Singers strike a loving chord

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2007 (7061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COME Valentine’s Day, there isn’t much that can surprise the members of the Winnipeg Golden Chordsmen.

From love struck and crying women to embarrassed men and everything in between — they’ve seen it all.

For decades now, the group of nearly 60 barbershop singers has run its Singing Valentine program.

For just $50, vocally challenged romantics can send a tuxedo-clad quartet to serenade their sweetheart with two love songs, chocolate and a rose. Proceeds from the fundraiser are donated to various Winnipeg charities.

A barbershop singer for the past 57 years, 84-year-old baritone Harold Casselman has serenaded hundreds of women, but to this day one of his most memorable was the first house call he ever made. As his quartet sang to the lonely stay-at-home mother of two, she broke into tears.

“She cried and she cried and she cried all the way through,” said Casselman, a retired provincial government employee and great-grandfather.

“I choke up, too, so I found a spot on the wall and looked at it and sang away.”

Fellow group members also have favourite and funny memories from their years of harmonious entertaining. Geoff Taylor, an engineer who sings lead, said that one year his quartet showed up at the home of a woman — television cameras in tow — only to be turned away. He still laughs when he adds that the woman’s boyfriend had sent the singing group, unaware she was at home with her husband at the time.

Chartered accountant Norm Silverberg once had to track down a gentleman working in a garage, eventually cornering him to deliver the melodious valentine, much to his mortification and the delight of his manly co-workers who looked on.

And last year, Gary Miles’ group tracked down their Valentine while she was teaching a water aerobics class at a local swimming pool. “Before they would allow us to go in, we all had to take our shoes and socks off,” said Miles, also a chartered accountant.

The Golden Chordsmen is the only Manitoba chapter in the Barbershop Harmony Society. The Singing Valentine program is one of the non-profit group’s largest annual fundraisers. The largest will take place on April 28th, when the group puts on Viva Las Vegas at the Centennial Concert Hall.

If you would like to order a Singing Valentine, please call 269-3729. If you would like to join the group, or are interested in learning more, visit www.goldenchordsmen.com.

If you know a special volunteer who strives to make our community a better place to live, please contact Erin Madden at erinmadden@shaw.ca. Her column appears Saturdays.