Birkenhead Choral Society
Patron: Dame Lorna Muirhead DBE,
Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside
Musical Director: David Holroyd
Chair: Collette Byrne
Rehearsal Accompanist: Jon Barton
Choral music since 1956
Contact us
Reg Charity
No 1004202
May 2013
We have just learnt of the death of Eva Warren,
for many years our accompanist and a well
respected and loved musician in the North West.
Eva had a very
distinguished career teaching piano at the Royal Northern College and
was still teaching and accompanying students at countless Music
Festivals and Exams. Her funeral will take place at St
Peter's Church Rock Ferry at 2pm, Wednesday May 22nd.
May 2013
We are sorry to hear
of the
death of one of our long standing Friends,
Mrs A Haywood, from Greasby.
Our sympathy goes out to members of the family, including one of our
choir members. Her support has been much appreciated.
May 2013
Congratulations to Richard Blundell (bass) and his
wife Julia (alto) on the birth of their daughter
Silvia Beatriz.
April 2013
A very enjoyable chance to sing at the Oxton Secret Gardens Festival. We aim to attend next year too - read the report.
April 2013
We were sorry to hear of the death of a local Thingwall resident Albert Dillow who for many years was a member of Birkenhead Choral Society in it's early days. His daughter, Deborah Yates, recalls "Albert spent over 20 years as a tenor with the Eisteddfod-winning Birkenhead Choral Society, singing with them at the cathedrals of Liverpool, Chester, St Asaph and Manchester, and numerous parish churches. One of his favourite choir anecdotes was when the council at Pwllheli rented the local Butlins holiday camp for their Eisteddfod. Birkenhead Choral were on towards the end of the evening and he remembered them belting out Handel’s Zadok the Priest over the tannoys at midnight. On the way back they pulled into a pub in a small Welsh village to find the back room full of locals. They spent the rest of the night singing selections from the Messiah together, and got home in time for breakfast."
We are fortunate to have been given a scrapbook which Albert had in his possession which contains cuttings and programmes from those early days. Thank you to Deborah for thinking of us and also passing on some old music. The scrapbook will be passed on to Kay Scarratt (our founder's daughter) but for interest here are a couple of photos from the book:
Llangollen 1958.jpg and Llangollen 1962.jpg
Jan 2013
We have had an invitation from Kay Scarratt to attend the annual competition for the Charles Scarratt Music Award, on Friday, 8th February, 2013, at 7:00pm at Birkenhead High School Academy.
You are guaranteed an enjoyable evening of music from talented young musicians. Entrance £5 per Adult (schol age children free). Proceeds go to support the Music Fund which encourages young local musicians and commemorates the name of our founder, Charles Scarratt. You may pay at the door.
See the invitation
Dec 2012
Wirral Women and Children's Aid have written to express their thanks for the £250 cheque donated from the proceeds of our Carol Concert. They have expressed the hope that it will help fund a Families outing during the February half term for those in need, possibly ice skating.
Helpline - 0151 643 9766
October 2012
At the Annual General Meeting on Oct 1st the choir
thanked
John Mansley for the
year he had supported us standing in as Chairman.
Collette Byrne was
elected to the Chair and made an encouraging statement of the way
forward as she brought the meeting to a close.
We are all grateful to outgoing Committee Members for their hard work,
for those elected for the coming season and to our Musical Director,
David Holroyd, for his professional leadership supported by Jon
Barton, our accompanist.
August 2012
We had a surprise contact via our website from a
gentleman, Alexander Camilleri, in Malta who had a badge from
Birkenhead Welsh Choral in his collection. Kay Scarratt tells us a
bit more -
"The Birkenhead Welsh Choral Society is, I think, the choir where my
parents first met in the 1920s when he was the accompanist and she was
chief contralto. The conductor then was Mr. D R Jones. I don't
know how long the choir lasted. I know that they rehearsed in
Beechcroft Hall in Whetstone Lane. The Hall was on the opposite side
from the YMCA, but a little further up the hill, just about on the first
bend. The badge is similar to the Birkenhead Coat of Arms which
father started using in the Male Voice Choir, then later with the BCS so
it's possible/probable that he got the idea from the Welsh Choral."
July 2012
Superb news! We are pleased to announce that
Dame Lorna Muirhead, DBE, Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside has agreed to be
our Patron. Many of you will have heard her supportive comments at
our recent concert and we know that both choir and audience members will
be pleased with this news
You can read a little of her background
here.
and the article in the Wirral News
here.
July 2012
Well done to everyone who has advertised our
website and thanks to all our visitors. Notice the counter has
recently turned over to
10,000.
July 2012
Great news from Claire Willis that she has completed her Three Peaks challenge. Claire writes:
"Not sure how we did it, but all 5 of us completed it in 11 hours! I can also confirm that I have no blisters! As you can see extremely lucky with the weather - with only about 15 minutes of icy rain on the final peak. Although we couldn't see a thing from the top of the first peak, the rest of the time we were in cloudy sunshine - amazing given the weather warnings last week!
(click picture for a larger version)
"I've just updated
the just giving website with pictures of the entire team on each peak -
some of whom were crazily waving flags at our jubilee concert!
http://www.justgiving.com/5slts3peaks1day
Please can you pass on my thanks to the rest of the choir for their
support and words of wisdom! Have a wonderful summer and
see you in September. Claire"
. . . and it's not too late if anyone else wants to add to the
sponsorship! DH
July 2012
Further to a tidying up of the website
please
email me if you find problems. No page names
have been changed so any bookmarks / favourites you have stored should
still work. If you are looking for the Michael Hamm
tribute pages please click
here. The other way
of finding information is to look at the
sitemap.
June 2012
Further to our highly successful Jubilee Concert I am pleased to report that the poster and programme will be stored by the Bodleian Library, Oxford as part of their Jubilee archives.
June 2012
Congratulations to our accompanist from yesteryear, Ged Callacher, on his ordination to the priesthood: Friday 22nd June at St Monica’s, Bootle, at 7.00 p.m. It's as pity we can't all be there!
Pictures from his ordination last year as deacon appear
here
We are pleased to acknowledge
St
Faith's Crosby, where Ged was Director of Music, as the source
of this picture.
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.
:
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.
.
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.
