Twyford Singers

Formed in 1974 by its first conductor, Dr Alwyn Surplice, our choir has grown from about 30 to around 75 and we still have three of the founding members within our ranks. Our other past conductors were John Lunt, Alan Mottram and Peter Parfitt and we are very fortunate to have Derek Beck as our present conductor. From early September to mid May, with breaks for most school holidays, rehearsals are currently held in Shawford Parish Hall between 7.30 and 9.30pm every Tuesday. We have been constituted as a registered charity for several years and are formally known as Twyford Singers (Hampshire), in order to differentiate us from our Twyford (Berkshire) cousins!

We give two main concerts per year. The first is usually held in February or March, and alternates on an annual basis between Twyford Parish Hall and an ecclesiastical venue, such as St. Mary’s, Twyford or St Cross Church. The Parish Hall concert normally presents ‘lighter’ works, such as G&S’s Trial by Jury or Hurd’s Hip Hip Horatio and Horovitz’s Horrortorio. The church performances are normally of sacred works, for example Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle or Rutter’s Requiem and Magnificat. Professional vocalists and instrumentalists frequently support our programmes. Our most recent concert took place in Twyford Parish Hall on February 23rd and 24th 2007 and was entitled Down Memory Lane. It featured well known songs by Jerome Kern, Ivor Novello, Noel Coward and The Beatles, arranged for SATB by Derek Beck. Our next concert will be held in St. Cross Chapel, Winchester.

For our second concert, we team up with other local choirs as part of the Winchester and County Music Festival, the venue being either Winchester Cathedral or Romsey Abbey. Our most recent performances have been in Mendelssohn’s Elijah and in an Elgar 150th Anniversary programme of The Music Makers, Spirit of England and Coronation Ode and in the past have included Orff’s Carmina Burana and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony. We are now looking forward to May 2008 when we hall be singing Bach’s St Matthew Passion in Winchester Cathedral.

In addition to these concerts, we normally supplement the ad hoc choir of St Mary’s, Twyford for its annual carol service and also sing carols at The Phoenix Inn, Twyford, to raise funds for a chosen local charity.

Our main social event of the year is a “bring and share supper”, which follows the AGM in June. We also, from time to time, arrange “skittles evenings” at The Phoenix Inn and hold social events to celebrate notable occasions, such as our 20th and 30th anniversaries. We are financially sound and are normally able to make significant charitable donations from the proceeds of our own concert.

Contact the Society

Secretary: Elisabeth Pritchard Telephone: 023 8025 4397

Click to view the image