RHOS Male Voice Choir celebrated at the weekend after a stunning victory in the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham. Forty members of the choir took to the Eisteddfod stage on Saturday 9th August and beat eight other choirs from across Wales to win the male voice choir competition. It was the first time competing with the choir for musical director James Llewelyn Jones who has been with the choir since 2016. The choir performed a challenging programme including a setting of Psalm 150 by Welsh composer Eric Jones, and Gwinllan A Roddwyd by Caradog Williams. Also in the programme was “Cythraul” - a piece by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Orban: originally written in Latin the text was translated into Welsh by choir members to comply with Eisteddfod rules. It is believed to be the first time this piece has ever been performed in Welsh. The judges particularly liked the choir’s performance of the traditional lullaby Si Hei Lwli Mabi by local composer Emyr James. After the victory, James Llewelyn Jones said: “I am immensely proud of the choir. This is a terrific achievement, and reflects months of really hard work. “I want to thank the whole choir and our accompanists Heather Howell, Christopher Enstonand Rachel Phillips, for their commitment and effort. “We knew that there were some very good choirs competing this year. We knew that we would have to be at our very best to win. “We hope that this will be a springboard for greater things in the future.”