Explore your Archives: Ammanford & District Choral Society  

The Ammanford & District Choral Society Explore your Archives exhibition will open in Theatr y Glowyr in Ammanford in early January 2024, a venue where the choir has performed many times over the years. As part of activity for the Explore Your Archive campaign, Carmarthenshire Archives received a grant to produce a small-scale travelling exhibition to celebrate the choir’s achievements and their rich history. 

The choir was formed in 1917 and enjoyed an immensely successful career for over 100 years. Unfortunately, the choir came to an end in September 2022.  Dwindling numbers, the COVID pandemic and the age of choir members all played a part in the ending of this remarkable choir which had been in existence for over a century. It was, however, the wish of the remaining members that the achievements, history and the people that were part of the choir be commemorated and celebrated one last time. 

Sian Thomas has a fond association with the choir having been a member for a large part of her life, as was her mother before her. Sian has collected and preserved a great number of photographs, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia which tell the story of the choir since its formation in 1917. It is these items that have formed the foundation of the exhibition. Many of these documents have now been digitalised by staff at the Carmarthenshire Archives, and these copies have been used to create the pop-up banners which inform the mobile display.  

“The exhibition evening will be a way to say THANK YOU to the generation before us who started the choir, in what must have been the hardest of times, and to persevere with their commitment to the Choir and to each other; of valued friendships made along the way and for those of who came after to experience the sheer joy of singing. That is why I and others wanted to preserve this remarkable historical collection, and the approval of the Explore your Archives grant has enabled us to achieve our goal.  Thank you.” 
Sian Thomas, Ammanford & District Choral Society  

The Ammanford & District Choral Society Explore your Archives exhibition will open in Theatr y Glowyr in Ammanford in early January 2024. It will then move to Ammanford Library to allow another opportunity for the local community to access the exhibition. Once the exhibition’s tour has been completed, the memorabilia and the exhibition materials will be deposited with the Carmarthenshire Archives with the Exhibition put on  display at the Carmarthen Library. 

Carmarthenshire Archives