A Legacy of Harmony

History

Founded in 1979 and led by Musical Director Neil Firth since 2009, the chorus currently has over 60 members of diverse backgrounds and from all age ranges from their teens to their eighties.  Cottontown is nine-times national male chorus champions, and were proud winners of the BBC Radio 3 Adult Choir of the Year award in 2008.

Early days

Four men from a local church choir were the pioneers of barbershop harmony singing in Bolton, initially singing as a quartet called The Four Strops for their own amusement, as well as entertaining local community groups.  Proving a popular draw for other men who wanted to sing together in close harmony, in 1979 the quartet became a chorus named out of respect for the area’s Northern England industrial heritage in weaving and spinning - “The Cottontown Chorus”.  George Denton (Bass) and Terry Smith (Baritone) would become founding chairman and musical director of the Bolton Barbershop Harmony Club.  By November 1980, there were enough singers for the club to compete for the first time (as mic-warmers) at the BABS Northern Preliminary Chorus Contest held at UMIST in Manchester that year.

The golden touch

Having first qualified for the finals of the national contest in 1986, and finishing in the top ten in 1992, the chorus stepped up a gear in 1998 when the baton was passed from then-musical director Simon Wilson to his deputy and long-time chorus member Mick Dargan.  Under his ambitious direction, the chorus continued to climb the rankings and won their first national medal in 2001, winning silver in Glasgow.  More medals were to follow, until Cottontown sang and danced their way to their first championship gold medal at the 2005 convention in Brighton.

A continuing legacy

Four decades on, the chorus has won medals at fifteen national barbershop contests, including ten first-place gold medals.  We have performed regionally and nationally at venues including The London Palladium and Chester Cathedral.  We have represented Britain at the international level on four occasions, placing 14th in the world in 2010 in Philadelphia.  We have always been an everyman chorus of non-professional singers, and we look to continue our mission to promote the benefits of singing, both physically and mentally; entertaining and inspiring the wider public in music education; and helping develop the skills and opportunities of our members.

Honour roll

  • BABS National Male Chorus Gold x9  - 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2025

  • Manchester Annual Choral Competition winners x2 - 2008, 2025

  • International Eisteddfod barbershop class winner x2 - 2005, 2007

  • European Men’s Barbershop Silver medallists x2 - 2005, 2009

  • BABS National Mixed Chorus Gold (as “A Kind of Magic”) - 2019

  • BBC Radio 3 Adult Choir of the Year winner - 2008

  • Irish Association of Barbershop Singers International Chorus Gold - 2008

Display of vintage clothing, framed photographs, and memorabilia, including a gold suit, a cape with a cross, and a blue banner for Bolton Barbershop Harmony Club.
Four men dressed in suits with bow ties holding plates with boaters, smiling at the camera.
A choir of men dressed in tuxedos performing on stage with a red curtain backdrop.
Group of men in red shirts at a barbershop conventio , some holding a trophy, inside an auditorium.