Burton Latimer - Leisure:

From information given by Jack Addis in 2003

Burton Latimer Male Voice Choir
1951

The Burton Latimer Male Voice Choir in 1951 seated in front of Finedon Parish Church when they gave a concert there.
L to R: Back row: 1.... Manning, 2 Jack Dainty 3 D. York, 4 ..........? 5 Ernie Townsend 6. Bernard Twelvetree 7 George Thurlow 8 Fred Briggs
9 Tom Archer 10 Wilf Wood 11 Gordon Baker 12 Walt Patrick 13 Jack Addis
Middle row: 1 Stan Grainger 2 Dennis Whitney 3 Bill Hewitt 4 ...Coles 5 J L York 6 Rip Blundell 7 Ray Olorenshaw 8 Stan Baldwin 9 Harold Hulbert
10 H W Langley 11 ..........? 12 ... Smith 13 Mrs.Ada Wood 14 Len Mitchell 15 Cyril Bates.
Front row: 1 George Ramsbottom 2 Les Lawrence 3 Sid Langley 4 A J Wittering 5 John Hearn 6 Frank Gardner 7 Bill McKenna 8 Fred Gilbert
9 Alf Tailby 10 Ray (Chicken) Buckby 11 Les Blowfield 12 Owen Thomas 13 Tom Mitchell

The Burton Latimer Male Voice Choir started life as a group of singing Air Raid Wardens during WW2. After the end of the war the wardens decided to open up their group to become a proper male voice choir with a choir leader and a choir of a full range of voices. Interested singers from all around Burton Latimer were recruited and Mr. Bill McKenna of Kettering became Choir Master. The only female was the pianist Mrs Ada Wood. The normal number of members was forty, with all ranges of voice levels. In 1951, the choir sang in a local district competition final, won it, and went on to win again at Loughborough, where it won again which qualified them to sing in an All-England competition at the Festival of Britain where it came second. The choir entertained audiences at churches, working mens' clubs and concert halls all over England and were in great demand for most of the 1950s until it disbanded in the early 1960s.