At the end of the Annual General Meeting of Caldicot Male Voice Choir on 20th October 2025 the current holder of the committee chair, Graham (Spike) Hughes stepped down and handed the position to the choir’s newly elected chair Leon Jones.
Graham joined the choir in 2011 following a chance meeting with choristers at the Magor Frost Fayre in 2010. At the time Graham was a chorister with Clydesdale Male Voice Choir while serving as a submariner in the Royal Navy before seeking retirement and a move to the South Wales or Gloucester areas.
Graham served as vice chairman before following on from former chair John Nicholson in 2022 and successfully steered the choir through difficult times following the pandemic. Despite having to travel from Bishop’s Cleeve near Cheltenham he regularly attended twice weekly practices, monthly meetings, concerts, bar duties and maintenance teams.
Leon Jones previously held the position from 2009 to 2013 and has before and since been a regular committee member. Strongly dedicated to the choir he has been instrumental over the years in project managing several hall improvements, not least a mezzanine floor above the bar, now used as an office and projection room, the side extension to the building to provide storage for tables, chairs and the piano. Following the kitchen renovation and repainting of the hall. The most recent project has been a complete refurbishment of the bar. There is little doubt that with his plethora of ideas and enthusiasm backed by a new committee, the choir will be in good hands in the future.
We must also pay tribute to their wives; Spike’s Nina and Leon’s Denise for their continuing patience and tolerance to allow their husbands the time to spend in service to the choir.
It only remains to sincerely thank Spike for his dedication, hard work and commitment to the choir during his tenure as chair and to wish him well for the future and also to wish Leon every success in his future role as the incoming chair from 2025.