In 1973 Pender Harbour musician Les Fowler led the earliest incarnation of the Pender Harbour Community Choir. Forty years later it's still going strong and although Fowler hasn't directed the choir for a long time, he still sings in it along with his wife, Joyce.
The choir will perform on Sunday, May 19 in Madeira Park and again on May 24 in Sechelt in celebration of their 40th anniversary.
At the same time Fowler was also the leader of the Harbour Lights swing band that performed for 28 years on the Coast and later morphed into the Roberts Creek Big Band.
"I had keys to just about every building in Pender Harbour," Fowler recalls with a laugh, "that we could use for rehearsal space."
The choir and the Harbour Lights needed their own space for practising, and in 1983 Fowler persuaded Gordon Wilson, then a regional district director, to offer them the former forestry building in Madeira Park for $1 a year.
"We taught kids music for free there, mostly taught by members of the band," he said.
The music centre, much renovated, is still in use today for the concert events of the Pender Harbour Music Society, which was formed in 1985.
Among those joining the choir in the early days were Joyce Fowler and Doreen Lee, fine musicians; the two have continued with the choir the past 40 years and are still active. Les Fowler led the choir to its very first Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts (then called the Kiwanis Music Festival), which celebrated its 40th anniversary last month.
The choir quickly became part of the community, remembers Gwen Hawkins who joined 30 years ago, and it takes part in Remembrance Day andcarol services every year. Directors, accompanists and singers all volunteered their time for the first ten years and paid for their own music.
After Fowler, the first choir director was Enid Godkin until 1991, followed by Lyn Vernon, remembered as a dynamic force for music on the Coast. Hawkins also led the choir for a few years while its current director/conductor is Joy McLeod.
Fowler is delighted with her.
"She sure knows what she's doing," he said.
The choir has had boom and bust years, reports Hawkins, but nevervanished, and it now draws members from the length of the Sunshine Coast.
"They were very good years," she said.
Fowler, who had to leave the Pender area seasonally for work, has come full circle and is now back singing with the choir. Once he realized that he had to drive his wife to choir practice regularly, he decided to rejoin and now sings bass.
Serving the community is still a priority, and the choir makes regular trips to care homes such as Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge, whenever invited. Since the choir now has a 40th anniversary travelling digital piano thanks to a grant from the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation, they can also present sing-outs in community venues that don't have a good piano. Friendships among members have grown, but new members are always warmly welcomed. Rehearsal times are set for each Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the School of Music.
The celebratory concert is at 2 p.m. next Sunday, May 19 at the School of Music in Madeira Park, and at 7 p.m. Friday, May 24 at St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Sechelt. Tickets are available at Bluewaters Books in Madeira Park, Sechelt's Visitor Centre and Laedeli in Gibsons' Sunnycrest Mall for $15 adults and $5 for children. See: www.penderharbourmusic.ca for more details.
