Formed in May 2004 the quartet lives in the South West and South Wales and are members of The British Association of Barbershop Singers.

At their first attempt at the BABS National Convention in 2005, Q.E.D. were placed 5th and were presented with the 'Sheng Pitch Pipe' as the best novice quartet. After much hard work the following year they won the Silver Medal for 2nd place and then went on to achieve their ambition with a Gold Medal in May 2007 at Scarborough.

At the recent Irish Association of Barbershop Singers convention, QED were awarded the International Quartet Silver Medal in a very stiff contest.

Winners of various Music Festival Barbershop Sections in the Southwest the quartet find themselves in demand to entertain at various shows, private functions, weddings etc. but have always struggled to take on as many requests as they'd like because of work and study commitments.

Keith Rees - Lead

My earliest memory of singing, was joining in with my favourite records, my home was always full of music. We had a piano which my father and I used to play and sing along with. I also learned to play a guitar that gave me another instrument to sing too.

Whilst on holiday in Majorca one year and after a few beers, I was brave enough to sing in Karaoke and wowed the audience. They all came up to me and said that I had a lovely voice. This I found embarrassing at the time as I was not the most confident of people. Following this holiday I decided to take up singing lessons for about 6 months. My tutor told me that I ought to join a singing group of some sort to try to build confidence; this led me to the Pilgrimaires in 1997.

I joined as a lead, and competed with them every year in Convention. I also had my first taste of singing in a quartet whilst with the Pilgrimaires and entered in a scratch quartet competition with the then musical director Gordon Wilcocks. Gordon was an inspiration to me and took me under his wing. We won the scratch competition and I completely loved the feeling of singing in quartet so February 1998 was the time I finally realised what I wanted to do.

1998 turned out to be a very good year for me, as after singing in convention at Harrogate my wife Jenny gave birth to our daughter Shannon and later on the same year ‘Afterglow’ my first quartet was formed. We sang in a wide range of places, and had a few tries at convention in the quartet competitions and gained some terrific experience, and it was during this time I became Chorus Lead Section Leader.

A little time after this I left the ‘Pilgrimaires’ along with ‘Afterglow’ to set up a new chorus ‘Western Approach’, which was a very exciting time for all of us. ‘Afterglow’ still continued as a supporting quartet for ‘Western Approach’ doing shows and singouts. I was now gaining in confidence and I remember fondly John Palmer coming down to the ‘Western Approach’ rehearsal hall and trying with all his might to get me to show a little emotion, or a hint of feeling in my face whilst singing. This still brings a smile to my face when I watch the video.

In 2004 we formed a new quartet Q.E.D. and entered our first quartet prelims which spurred us on the in the 2005 convention at Brighton, where we placed 5th and won the Cheng Pitch Pipe as the Novice quartet. This moment changed my life, as until this point I was torn between singing and the other love of my life….my bicycle!

I decided to put cycle racing on the back burner, a wrench after 20 years as I had just won the South West of England 50 mile Time Trial Trophy. I felt this was necessary as the excitement I got whilst singing with my new buddies was truly inspiring for me. Barbershop has opened a new world for me giving me more confidence and opportunities which are outstanding.

Peter Nugent - Baritone

My musical interests began at an early age when I joined the school brass band playing Tenor Horn. Singing Barbershop started first with a small group based in Chippenham called ‘The Moonrakers’ which was coached by Dick prior to his move to Plymouth. This was where we first met.

In 1995 a group of us from Chippenham decided to join ‘The Great Western Chorus’ in Bristol, which was when I changed to singing Bass. This lead to my joining my first quartet ‘Moonshine’ and we achieved the dizzy heights of ‘mic warming’ the semi-finals at the 1996 convention.

In 1997 I took a break from singing due to family commitments but returned to the ‘GWC’ in 2001 which after 4 years away felt a bit strange, so I did the sensible thing and decided to switch to singing baritone!

Within the ‘GWC’ we have a small group called ‘H Club’ which gave me the chance to hone my baritone skills and bring me to the attention of friends who knew of a new quartet looking for a 4th member to complete their line-up. I agreed to join Dick, Keith and Andrew singing with ‘Rendezvous’ in Chepstow and shortly afterwards QED was formed.

I am the new Musical Director of the LABBS chorus ‘Fascinating Rhythm’ based in South Gloucestershire and that is rapidly becoming the best job in the world! I’m in the process of applying to join the Guild of Judges, Chairman of Judges Category so life is getting pretty full, but I find whatever I put into this wonderful hobby of ours, I get far more back. In the real world and following a decision to change my career from computer software/hardware sales, I’m now a full time student at The University of The West of England studying Music Systems Engineering.

Andrew Walker - Bass

I have been singing ever since I can remember having performed Soprano/Alto duets with my brother as children and singing Bass in various choirs.

I started out in Barbershop by stepping in to help my father’s quartet ‘Bravo Four’ during 1993 when they needed a Bass at short notice for a sing-out. After being substitute on several occasions, I eventually became their full-time Bass and still help the quartet raise funds for many local charities in the process.

I was enticed into the Barbershop world further when I joined the ‘Wye Valley Chorus’ in Monmouth (at the time, under the direction of Martin Flory) and soon became Bass Section Leader and Assistant Musical Director, taking on the role of MD between June 2001 and November 2005.

I met Dick when he joined ‘Rendezvous’ a mixed ‘a capella’ group I sang with based in Chepstow and we decided to recruit a Lead and Baritone in order to sing on a proposed tour. The tour didn’t happen but together with Keith and Peter we started QED and have not looked back.

I work for an office consumables supplier and am responsible for the collection of printer cartridges for recycling from all around the UK for the benefit of many charitable organisations. When I’m not working or involved in Barbershop, I like to keep my interests musical by singing and playing guitar/bass in a covers band.

Dick Knight – Tenor

I started my singing career as a boy chorister in my local C of E Church in Bristol but from leaving school did very little singing until I found Barbershop having moved to Reading; that was over 30 years ago. I sang with ‘The Thames Valley Chorus’ and my first quartet ‘Low Profile’ for 5 years before my work took me back to Bristol where I joined ‘The Great Western Chorus’.

Over the next 15 years I gained 4 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze chorus medals as well as singing on several TV shows such as That’s Life, The Russell Harty Show, Highway and Barrymore. The highlight however was the Terry Thomas Benefit Show at The Drury Lane Theatre. For most of this time I was Tenor section leader and S.P. coach.

During those years at Bristol I sang Tenor in ‘The Downtown Strollers’ quartet twice placing 5th in the convention finals as well as touring to Ireland, Germany, Canada & the USA where (as well as the Chorus) we competed in the first ‘Buckeye Convention’ in 1989. There were 2 other quartets while at Bristol, ‘Good Vibrations’ & ‘Rainbow’s End’; both providing wonderful times and good experience.

Work then took the family to Plymouth in 1994 and so I joined ‘The Pilgrimaires’ as Tenor section leader, Asst. CD and S.P. coach. I started a new quartet called ‘Afterglow’ and we sang together until this year.

I spent several happy years as Chorus Director of ‘The Pilgrimaires’ taking them to Holland, the UK Convention and local singouts but 2003 saw a new chorus being started by myself and a few like minded friends called ‘Western Approach’ based in Saltash Cornwall.

Q.E.D. were formed in 2004 while Andrew and I were singing with ‘Rendezvous’, a mixed ‘a capella’ chorus based in Chepstow to which Keith and Peter were later recruited. The intention from the outset was to compete to a very high standard with the help of some of BABS, LABBS and SA best coaches and we are very pleased to say the plan is working.

For over 25 years I have been an active member of the Guild of Judges having served as Education and Recruitment Manager and currently as Guild Chairman. I am a qualified member of the ‘Chairman of Judges’ category and have spent every convention since I started singing either on stage competing, at the judges’ table or the podium, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In 1984 while still living, working and singing at Bristol I met and married Delyth, the baritone from the 1983 LABBS Gold medal quartet ‘Bristol Crème’. We are blessed with 2 sons, Joe & Tom, who have at last decided that Barbershop singing is fun and are now members of my chorus and very active members of the new National Youth Barbershop Chorus. They competed in their first quartet semi-final at Scarborough as the lower half of ‘Cadence’ and placed a creditable 9th. What with Delyth’s chorus commitments as MD of ‘Brunel Harmony’, Western Approach and latterly ‘Coast to Coast’ we are truly a family of barbershop nuts!

In July 2007 Q.E.D. went to Denver, Colorado to compete as guests with the current National and European Chorus Champions, Cambridge Chord Company at the International Convention of The Barbershop Harmony Society, where they acheived a fantastic 12th place in the chorus contest.

In July/August we went back to the USA this time to St. Joseph Missouri for a week's intensive coaching at The Barbershop Harmony Society's Harmony University. We had a truly wonderful experience and have made further progress in our preparation for competing at the International Convention in Nashville in June/July 2008.

This trip was made possible with financial assistance from Harmony Foundation the charity run by BABS for which we are very grateful.