Past
The orginal Tyneside Barbershop Harmony Club was formed in 1971. In 1974 Tyneside hosted the first national two day Barbershop Convention,welcoming Bournmouth,Brighton & Hove and Crawley to Necastle-Upon-Tyne. Crawley being the oldest established chorus of the original four,having been formed in 1964.
By 1976 Tyneside numbered 114 singers,which to this day remains the record largest chorus in British barbershop history. Unfortunately,1985 saw the demise of the Tyneside Club after a steady decline in numbers. Several of their remaining members subsequently migrated to another north-east chorus which had also formed in the seventies. Initially drawing most of their members from the Sunderland and South Shields areas this chorus was the Roker Peers of Harmony. 'The Peers' as they became affectionately known went on to become British barbershop chorus Gold Medal Winners in 1982 and continued as a successful club untill it too lost momentum with the passage of time,finally folding in 1995.
Present
In September 2007 when seven members of the 1982 BABS National Championship chorus decided to try and develope a new Tyneside men's barbershop chorus, they faced a tough challenge. Undaunted, this merry band of men began rehearsing. Mike Kimber, a recent recipient of the BABS 30yr award came up with the ingenious name of The Harmonaholics. An appropriate name for this dedicated group of barbershop devotees.
The original intention was to meet together to sing and the chorus met at a nearby ‘watering hole’. The ‘watering hole’ decided to hold another function in the room on the chorus rehearsal night so the embryo chorus moved to another venue in North Tyneside.
A little over twelve months later the embryo chorus has already grown to twenty-four singers, found a permanent rehearsal base, had several well received 'sing outs' and has ambitious plans for the future. To mark this stage of their development the chorus decided to replace their ad hoc name with something more appropriate.
When considering the many options it became apparent that the original 'Roker Peers 'were still fondly remembered in the Tyne/Wear area and by many older BABS members. It was felt therefore that a name synonymous with barbershop singing in the North East was well worth preserving. Accordingly The Harmonaholics have metamorphosed into THE PEERS OF HARMONY.
Jeff Dawson - Club PRO
The chorus competed at Ryton Music Festival 2008 and were placed 2nd in the Barbershop category.
The chorus competed at Ryton Music Festival 2009 and were joint 2nd in the Barbershop category.
The chorus competed at Darlington Music Festival 2009 and came 1st in the Barbershop category.
The Peers of Harmony are a member the British Association of Barbershop Singers (BABS) which is a registered charity with over 60 registered clubs and 2200 members.