Birkenhead Choral Society
Musical Director: David Holroyd
Chairman: John Mansley
Rehearsal Accompanist: Jon Barton
Choral music since 1956
Birkenhead Choral Society
Musical Director: David Holroyd
Chairman: John Mansley
Rehearsal Accompanist: Jon Barton
Choral music since 1956
Contact us
Reg Charity
No 1004202
Webmaster
David Horton
Last update: May 15th 2012
Count
December 2011
As a result of the superb support we had for our carol concert we have been able to donate £200 to Children in Need
December 2011
We were delighted by the turnout at our Carol Concert on Dec 17th. Thank you to all those who supported and to the children of Tafelmusik Young Voices who sang some of their Christmas music. It was good to mix with the audience over refreshments and we were grateful to all those who supported in the background to make it possible. In his supportive message our Chairman concludes - "I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year - John Mansley"
October 2011
We are very sorry that one of our long standing sopranos has had to
withdraw due to her husband's illness. Maura sends this message to
all our members:
Dear all,
Thank you very much for the lovely card you sent to me. I was very
touched by all your little messages and am missing you all, and the
singing. I wish you all great success in the forthcoming concert
and for the remainder of the season, with love, Maura
The entry form for the Charles Scarratt Music Competition for 2012 is
available
here. The competition will take place on Friday 10th February
2012.
August 2011
The winners of the Charles Scarratt Music Award have issued a cd in aid of the fund - details here.
June 2011
Please visit the web page giving our concert details for the coming season which are now finalised
June 2011
Congratulations to 'Father Ged' on his Ordination as Deacon - Ushaw College 11th June 2011. Ged Callacher was for several years our accompanist until he moved to Durham. A full report appears here . Wonderful pictures appear here with thanks to the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
June 2011
Our sympathies are extended to the family and friends of Brian West (tenor) who died after a short period of illness. His friendship and musical ability will be missed.
April 2011
We are saddened to hear of the death of Horace Hancock, a long standing singer and latterly supporter of the choir. His funeral was at St James' Church, New Brighton, Thursday April 28th attended by many of his friends and colleagues. We extend our sympathy to his family.
April 2011
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is facing dramatic cuts in funding.
See how you can help to support world class music
here.
February 2011
Our concert at the Philharmonic Hall with Elin Manahan Thomas was a great success. Thank you to everyone who supported it.
February 2011
Congratulations to the three winners of the
competition for the Charles Scarratt Music Award
Kay Scarratt is pictured with the Adjudicator, Gareth Green, and
prizewinners Anna Nielsen-Scott, Martin Kupllas and Chris Sullivan.
Chris Watson is Director of Music at Birkenhead High School.
February 2011
On Friday February 11th we joined with members of Hoylake Choral Society and family and friends of the late Michael Hamm to celebrate his friendship and contribution to our musical life. Thank you to all those who made it such a successful evening. The full programme is available here. A review of the evening appeared in the Wirral Champion for March 2011
January 10th 2011
We have just received news from Grace and David, members of our choir, of the birth of their son. Our warmest congratulations. We hope to reserve a place in the tenor or bass section for him to take up in due course.
December 11th 2010
Thanks to all those who attended our Carol Concert at St Saviour's Church. It was a pleasure to welcome singers from St Saviour's CE Aided Primary School to take part.
November 22nd 2010
We are delighted to have received a message from Zillah Beaumont in Greece, whose father and uncle were in the original Birkenhead Male Voice Choir. The picture below shows Charles Scarratt rehearsing the choir during their lunch break in St Mary's Church, Birkenhead.
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November 7th 2010
Thanks to all for supporting our concert at St Hilary's Church Wallasey. We were delighted to welcome back the two soloists - Jocelyn Somerville and Stuart O'Hara who gave a very impressive performance.
September 25th 2010
This week our website has been modified to incorporate a visitor counter. This will allow us to discover how many people visit from different parts of the world and to find out which web pages are most helpful. No personal data is collected and the information is limited to broad areas, for example 'Liverpool' or 'Mountain View, California'. (Yes - we have already had 'hits' from California, Massachusetts and Mexico!!). Welcome to all those unknown but interested people. If you want to check the privacy policy or use the webcounter yourself please visit StatCounter.com.
September 25th 2010
As an experiment programme notes and Youtube (c) sample videos are being added to the 'future concerts' page. This is to give you some background before the concert and to help make your experience more enjoyable. Please note that the arrangements may differ in detail, for example the YouTube (c) video may show an orchestra where we are using the organ or vice versa.. In most cases the notes come from Wikipedia (c) so you get a variety of opinions.
September 2010
We are very sorry to hear of the death of Michael Hamm, a committed past member,
ex vice Chairman and supporter of the society.
Click here for an appreciation of his life
and music
July 2010
In case you missed the front page look at our concert programme for the coming season:
 |
Click here for news of our superb concert programme
including Soprano ELIN MANAHAN THOMAS |
 |
January 2010
Congratulations to the three winners of the
competition for the Charles Scarratt Music Award
First Prizewinner, Selim Ungut (Piano), with 2nd Christopher Sullivan (Alto Sax),
and 3rd, Anna Nielsen-Scott (Piano), shown with Adjudicator Edward
Warren and Kay Scarratt, daughter of Charles Scarratt.
Dec 19th 2009
As a result of our Christmas Celebrations we have been able to send £110 to BBC
Children in Need.
Thank you to those who supported the raffle or made a donation instead of
sending Christmas cards.
Nov 14th 2009
We
had a great turnout for our performance of Rutter's Requiem and Hummel's Mass in
B flat at St Saviour's Church, Oxton. In addition we sang the Hallelujah
Chorus by Handel and our soprano soloists,
Jocelyn Somerville, sang an aria,
also from the Messiah.
As a result we were able to donate an extra £119 to the Children in Need Appeal.
Oct 10th 2009
The society were delighted with the turnout for the 'Come & Sing' Messiah in aid of the Charles Scarratt Appeal . Everyone had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening at St Saviour's Church, Oxton. We were pleased with the performance which was enhanced by local soloists Jocelyn Somerville, Imogen Garner, Peter Bates and Stuart O'Hara, accompanied by Jon Barton on the organ and under the baton of David Holroyd. All profits are to be donated to the Fund and so far we have given over £900.
Oct 5th 2009
At the AGM tonight Birkenhead Choral Society were pleased to elect their new Chairman, Brenda Losekoot. We are also pleased that Jon Barton has accepted a permanent position as our rehearsal accompanist. We hope you will hear him playing at many of our concerts.
Congratulations and thank you to all the people working on the new Committee. Thank you too for all the support I have had as Chairman for the last 5 years - DH.
June 29th 2008
The performance of Vierne's Messe Solennelle and the plethora of other French music on June 29th was greatly enhanced by the hire of a digital organ from the Lancashire firm of
This was made possible by a grant from Wirral Borough Council’s ‘Culture for All’ fund. As a result we had two organs and three organists which made for a lively and memorable evening.
Read the review of the concert
May 2008
Looking ahead to the celebration of the centenary of the birth of
Charles Scarratt, founder of Birkenhead Choral
Society, first details of the Charles Scarratt Music
Award Fund have been announced. This is intended to provide three
prizes each year to young musicians from Wirral.
Fuller details are available here. We hope to have a special event next year in conjunction with this.
January 30th 2008
Shirley Potter (Chairman, Formby Choral Society) and David
Horton
were welcomed at the Al-Ghazali Centre, Liverpool
by Farhan Abu Hassan.
Farhan intoned the Muslim Call to Prayer in our performance of "The
Armed Man" in April 2008.
January 2008
Thank you to all those who helped us to support the Children's hospice, Claire House:
November 24th 2007
An excellent concert at St Saviours, Oxton using the new staging
Sept 8th 2007
More good news as we learnt that Wirral Borough Council, in their support of community initiatives, have granted us a significant sum towards the cost of our new staging. We are grateful to the areas of Heswall / Pensby & Thingwall, Greasby, Frankby, Irby, Upton & Woodchurch, West Wirral and Oxton / Prenton, who all supported the donation in recognition of the number of singers and audience who come from those areas.
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Sept 1st 2007
We enjoyed sharing in the celebration of David Williams' wedding to Ruth at Hoylake. It was a tremendous occasion and 30 of us formed a small choir led by David Holroyd.
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June 2007:
On June 18th we were delighted to hear from Awards for All that we had been granted 50% funding for our new staging. The current staging was well worn and may have been responsible for some unusual musical effects as we strove to balance on an increasing wobbly base. It will be much safer and more versatile so that access for disabled people can be facilitated. It is modular in construction so that we can have different arrangements in different churches to suit the situation.
A recent photograph shows how the back rows of the choir disappear from view and we hope you will find the new system a great improvement.
We are pleased to acknowledge our gratitude.
