Welsh Exiles want to go out on a high note

The decision that this year's St David's Day concert at Oxford Town Hall will be the last was made after much heart-searching.

An ageing audience and committee, coupled with high costs of staging concerts, has forced the group - which has raised more than 50,000 for Oxford and Welsh charities - to wind down.

For three decades, Welsh choirs have come to Oxford to perform. The Exiles were set up by the late Idris Hughes to establish links between Oxford's Welsh community and the people back home.

Mr Hughes and his wife, Vera, moved to Oxford soon after the end of the Second World War in search of work.

But the Hughes were determined not to forget their homeland.

During a social night at Cowley Workers Club in 1967, they realised something was missing - singing.

The club hosted concert evenings for Scots, the English, even Geordies - but not for the Welsh.

Not even on St David's Day were Oxford's Welsh workforce treated to a celebration of their homeland.

The Exiles were formed in 1969 and quickly became a popular organisation that persuaded Welsh choirs to perform in Oxford.

In 1972, the first charity concert was performed.

But now old age and high costs of staging a concert are proving too difficult for the Exiles' committee.

Eirgwyn Jones, the choir's secretary, said: "After much heart-searching, the committee of the Oxford Welsh Exiles have decided that this concert will be the final one.

"The feeling is that we should go out on a high rather than struggle on for a few more years."

Vera Hughes, of Cholsey Close, Cowley, who carried on after her husband's death and organised her last concert in 1999, said she thought the Exiles had had a good run.

She said: "It has all been very worthwhile. I was very torn when the decision was made. But many of us are in our 70s and we thought we might as well go out with a bang after 32 years."

The concert starts at 7pm.