Choir on board with the Royal Navy
Delighted to be able to update this news item with details of our visit to Portsmouth to perform at the Commissioning Ceremony of the Royal Navy's newest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales. (See below)
The Ceremony will take place on Tuesday 10 December in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Carrier's Lady Sponsor.
Alongside the aircraft carrier will be its sister aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth which recently returned to Portsmouth after under going flight trials. Also in Portsmouth at the moment is HMS Dragon - see details of its links with the Choir below.
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HMS Prince of Wales arriving in Portsmouth ahead of the Commissioning Ceremony: Photos courtesy of Simon Bick
Original News Item - 25 October 2019
It was in 2012 that the Choir had the privilege and pleasure of taking part in the Commissioning Ceremony of what was then the Royal Navy’s newest warship – the type 45 destroyer, HMS Dragon. It was a special occasion for the Choir and unique it that it was understood to be the first time a Welsh Male Choir had performed at such an event.
Regarded at the time as very much a ‘one off’ experience for the Morriston Orpheus, just seven years later the Choir is honoured and delighted to announce that it has been invited to perform at the Commissioning Ceremony of HMS Prince of Wales in Portsmouth in December.
HMS Prince of Wales is the second, and at 65,000 tonnes, the slightly heavier of the UK’s new aircraft carriers. It is one of the most powerful surface warships ever constructed in the UK. The carrier is longer than the Houses of Parliament and, from keel to the top of the highest mast, taller than London's Nelson's Column. Her massive flight deck is 70 metres wide and 280 metres long – enough space for three football pitches - and she holds 45 days’ worth of food in stores. She will have a crew complement (minimum crew) of around 700, increasing to around 1,600 with aircraft on board.
Details of the ceremony are still being finalised but the Choir expect to perform alongside the Band of HM Royal Marines, thus renewing links with the Band going back over many years.
HMS Prince of Wales is pictured below departing from Rosyth dockyard last month. She is currently undergoing a series of sea trials in the North Sea before heading to Portsmouth for the Commissioning.
Photo courtesy of The Royal Navy
