB

WHERE SIMS REEVES BEGAN Twice a month during every winter since the days of the Great Fire of London, 1666, a club has met in the city. Its title, since the middle of the nineteenth century, has been tho City Glee Club, but in the time of Mr Samuel Pepys, that ardent lover of good music and a convivial “ singsong ” it was known as the Civil Chib, and it is more than likely _ that Mr Pepys himself raised his voice at its gatherings. Right up to these days of mechanical entertainment the club has remained true to the traditions of 1666, wdien it was founded by a group of city burghers who rejoiced in good voices and liked to exercise them in jovial company. To-day its place of meeting is the London Tavern, in Fenchurch street, where on the first and third Tuesdays of each month throughout the winter a group of city solicitors, shipping clerks, and men in banking and commercial houses come together to spend a couple of hours singing the rousing glees and madrigals of old England. Mr J. A. Brown, of Westcliff-in-Set, who is in a city shipping office and is one of the chib’s past presidents, recently told a correspondent of the ‘ Daily Mail ’ something of its activities. “ Just as the original members did, we meet together to sing solely for our own amusement,” he said. “ The club has about 200 members, all city men, but the average attendance is 100.

“ Wo have a high tradition, for during generations our singing has been led by a special professional staff drawn from the choirs of the Chapels lloyal, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul s Cathedral, and St. George’s, Windsor. The staff numbers twelve. We never give a public entertainment, and wo

admit women on only on© night a year, the occasion of the club’s annual dinner. “ Each member is entitled to bring two guests to meetings of the club, and they are our solo audience, if one can use that expression, for, as I said, we really sing only for our own enjoyment. Nevertheless, we have to pay entertainment tax. Each member pays a subscription of £1 11s 6d a year, out of which 6s lOd is paid in entertainment tax, and we rather resent having to pay that tax. “ The Lord Mayor of London is always the honorary president of the club, and once every year he pays it an official visit. Some famous singers have belonged to the club, notably Sims Reeves, who more or less began his career as a member.”