CHOIR COMMITTEE

STUART GIBBONS – CHAIR

I have been singing in choirs since the early 1960s  when I was invited to sing as a chorister in Jesus College Chapel Choir.  After 4 years I moved to the Cambridge University Church, Great St Marys, where there was the added thrill of being paid to sing at weddings. There I ended up being head choir boy. As I grew up, my love of sport (especially Rugby Union) left little time for choral singing. 

So it wasn’t until 2006 when my then neighbour in Harlton, Paul Jackson (now our Musical Director), persuaded me to come along to a Haslingfield Choir rehearsal, that I rediscovered the joy of choral singing.  Paul guided me through those early days and gave me the confidence I needed to continue singing in the Bass section. Singing in the choir gives me enormous pleasure and the concentration required allows me to shut out the pressures of daily life. 

The choir has a great social aspect and I enjoy meeting interesting members who also have a passion for singing. We welcome new recruits and there is no requirement to read music and no audition needed. We all try to help each other improve during rehearsals, resulting in concerts that our audiences enjoy and we can be proud of. We are grateful to our highly capable Musical Director who puts in so much effort to ensure we give worthy performances.

KATE DICKENS – SECRETARY

I’ve always loved being involved in making music.  When we moved to Haslingfield nearly 30 years ago, one of the first things I did was to explore local opportunities to sing.  I was thrilled to find an established choir right here in the village which had a reputation for performing some unusual pieces and welcoming newcomers.  After a long day at work, singing always relaxes and invigorates me and the post-rehearsal buzz puts a smile on my face and a song in my heart.  Both my daughters also sang with the choir in their teenage years, and they too now enjoy choral singing as a hobby in their busy lives.

I love the variety of programmes we perform, which have included school choirs, dancers, instrumentalists and even local celebrities.  It is always such a pleasure to hear the wonderful soloists, many of whom have established careers in the musical world.  I feel very honoured and proud to be able to perform in concerts with such talented people.

With our new conductor Paul Jackson, we aim to move forward and continue to broaden our repertoire and performance.  If you have an interest in music and want to share your passion with a friendly group of like-minded people, come and give us a try.

MEG BEDFORD – TREASURER

I joined Haslingfield choir shortly after we moved to the village, about 24 years ago.  It proved a great way of getting to know people and I especially enjoy chatting to other singers in the tea breaks and at our choir parties. Choir members come from other villages and from the centre of Cambridge in addition to Haslingfield, so there are constantly new people to meet. The rehearsals are always fun, although we work quite hard!

My enthusiasm for singing has always eclipsed my ability to read music well, but the wonderful thing about Haslingfield choir is that you don’t have to have a strong musical background to join and there is no daunting audition. The range of music we sing is interesting and wide, but I’m always pleased when we revisit old favourites, especially ‘The Messiah’.

I love the excitement of the concert day, when in the afternoon we practice with our orchestra and soloists for the first time at All Saints’ Church and then return for our performance dressed in our concert finery. Following the thrill of the concert, I always enjoy attending our after party for a welcome glass of wine!

HELEN SNELLING – LIBRARIAN

I’m a relatively recent member of Haslingfield Choir, having been singing with them for about 5 years, although I have lived in Haslingfield for well over 20 years.  Again, it was in conversation with friends that I heard about the choir, and having been to a concert, thought I would give it a try, especially as there is no audition to pass and you can come and try it out without having to sign your life away! 

Haslingfield Choir is a friendly village society, where we work quite hard in rehearsals towards our concert performances, but with lots of laughs and there’s always time to chat over tea and biscuits in the break.  Shortly after joining the choir, it was suggested that I take over the role of choir librarian, which had become vacant.  This role involves researching and sourcing the vocal and orchestral scores needed for each concert, whether on loan from other music collections or on hire directly from music publishers. I’m joined in this role by Juliet Greer, who has excellent organisational skills in recording exactly who has which copy and who to chase for late returns after the actual performance! 

My day job is music librarian at the Pendlebury Library of Music, which is based at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, in the same building as the West Road Concert Hall.  My work contacts have proved very useful in sourcing materials for the choir, and I’m able to publicise our concerts as well to a captive audience! 

LESLIE TURANO TAYLOR – ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN

I owe my love of music to my mother, who introduced to me to everything from early music to Schubert, opera, the blues, Be-Bop and the Great American Songbook, and to my cousin David, who finally got me to listen to – and appreciate – contemporary music. For reasons unknown even to me, I decided to take up singing only at the age of 60. I had always wanted to join the choir at school, but was too shy to audition, so I stuck to piano, where I could hide behind a keyboard. I was therefore delighted to find that a choir in the village next door would be happy to welcome me “sound unheard”, as it were. And welcome me they did. A year ago I never would have thought that I would be singing Britten, Haydn and Monteverdi, but I have been doing just that in a group that is both relaxed and serious about its music. Singing has reintroduced me to music, some of which I have listened to for years without truly understanding it until now. But perhaps what I appreciate most about singing in a choir is the bond you form with others as you join in a common purpose.

ROSE CLARKSON – COMMITTEE MEMBER

My father was always in demand to sing tenor parts in choral music, so I wanted to join in. Tenors being, as ever, in short supply, choir directors were willing to have me in the sopranos in hopes of persuading  Dad to sing too. As a result, while still at school, I sang a range of religious choral music. At university there was a large, non-auditioning choir with which I and several undergraduate friends sang a variety of works. 

I joined Haslingfield Choir when I arrived in the village in 1987 and have now sung in more than sixty concerts. It’s good fun with pleasant people, it gets me out of the house on a Tuesday night, and I regularly exercise my muscles shifting chairs and staging for the concert.

ANN KENNEDY – COMMITTEE MEMBER

I have come to singing fairly late on. Although music was a big part of my life when I was at school, it was usually as a member of the orchestra rather than the choir, and then like many others, once I left school my music making took a back seat. So when I retired in 2015 I decided that it was then or never to get back into it, and started playing again and gave singing a go.

As well as the friendliness of everyone in the choir, what has stood out for me in the last few years is how during all the lockdowns and restrictions to meeting in person, the choir managed to thrive. This was in large part due to Paul Jackson’s determination to keep going by finding creative solutions to keep us all singing.