For half a century, Nantwich Choral Society has brought together a community in song. Its dedicated singers and professional musical director put on shows that attract music lovers from across the county, and in Europe.
Anne Harwood, the group's secretary says: 'We started out as a local authority evening class and developed into a thriving choral society, here in Nantwich. We hold three or four concerts a year, plus a Christmas concert, jointly with the children’s choir Nantwich Young Voices.'
The group hosts Come and Sing events each year, where potential members and old friends join the regular choir to sing for a day.
'We learn or revise a major choral work and then sing it for an audience in the early evening,' says Anne.
Members of the choir also travel further afield to sing together, including a long-standing partnership with a group from Macon in Burgundy, France, Nantwich's twin town.
'Some of our singers went over to Macon earlier this year,' says Anne. 'We make exchange visits every few years but were interrupted by the pandemic.
'They sang with L'Ensemble vocal Arpège A Coeur Joie at the Cathedral of St Vincent, Macon. It was the French choir’s 80th anniversary and it was lovely to be able to celebrate with them. Then some of their members came here in June, staying with choir members and performing the same concert at St Mary’s Church in Nantwich.'
The choir still has some of its original members, including Eileen Robertson, aged 89, who is also now the concert manager
'I’m a soprano and like to sing Handel's Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Karl Jenkins's The Armed Man and Christmas carols,' she says.
'I was one of the original members of 30 singers in 1975. I joined with Barbara Shone because we wanted a hobby, to learn how to read music and we shared a love of singing.
'The highlights for me have been going to France and Germany to sing at a town twinning event, and of course the friendship with other members and performing with excellent local orchestras. We perform great choral works with local orchestras, organists and pianists. You would usually have to travel quite a way to experience such concerts.'
Alto Diane Wheatley has been a member for 45 years.
'I joined Nantwich Choral Society in September 1978, which meant bus rides from Crewe to Nantwich and back each week – real devotion,' she recalls. 'Due to the bus times, I was first there in the main hall of Nantwich Grammar School and probably last home.
'The choral society was very small compared to the numbers singing today. I was put into the second sopranos because there were only three of them at the time including Eileen Robertson and Barbara Shone.
'The choir expanded through the 1980s, except for the tenors, so I became a tenor for a season until the society attracted more men. Then up to the back row second altos because we were short, and finally up to the first altos where I have remained.
'There were about 45 of us when I joined the society in 1978 and we gradually grew to around 105 in 2018. Then the pandemic hit the world and the society closed temporarily. A few choir members sang for events in local churches following strict pandemic rules. When the pandemic was considered sufficiently under control for life to go back to normal, the society resumed weekly rehearsals with a choir of about 40 singers. This number gradually grew again to a current 85 members in 2023.'
Alto Sue Cooke, 63, is a retired nurse who started singing with the choir in 2008 before joining fully a year later.
'I come from a family of musicians and my husband played in Foden’s Band for more than 20 years,' she says. 'I have a varied taste in music but like the challenge of the large choral works.'
Before Sue joined, she attended a number of singing days and concerts.
'I noticed Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius was on the programme for November 2009. This inspired me to join the choir. I had an ambition to perform this work since hearing a performance in Manchester as a teenager with Dame Janet Baker as the soloist. As well as Dream of Gerontius I also enjoyed singing R. Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony, and my all-time favourite is Mozart's Requiem.'
Bass Matthew Ottley is the choir's newest and youngest member, a trainee solicitor in his mid-twenties.
'I live fairly locally, which made joining the society quite accessible,' he says. 'I have sung in choirs and been musical for most of my life, enjoying playing the piano and saxophone as well as singing. At university, I really enjoyed singing and performing in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
'I'd been exploring joining a singing group and I came across a notice about the Come and Sing event, which the society hosts every year. This year we sang Handel's Coronation Anthems. I found this enjoyable and met some really friendly and welcoming people, some of whom had recently joined the society, which encouraged me to go along the next week. For anyone interested in exploring a choir to join, I would highly recommend the annual Come and Sing event as an informal and friendly introduction. I am already excited for our next one in February, where we will be singing Handel's Messiah.
'My highlight has been my first concert, which also happened to be the Society's 50th Anniversary Concert where we sang the Creation by Haydn, although having sung Vivaldi's Gloria and Magnificat in the magisterial setting of St Mary's Church Nantwich, alongside the society's French partners has to come a close second. Making music together in these two contexts and with such a welcoming and friendly group has been a real joy.
'For anyone considering joining a new choir or joining a choir for the first time, I would highly recommend the Nantwich Choral Society. There is a really warm, welcoming, and friendly atmosphere with a wonderful and talented conductor in John Naylor and an equally talented pianist in Simon Russell, both of whom have a calm and encouraging, but also meticulous approach that serves to enhance and enrich the music making. The eclectic mix of music sung from the choral repertoire, as well as other sources also adds to the variety and enjoyment.'
The next Singing Day will be on Saturday October 7 at St. Boniface Church in Bunbury.
Find out more at nantwichchoral.org.uk.
