Ref. 31124-23Swindon's Wessex Male Choir is set to compete with the world's best at this month's Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod.

The 41-strong choir will go head to head with choirs from as far afield as Iceland in the North Wales event that is universally regarded as the choral Olympics.

"This is the most prestigious choral event in the world and we are very lucky to have been invited to sing," said musical director Robert Elliott, who founded the choir in 2001.

Out of more than 40 choirs that applied to sing at the July 10 festival, Wessex Male Choir was one of only 12 that were accepted.

This week, the choir staged a unique dress rehearsal at the Wyvern Theatre in front of a small invited audience of family and friends.

The aim was to get used to competition conditions and the performance was even adjudicated by two independent experts.

Mr Elliott said that although the competition programme would last only nine minutes, many hundreds of individual rehearsal hours had been put in by the choristers.

"The guys have been working very hard for many months now," he said. "It's going to be the strongest field they have had in years at Llangollen all the 'big boys' will be there."

Wessex Male Choir rehearses each Tuesday and will begin its new season in September. The choir is always on the lookout for new members.

More information is available from www.wessexmalechoir.co.uk or by calling Steve Jones on 771660 or Rob Elliott on 853753.