07 Mar 2012

The Royal Mint took a section of the Treorchy Male Choir on a sponsored trip to Berlin’s World Money Fair last month – to fly the flag for Wales at the most prestigious event in the industry.

As Guest of Honour at Europe’s largest money fair, The Royal Mint invited 30 lucky choristers from the 100-strong Rhondda Valley’s based choir to join them as their special guests on their stand for the four-day event.

But it wasn’t just the geographical links between The Royal Mint and the famous choir that brought them together for the World Money Fair – six members of the choir are actually employed by The Royal Mint.

Mike Russ, Roger Morse, David Stanton, Mark Milsom, Gary Horgan and Roger Watkins all work at The Royal Mint and three other choristers who were also on the trip – Daryl Stacey, Arthur Miles and Alan Iles - are retired from the Llantrisant-based manufacturing facility. Even more remarkably, over the years more than 25 of Treorchy Male Choir’s choristers have been Royal Mint employees.

The Treorchy Male Choir outside the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

Treorchy Male Choir is recognised as one of the world’s most famous choirs. Formed almost 130 years ago, their competitive record is unequalled as they have scaled the musical peaks with countless television and radio broadcasts and some ninety commercial recordings. The Choir has entertained almost every British Monarch since Queen Victoria and performed with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones, Julie Andrews, Burt Bacharach and Shirley Bassey. They have also toured extensively in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

During their first trip to Germany, members of the choir performed three times. First, to an audience of 250 professionals from the coin and money industry at the Gala Dinner on the Friday evening, then they wowed crowds a second time with their renditions of “Nessun Dorma” and “You Raise Me Up” on The Royal Mint stand the following morning. Their final performance came via invitation from the event organisers where they asked the choir to entertain visitors during the busy lunchtime period on the same day.

Dean Powell, spokesperson for the Treorchy Male Choir said, “Although this was only a small section of the Choir, we were delighted to undertake such a hugely prestigious series of engagements on behalf of The Royal Mint. Our association with The Royal Mint goes back to its origins in Llantrisant and we are grateful to them for the opportunity to spread the good name of Welsh choral singing to an even wider audience.”

Adam Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Master of The Royal Mint, said, “Whilst the World Money Fair is the platform for showcasing the best coins the industry has to offer from Mint’s across the globe, the real talking point of the four-day event was the choir. After their performance at the Gala Dinner - there wasn’t a dry eye in the house – the standing ovation they received said it all. I’m proud to have people with such raw talent working for The Royal Mint and our social club now know where to turn if we ever stage an internal talent contest!”