about us
In 1956 a group of Charlton Kings villagers led by Revd. Robert Deakin, vicar of St Mary's Church, Charlton
Kings and later to become Bishop of Tewkesbury, met to discuss the possibility of forming
a choir in the village. Reg Legg, a close friend of Revd. Deakin,
became founder conductor. Reg was choirmaster and organist at St Mary's and Deputy Head of
Charlton Kings Secondary school. The school headmaster Alfie Briggs served on the Society
committee, subsequently as chairman and was an able tenor. Thus from humble
beginnings Charlton Kings Choral Society was founded the following year, when the
subion for members of the choir was 6d (2.5p) per rehearsal.
The first concert, a performance of Haydn's Passion was given in St Mary's Church. Concerts in those early days were largely accompanied by the Lawrence Hudson String Orchestra and Hazel Legg, Reg's wife, was a soprano soloist. When Reg Legg left in the early 1960s to train for the priesthood, his successor at both the choir and school was Ken Chatwood.
Over the years the Society has progressed from being a village choir to take its place as one of the three main choral societies of Cheltenham. A mixed-voice choir, the membership now stands at about 100 and the singers come from all over Cheltenham and the surrounding Cotswolds. However we still remain proud of our roots in the village of Charlton Kings.
For many years concerts were given in Holy Apostles' Church in Charlton Kings, but as the choir expanded it became necessary to find
a larger venue and nowadays most concerts take place in the Pittville Pump Room.
We give two main concerts with orchestra and soloists each year in November and May.
In addition there is a family carol concert in St. Mary's Church, and smaller scale summer concerts have been given
in recent years in various local venues.
Our conductor John Wright has been with us since 1984, apart from a short break between 1987 and 1989, while our accompanist Peter Meason has played for us from 1965 to 1967, 1972 to 1986 and since 1989. In September 2008 the society was delighted to welcome James Gilchrist as its new President.
We have a long association with the Regency Sinfonia who have accompanied the choir excellently over the years. We also have a long association with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, who have provided us on many occasions with soloists drawn from opera course students.
We continue to perform a large number of choral works from an increasingly wide-ranging repertoire,
from Handel to Holst, giving concerts in Cheltenham and the surrounding area. We have made three foreign
tours: to Brittany in 1995, to Germany (Göttingen) in 1999 and to Norway and Sweden in
2002. We have performed several times with the Orchester Göttinger Musikfreunde
both here and in Göttingen, some of the concerts forming part of major twin-town
celebrations.
Recent concerts have included the first performance of a new work for the Millennium, the anthem Awake, Awake, the World is Young by the Worcester composer Ian Venables and of the rarely-performed Morning Heroes by Sir Arthur Bliss, under the auspices of the Bliss Trust. We have also recently performed a newly commissioned work In Praise of Earth's Beauty by our conductor John Wright, the second time as part of a joint concert with the Göttingen choir St Jacobi Kantorei in August 2005. We have also sung Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral and Bristol Cathedral.
In 2007 the Society celebrated 50 years of singing with a special anniversary programme.
Charlton Kings Choral Society is a member of Making Music.
Charlton Kings Choral Society is affiliated to and acknowledges the financial support of the
Cheltenham Arts Council.