Event aims to boost choir future

The future of male voice choirs will be at the top of the agenda at a symposium in Cornwall on Friday.

Speakers from eight countries will focus on the declining numbers and advancing average age threatening the movement's long-term survival.

The event is being held in Truro with speakers from as far afield as Latvia and the Philippines.

The event is being held as part of the five-day Cornwall International Male Voice Choir Festival.

Cornwall is historically a stronghold of the male voice choir movement.

But many long-serving members are reaching their 70s and even 80s, with fewer and fewer men in their 20s and 30s joining the county's 35 choirs.

The symposium is being chaired by the festival director Dr Roy Wales.

"The festival aims to bring male voice choirs from outside Cornwall together to join with Cornish choirs in a spirit of musical friendship and song," said Dr Wales.