The October 2009 Newsletter can be found by Clicking Here. The addresses of some events have been left off the Website version of this Newsletter but will be found on the paper version available to members at rehearsals.

Following our AGM, the Officers and Committee for 2009-10 will be:

Chairman: Denise Davies

Secretary: Shirley Lawrence
(note that, under the Constitution, this will be Shirley’s final year in the post)

Treasurer: Dave Morris

Committee: Pam Allen, John Deaton, Catriona Galbraith, Pauline Herbert, Barbara Palmer
(we need at least one more Committee member: contact any of the Officers if you are interested in serving)

SUBSCRIPTIONS will remain at £90 per year, or £45 per term, and are due now: the new Membership Secrtetary will be Pam Allen.

To read the June 2009 Newsletter please Click Here. The exact locations of some of the social events mentioned have been omitted on the website version of the newsletter but will be publicised at rehearsals.

Congratulations to Peter McGowan (Bass), who finished the 2009 London Marathon last Sunday (26th April) on behalf of Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers, finishing in 24,081st place. We’re sure they wouldn’t object to a bit of belated sponsorship for him …

Our Musical Director, Richard Smith, has prepared a documentary video on “A Child of Our Time”, by Sir Michael Tippett, which the Society performed on Saturday March 28th 2009 in Wantage Parish Church. You will find it on the “A Child Of Our Time” page of this site.

Liz was chairperson of Wantage Choral Society for the last 5 years.

Guided by Liz, the choir went through quite a transformation under some very difficult and demanding circumstances, including changes in Directors of Music and rehearsal venue. Liz was also forefront of the campaign to save St Mary’s music block as an arts centre for Wantage.

The choir thanked Liz for all her hard work at their AGM on Tuesday September 30th. She is pictured above with one of our Tenors, William Jackson, being presented with a paperweight, books and a voucher to mark her departure.

Welcome to the poster archive.

Please find posters promoting WCS events from years gone by in no particular order.

Please click on the thumbnails to make the images larger.

If you wish to add to the archive please contact us, your contributions are invaluable.

Wantage Choral Society celebrated its 60th birthday on the 29th June at Lains Barn.

The event was attended by members old and new, and hosted by Jamie Lonsdale.

Please enjoy the pictures……………… (click on the Thumbnails to enlarge)

Thankyou to the committee for organising such a fitting birthday party, Liz Piggott, Liz Wilson, Roger Wiltshire and Denise Davies for baking and decorating the cakes, Marie-France Burton for decorating the barn, Eirwen Morgan and Judy Gibbons for the splendid pictures and Pandemonium for the music and dancing. We also thank all donors of the fantastic raffle prizes.

For more information about Pandemonium please visit their website.

www.pandemoniumwantage.org.uk

As a regular reader of the Wantage Choral Society website, you can listen to Classic FM as you read, by following the link on the right handside.

Review by Meriel Dickinson GRSM, ARMCH

of Handel’s Messiah (December 5th 2004)

Wantage Choral Society and the Isis Orchestra under their Guest Conductor Ted Smith gave a spirited performance of Handel’s Messiah in the Parish Church on Sunday December 5th. It was a pleasure to hear this long-established choir singing with splendid energy, which seemed to increase as the evening progressed.

The four brilliant young soloists, all recent students at the National Opera Studio, used their beautiful voices to great musical and dramatic effect. We shall be hearing a great deal more of Lorina Gore, Antonia Sotgiu, Nicholas Sharratt and Paul Carey Jones in the near future.

It was good to hear some of the less-familiar arias and choruses, even though there was some uncertainty in the choir at one or two particularly tricky moments. It also made for a very long evening – but the music eventually triumphed over the hardness of the pews.

There were many magical moments to savour, especially when choir, orchestra and soloists produced soft singing and playing of high quality, as well as moments of great power.

Ted Smith is an experienced and sympathetic musician and conductor who brought out the very best in his performers. He also provided excellent programme notes. The packed audience in the church fully appreciated such a high level of artistry with prolonged applause and we went out into the night in just the right mood for the beginning of Christmas.