Seventeen-year-old Cieran Watts always hits the right notes with his friendly outlook at our Tonypandy store – and outside work he does the same as the youngest member of the world famous Treorchy Male Choir.
Cieran, who works in the bakery, is a second tenor and recently sang for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall with the choir as part of a summer tour of Wales.
Second tenor Cieran who, at the age of 15, became the choir’s youngest member when he joined about three years ago, said: “It’s such a great honour to sing with the choir.
"It was a lovely day and great to see so many people in the community come together to celebrate a memorable visit from our future king.
"It was amazing. The high street was packed. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me."
Cieran, who lives in Treorchy, was asked to go to rehearsals to join the choir by its musical director Stewart Roberts who was a teacher at Cieran's school.
He said: "I started singing when I was at school and was part of the ensemble in school shows at first.
"Joining the choir was a dream come true. My family were over the moon. I absolutely love it. I can't express into words just how much I enjoy being part of the choir.
"I was the youngest choir member – and I still am by about ten years! They all look after me though and have taken me under their wing."
Cieran started working at our store as a Christmas temp 20 months ago. He said: "I do sing to myself when I'm working – just not as loud as when I'm in the choir!"
The store's community champion Karen Thomas says Cieran is a joy to work with.
She said: "We are all so proud of Cieran. To be part of the famous Treorchy Male Voice Choir at such a young age is fabulous.
"Everyone likes Cieran in the store; he's very chatty and very approachable. He's such a lovely young lad and so hardworking."
"He's very theatrical and always gets involved in anything we do in store. For the Queen's Jubilee he dressed up in a Union Jack suit."
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall spoke to local businesses when they visited Treorchy, which was named Britain's best high street in 2020.
