Grenville Jones - Choir Leader
He was called ‘Bath’s Mr Music’ through his numerous concerts, awards and recognition of his ‘Goldies’ Charity. After 30 years conducting choirs in Bath, Grenville Jones has announced that at the end of the year he will stand down from leading his Bath choirs.
Grenville’s association with Bath choirs started when he was invited to conduct an established Bath mixed-voice choir in 1997 who were in decline. During the 11 years with them he rebuilt numbers to over 80 singers, took them to Europe, Canada and New Zealand. He also introduced ‘celebrity’ concerts with named stars such as Jamie Cullum, Alfie Boe, Aled Jones, Hayley Westenra, Clare Teal, Katherine Jenkins and others.
Grenville is the founder of the nationwide charity Golden-Oldies which he launched in 2007. Sir Cliff Richard is Patron. The Charity ‘survived’ Covid and has continued to grow and now has over 180 fun singing sessions for older vulnerable people across England and Wales – Goldies Cymru. Part of his reason for stopping his choir work locally is to allow more time to direct and manage the every growing Goldies Charity who have received numerous accolades and awards in past years.
Bath Spa University awarded Grenville an Honorary Doctorate for his community music work and in 2018 the Goldies Charity won the prestigious National Lottery Awards Education Category. The award was presented to Grenville by Katherine Jenkins at a glittering awards ceremony, broadcast on BBC1.
It’s 16 years since he started the Bath Good Afternoon Community Choir and now there are 32 including four new afternoon choirs in South London. Another reason why his time commitments have increased considerably as he plans more in 2025.
He’s also the founder of the celebrated City of Bath Male Choir. Finalists in the BBC’s ‘Last Choir Standing’ TV series with tours across Europe, Boston, Nashville and Japan. His son Laurie took over as Musical Director last year but Grenville maintains close links with the choir and is currently planning a visit to Bath’s twin city Alkmaar next April with a group of over 60.
“No I’m not retiring,” he says! “I will continue conducting my new mixed-voice Tuesday evening choir in South Gloucestershire and the Devizes Good Afternoon Choir on Friday afternoons.
“Bath has too many choirs in my opinion, hence my bowing out! There just are not enough people who want to sing and getting audiences has become tougher these last few years. I’ve loved the time spent with some wonderful people, but it seems that every week there’s yet ANOTHER Bath evening choir starting. Time for me to concentrate on my Music Business, growing my afternoon choirs across the UK and leading developments with the Goldies Charity.”
Grenville has raised many thousands of pounds for various charities plus over £1million for Goldies. After the death of his middle son, Kieron in 2023, he arranged and funded a very special memorial concert in Bath Abbey which supported the local ‘We Get It’ cancer support charity in Bath, raising over £8,000 for their work.
Along the way he found time to write his novel ‘Deep Harmony’, the highs and lows of a Cornish based mixed-voice choir, The Verlis Singers.
“Any resemblance with the characters to people who I have known in my choirs is entirely coincidental,” says Grenville, with a smile!
His final Christmas charity concert will be in St Michael’s Church on Saturday December 21 … it promises to be a special night starting at 7pm – tickets are £18 from grenvillemusic.ticketlight.co.uk or by calling 0844 888 9991
To find out more about Grenville please visit his website at:
Grenville’s association with Bath choirs started when he was invited to conduct an established Bath mixed-voice choir in 1997 who were in decline. During the 11 years with them he rebuilt numbers to over 80 singers, took them to Europe, Canada and New Zealand. He also introduced ‘celebrity’ concerts with named stars such as Jamie Cullum, Alfie Boe, Aled Jones, Hayley Westenra, Clare Teal, Katherine Jenkins and others.
Grenville is the founder of the nationwide charity Golden-Oldies which he launched in 2007. Sir Cliff Richard is Patron. The Charity ‘survived’ Covid and has continued to grow and now has over 180 fun singing sessions for older vulnerable people across England and Wales – Goldies Cymru. Part of his reason for stopping his choir work locally is to allow more time to direct and manage the every growing Goldies Charity who have received numerous accolades and awards in past years.
Bath Spa University awarded Grenville an Honorary Doctorate for his community music work and in 2018 the Goldies Charity won the prestigious National Lottery Awards Education Category. The award was presented to Grenville by Katherine Jenkins at a glittering awards ceremony, broadcast on BBC1.
It’s 16 years since he started the Bath Good Afternoon Community Choir and now there are 32 including four new afternoon choirs in South London. Another reason why his time commitments have increased considerably as he plans more in 2025.
He’s also the founder of the celebrated City of Bath Male Choir. Finalists in the BBC’s ‘Last Choir Standing’ TV series with tours across Europe, Boston, Nashville and Japan. His son Laurie took over as Musical Director last year but Grenville maintains close links with the choir and is currently planning a visit to Bath’s twin city Alkmaar next April with a group of over 60.
“No I’m not retiring,” he says! “I will continue conducting my new mixed-voice Tuesday evening choir in South Gloucestershire and the Devizes Good Afternoon Choir on Friday afternoons.
“Bath has too many choirs in my opinion, hence my bowing out! There just are not enough people who want to sing and getting audiences has become tougher these last few years. I’ve loved the time spent with some wonderful people, but it seems that every week there’s yet ANOTHER Bath evening choir starting. Time for me to concentrate on my Music Business, growing my afternoon choirs across the UK and leading developments with the Goldies Charity.”
Grenville has raised many thousands of pounds for various charities plus over £1million for Goldies. After the death of his middle son, Kieron in 2023, he arranged and funded a very special memorial concert in Bath Abbey which supported the local ‘We Get It’ cancer support charity in Bath, raising over £8,000 for their work.
Along the way he found time to write his novel ‘Deep Harmony’, the highs and lows of a Cornish based mixed-voice choir, The Verlis Singers.
“Any resemblance with the characters to people who I have known in my choirs is entirely coincidental,” says Grenville, with a smile!
His final Christmas charity concert will be in St Michael’s Church on Saturday December 21 … it promises to be a special night starting at 7pm – tickets are £18 from grenvillemusic.ticketlight.co.uk or by calling 0844 888 9991
To find out more about Grenville please visit his website at:
Dominic Irving - Accompanist
Dominic studied composition and piano at Trinity College of Music, before completing a master's degree in film scoring at Bristol University.
He was Musician in Residence at Dauntsey’s School from 2012-2019, and his piano experience now includes solo recitals, silent film accompaniment, function bands, chamber music, piano concertos, and accompanying West End stars.
Dominic plays for several choirs and orchestras across the South West, and can occasionally be found tinkling the ivories with the Pump Room Trio in Bath.
He was Musician in Residence at Dauntsey’s School from 2012-2019, and his piano experience now includes solo recitals, silent film accompaniment, function bands, chamber music, piano concertos, and accompanying West End stars.
Dominic plays for several choirs and orchestras across the South West, and can occasionally be found tinkling the ivories with the Pump Room Trio in Bath.
