An article and photograph of the choir in rehearsal appeared in the Whitchurch Herald on 3rd December and can be seen online by clicking here and the transcript is copied below. Following publication we had nearly 100 new hits on our website bringing the total since it went live to 922!

Town’s choir looking to spread seasonal cheer

Published date: 03 December 2014 |

Published by: Staff reporter
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WHITCHURCH Community Choir is busy rehearsing its 2014 Christmas programme of eight concerts and performances.

It starts this Saturday at a local village’s Christmas Party and ends on December 22 with concerts at Greenfields Nursing Home and Fairfields Court.

The choir will be raising money for charity and spreading traditional seasonal cheer in and around Whitchurch with their programme of traditional, modern and popular carols and festive songs.

Usually accompanied on the keyboard, this year for the first time the choir will introduce some acapella versions; also their musical director, Donna Teague, will be playing the flute for some numbers.

Earlier in November the choir performed at The Friends of St Alkmund’s Whitchurch Entertains concert with a medley of Rogers and Hammerstein songs accompanied by pianist Pam Pickford and directed by Donna Teague.

The performance was deemed a great success and showed how much the choir has developed.

Some members joined with singers from other local choirs to lead the singing at the “Animals in War Remembrance Service” at Dearnford Lake. The choir has grown considerably in numbers and repertoire since its inception in 2010 and now has its own website, whitchurchcommunity choir.org.

New members are always welcome, auditions are not held and some tenors, baritones and one or two basses would be particularly useful.

If you are interested in joining the choir or learning more about it, contact choir secretary Margaret Hatton on 01948 662594. Alternatively you can email whitchurchcommunitychoir@ outlook.com or use the contact form on the website.

Run through of most of the Christmas carols and songs – the list/running order has been circulated by Margaret. Donna wants us to remember especially the endings of words such as ‘d’ on the end of world. First concert is this Saturday at Marbury village hall and we need to be there for 7.30pm in performance attire.

‘Why don’t men join choirs?’ This is the title of an article in the Guardian which I couldn’t resist flagging up here. Here’s a link to it.

It includes a video clip from YouTube which I loved. One suggestion in the article as an answer to the question is that men like to sing songs that are relevant to them, think rugby songs, football anthems, sea shanties(?). I’m wondering about the revival of folk too, think hipsters with beards, socks and sandals or is it just sandals, finger in the ear, eyes half closed – I need to consult Mark Radford on Thursday evenings on bbc radio 2 about this.

How might we attract more men to join our choir do you think? I recently asked a chap if he could sing, his reply – the last time he sang was years ago in a submarine, in another country where he was unknown, the implication I think was that he knew no one he knew would be able to hear him, but there may be other reasons.

I’m wondering if I could design recruiting posters requesting the partners of blokes who sing in the shower of a Monday evening to immediately huddle them in towels and bus them to Bargates Hall. What do you think?

Hi everybody,

As I mentioned last night on the 23rd of November Dorne and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage by renewing our vows, this is at St Peters church in Little Budworth the service is at 11 am and our vows will be at the end of the service.

It would be really good if any choir members could join us and swell the numbers of the congregation and add their voices to the singing.

We have been in the choir for a couple of years now and value your friendship so it would be great to see you

David and Dorne Quipp

Welcome to Whitchurch Community Choir on the internet. You can read more about the history of this choir and its organisation on the ‘About‘ page.

We are a community choir in Whitchurch, Shropshire in the very northern part of the borough bordering North Wales, Cheshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

The choir is an established one but new members are always welcome, and some tenors, baritones and a bass or two would be specially good.

We meet for rehearsals every Monday evening between 7 and 8.30 except during school holidays. There is a short break for tea or coffee and we can be found at Bargates Hall which is behind St Alkmund Church; access and parking are good.

In the meantime, for a very useful bbc weblink about joining and singing in a choir (linked from a lead about Gareth Malone) CLICK HERE