St David's Day 'premiere' for new battle hymn for the British Lions

Cor Meibion Llanelli is celebrating St David’s Day by releasing a new “battle hymn” for the British and Irish Lions’ summer tour of Australia.
The song Lions To A Man, to the tune of Men of Harlech, has been written by former soldier Ollie Ward, of Swansea, and has been described as a stirring rendition of one of Wales’ iconic songs.
The song is being officially launched at Parc y Scarlets during the Scarlets versus Edinburgh match on St David’s Day and will be available on YouTube on the internet and for downloads on the iTunes and Android platforms on computers and mobile phones.
Men of Harlech is traditionally a popular military march often heard during military parades, especially by regiments historically associated with Wales. It has featured in numerous Hollywood films such as How Green Was My Valley, The Corn Is Green, and the Englishman Who Went Up a Hill And Came Down a Mountain.
But Men of Harlech is best known for the stirring rendition by Ivor Emmanuel in the 1964 classic film Zulu, when his character rallies a handful of men of the South Wales Borderers in their valiant stand against the thousands of Zulu warriors at Rorke’s Drift
Now, Llanelli Male Choir’s version of Lions To A Man is set to go global and it’s hoped the Lions squad and the thousands of rugby fans who will be going Down Under with them will adopt it as their official battle hymn......"The Lions Will Not Yield".
The song has already been given backing by Scarlets, Wales, and British Lions legends Phil Bennett and Delme Thomas, who were present when the choir recorded the song.
The words of the song come from a poem written by Mr Ward, who served in the Lifeguards Household Cavalry for 12 years, and has taken part in ceremonial duties for the Queen as well soldiering with tours of duty in Northern Ireland and Cyprus.
“I set it out as a poem, basically of me giving a team talk to the Lions before a match. Then I realised the words would fit to the tune of Men of Harlech and it’s just taken off from there. The choir has done a fantastic job and I think the song is a stirring battle hymn for the Lions Down Under. I would also like to thank Mr Peter Williams and his team at the School of Digital Media at Swansea Metropolitan University for their invaluable help in recording and producing the song ” said Mr Ward.
The song will be played during half time at the Scarlets’ Pro12 match with edinburgh and Mr Ward will officially present copies to the Scarlets legends and Cor Meibion Llanelli’s director of music Mr Eifion Thomas.
All proceeds from the sale of the downloads of the tune will be donated to charity.

Pictures: S4C's Heno programme at a recording session for the new song. Ollie Ward with rugby legends Phil Bennett and Delme Thomas.