Gotherington Singers started 41 years ago as a small WI choir in the village of Gotherington, when Margaret Crompton, our Director of Music, came to live in the village. The original choir consisted of 15 to 20 ladies, some of whom had little musical knowledge but simply enjoyed singing, and we performed at local events and festivals.
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Margaret has been the Director of Music of the choir since its formation in 1967. She is a graduate of the Royal Manchester College of Music, a member of the Association of British Choral Directors and is on the committee of the Cheltenham Festival of Performing Arts. Margaret has twice won an Arts Council Award for services to music in Cheltenham.
Under her inspiring leadership we began to grow in size and ability, and our reputation grew with us. We were soon tackling more ambitious projects, and the decision was made to become an independent choir in our own right.
Since then we have performed successfully in music festivals both in the UK and overseas, and have also raised thousands of pounds singing for local charities. We have been Gold Cup winners at the Cheltenham Festival of Performing Arts, and in 2006 were honoured to be invited to sing at the Thora Hird Memorial Concert at St Martin in the Fields in the presence of Sophie Countess of Wessex.
We have been pleased and proud to have had the well-known broadcaster, Richard Baker, as our Patron for many years. He joined us for several of our concerts over the years as reader, compere and raconteur, and is a good friend to the choir. Last year we had a lunch to celebrate our 40th Anniversary and Richard was the guest of honour.
We have toured in Belgium, Jersey, Spain, Tuscany, Bavaria, Moravia, Elba and Poland.
We now have about 40 Members from all over the Cheltenham area, and we rehearse once a week, alternating between Gotherington Village Hall and Bethesda Church.
Our accompanist is Michael Barrett.