A life in Music 1941-2024:

     Colin Easterby's Desert Island Discs
With his fine bass voice, Colin was a much loved member of the Choir and regular soloist for many years. His passing is a matter of sadnes to all of those who knew him and enjoyed his company and singing
Colin had had a colourful and varied life in music and as I got to know him better I had asked him to share some of the musical experiences and influences in his life. The resulting account (see below) is a fascinating personal insight that shows the rich and wide ranging musical influences throughout his life. In the later years, he and I were able to share our enjoyment of popular music as the Meadowfield Duo. Happy memories!
                                              Michael Pickard

            To see Colin's Desert Island Discs Click Here

Sat 04 May 2024 @ 19:00: Dalesmen in Skinningrove - St. Helen’s ChurchA wonderful May event in the heart of this historic mining community. Kindly sponsored by local Kaskane Cafe & Covells Bar with proceeds to share between the How and Skinningrove Communities, and the Air Ambulance.

 John was born in 1941.He obtained first class honours in Physics at Durham Uni   then a PhD in Muon (tiny particles) Photonuclear Interactions at Nottingham.
  He, and his wife Penny, whom he had known since childhood, moved to Canada   where John was development physicist for the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd for   five years, involved in industrial and medical applications of radioisotopes. John   and Penny’s son Harold was born during this time.
  For one more year, in the interests of international cooperation, John provided scientific leadership and training programmes for the Atomic Energy authority in Thailand, then the Atomic Research Centre in Trombay India.
John then made a career change to Medical Physics, and in 1974 began working as radiotherapy physicist at Weston Park Hospital Sheffield for two years. He developed programmes for prediction of radiotherapy dose distribution, which were in daily use for the next 12 years.
John then moved to Scotland and was responsible for bringing a facility for total body neutron activation analysis into efficient routine operation, useful in the treatment of hypertension, chronic renal failure and other conditions.
In 1979 John made his final move, to become Principal Physicist at North Ormesby Hospital, then South Cleveland, later renamed James Cook Hospital. He established eight specialisms which delivered services to NHS trusts in Cleveland, Durham and Cumbria.
John had a lifelong love of music. He played the oboe and in recent years gave generous sponsorship to the Young Musicians Trust so that students could play the oboe. In the summer he would attend a summer school of music in Austria. His musical skills extended to arranging e.g a Schubert song for male voices.
He sang with the Dalesmen Singers, the Tuesday Singers and the St Hilda Festival Chorus until shortly before his death

                            To hear John's refections on music and the Dalesmen Clickme!

Celebrating the life of Sue Hartley:

A wonderful and poignant evening with choirs and soloists celebrating the life of Sue Hartley along with the Manhatton Voices. The evening organised by Manhatton Voices raised a staggering £1214.15 - an amazing achievement by all with just over £607.00 for each charity: St Catherine’s hospice and Help Musicians. This will make a huge difference in these very difficult times

Chairman Nigel Whittakers Opening Remarks to the Choir
The first thing I feel I ought to do as the new Chairman of the Dalesmen Singers is to thank my predecessor Mike Anderson  for doing such a wonderful job. Then to criticise him for being such a hard act to follow.
Secondly, I would like to thank the Dalesmen, one and all for entrusting this position to me. I hope I can continue the good work done in the past and continue to work hard for the Choir in the future.
I would like to thank our patrons for their kind support and hope that they are willing and able to continue as Patrons of the Choir. Your help and contribution to the Choir make a significant difference and I thank you all for your patronship.
I would like to thank all members of the choir for their performances thus far and hope that they all know how much their attendance at rehersals and concerts is appreciated and that they give Steve as much notice as possible if unable to attend.
I would like to thank the Committee for taking on the roles that they have and to advise them that we are working towards a common goal increase our standard of performance and the enjoyment we all get from the comradeship shared by our members
... and if anyone would like to join us, the door is always open!

Thanks to the Castleton's Singing For Pleasure Ladies Choir for joining us at the Saltburn Concert. We had a good audience and both choirs were on top form!

See the Dalesmen Video!
The Dalesemen met out of doors at the end of the pandemic to create a sound track for a video tribute celebrating the beauty of the North Yorkshire Moors Click below to view one of the songs set against stormy images of the moors

'Do you hear the people sing'

A big thanks to the Woodsmith Foundation. We are looking forward to getting to grips with a new suite of digital equipment after receiving a grant from the Woodsmith Foundation. The choir has long wanted to improve its online presence so that it can reach a wider audience, and especially to enable those who cannot travel to concerts to be able to enjoy the choirs performances. With new audio visual recording equipment we aim to produce high quality videos and audio recordings as well as offering better digital access to our members

Digital Dalesmen Project
Mike Anderson (Chairman) left and John Dowson (Sound Technician) right, seen here holding some of new digital recording equipment provided by the Woodsmith Foundation

We Are Recruiting!

and are delighted to welcome our recent new members to the choir!
If you are thinking of joining us and would like to find out more, please contact us at

sing@dalesmensingers.net

or meet us and see the choir perform at one of our concerts. The next concert is at Kirby Moorside Methodist church this Saturday 8th July starting at 7pm

Some of you may remember John Woolley, former headmaster of FylingbHall school, who died last year. John was a first class English scholar and after retiring he gave informal lectures on English Literature. I joined the class and one term we studied John Donne, who is most famous for his “No man is an Island” meditation. You may be interested to know something of his fascinating life.He was born into a devout Roman Catholic family in 1572, when Roman Catholics were being persecuted. Some of his relatives were executed or exiled. Also, before Donne was ten years old four of his immediate family had died from illness.Donne went to Oxford then Cambridge then Lincoln’s Inn as a lawyer. He aspired to a diplomatic career, but fell in love with sixteen year-old Anne More, daughter of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. They secretly married, against her father’s wishes, and Donne was punished by spending some time in Fleet prison. The marriage survived happily and Anne bore eleven children before dying when Donne was forty five. Donne’s poems date from his twenties, when he dealt with problems in society, and with death and disease. He also wrote passionate love poems.At some point in midlife, he converted from the Roman Catholic to the Protestant faith, was ordained in 1615, and in 1621 became Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral until his death in 1631. He was a noted preacher and many of his sermons are in print. Towards the end of his life Donne wrote works that challenged death and the fear it inspires. Shortly before he died he rose from his sick bed and preached the Death’s Duel sermon, portraying life as a steady descent to suffering and death, yet with the hope of immortality through faith in Christ who rose from the dead

We Are Recruiting!

and are delighted to welcome our recent new members to the choir!

If you are thinking of joining us and would like to find out more, please contact us at

sing@dalesmensingers.net