Top Notes

70^th Anniversary Concerts

Goring Chamber Choir celebrates its 70th anniversary this year and we hope to be allowed to be singing together again this summer. We are planning a series of three Saturday lunchtime concerts to be held in St Thomas' Church, Goring, featuring favourite pieces chosen by choir members. The first, on Saturday 26th June, entitled 'A Summer of Love', features madrigals, folk songs, and arrangements of well-known songs, such as Gershwin's 'Summertime'. The second is 'A Celebration of Life', on October 16th, with rousing spirituals, anthems and lively songs from shows. The final concert on 20th November is mostly sacred unaccompanied 'Music for the Soul'.

All will start at 1pm and last about 40 minutes. Admission will be free but donations towards St Thomas' organ fund are welcome.

Of course we will be observing any restrictions on numbers attending which may be in place at the time, but we hope that local residents who have enjoyed the choir's many performances over these seven decades will look out for further details nearer the time and come to celebrate with us!

Frances Brewitt-Taylor

With Deep Sadness

It is with deep sadness that we add a third name to the list of those whom the choir has recently lost.

Michael Howell had been our regular organist for cathedral visits since 2001, when he succeeded Judith Over. Throughout that time Michael was an invaluable asset to the choir, standing in as leader at rehearsals when Frances was not available and accompanying us on choral tours to France, Spain and Poland. Not only a gifted organist, he was also a talented composer — his Centenary Toccata, for example, was performed at Westminster Abbey and as a voluntary at our cathedral services. A quietly unassuming gentleman with a wonderful dry sense of humour, Michael will be missed by us all.

Tanya Hawley, who passed away in January, was a member of the choir for more than forty years. She had been a linchpin of the alto section (and known, occasionally, to help the tenors out). Always good company, we will miss her presence and solid reliability. She is survived by her husband, Peter, who has always been a staunch supporter. A celebration of her life is planned at 1430 on Tuesday 20th July at Dorchester Abbey, assuming restrictions allow. Her obituary appeared in the Henley Standard on the 8th of February.

Jenny Emerton was a committed supporter and audience member since the earliest days of the choir. Her father, Alec, was one of the founders and the first musical director of the choir until he retired from the position in the 1960s. Jenny was also a long-standing member of Village Greenfingers Gardening Club. There will be an obituary in the April issue of the Goring Gap News.

UPDATE: Douai Concert Rescheduled

Although we are unable to present our planned concert at Douai Abbey in April this year, we have booked a date for next year — 23^rd April 2022. We hope you will mark this in your diaries amongst the many other engagements that you have postponed from last year and this.

Here's a memento of our concert at Douai in early 2020, just before lockdown.

About the Choir

Based in Goring-on-Thames, our choir draws members from around South Oxfordshire and Berkshire. We sing all year round, giving concerts in Spring, Autumn and at Christmas. Our repertoire ranges from the Classical through traditional to contemporary music. While our concerts always have familiar and popular pieces, we enjoy exploring new or lesser-known works — it keeps our programme fresh.