A History of Norwich Barbershop Harmony Club
Bob LedwidgeThe club started in 1975 as an evening class in Norwich for men who wanted to learn to sing in the barbershop style. A local music teacher, Rosemary Kimmins, was asked to take it, and, in order to understand more about this kind of harmony singing, she went to the US airbase at Mildenhall, where the American servicemen organised a sing-out session specially for her. She was inspired, and she quickly grew the Norwich barbershop singers from an initial 8 to 25 singers. Rosemary moved from East Anglia to Berkshire 2 years later, but the Norwich barbershop singers continued to thrive under a succession of male musical directors.
In the 1980s under the musical direction of Doug Clark and the chairmanship of Chris Durdin, the club joined the British Association of Barbershop Singers, which had been founded a year before us in 1974. The Norwich singers started to take part in the annual national singing conventions organised by BABS. Subsequently Chris took a long break from the club, for work and family reasons, but returned 30 years later and still sings with us now!
This photo from 1986 shows Doug Clark and the full chorus
with Chris appearing in the second row, second from the end on the right.
In the 1990s members voted on a new name for the Norwich barbershop singers, and Fine City Chorus was adopted. Quartets were formed among the club’s keenest singers, including Informality (pictured), Fine Tuning and D'Accord. Informality featured Ken Mays, who still sings with us. He kept a record of the quartet’s performances over the years, which totalled 357 sing-outs!
By the turn of this century Fine City Chorus was in demand, singing in venues from village halls to theatres, and at local festivals. New quartets appeared, including Broadside and Three and Easy. And in 2005 the Chorus won an award at the BABS convention in Brighton, where we were declared 'Small Chorus Champions'!
In 2009 Fine City Chorus appointed Carol Logan as Chorus Director. She is still leading us today and driving our improvement.
In 2016 the club gained its youngest-ever member, Oliver, aged 9. He sang with us for 7 years, leaving at the end of 2023 when his family moved abroad for work reasons.
In 2018 Norwich Barbershop Harmony Club formed a mixed chorus, Mosaic. It was at the instigation of Alison and David Moore, and consisted mainly of men from Fine City Chorus and women from Norwich Harmony (our sister chorus which is a member of the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers). Mosaic competed for the first time at the BABS convention in 2019, and continues to thrive and compete. In 2023, under the direction of Alice Payne, Mosaic won the Small Chorus award. Mosaic holds Sunday rehearsals every 6 weeks or so, and is currently directed by Christine Godfrey.
In 2024 Fine City Chorus achieved its highest-ever score from the judges at the BABS Convention in Harrogate with a total of 66.2 %.
For a bit more history of barbershop singing in the region, have a listen to this special East Anglian edition of a podcast., recorded in 2023, in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of BABS.
