After last year being the first English choir to perform at the Choirs in the Castle charity concert at Coity Castle near Bridgend in south Wales, Steventon Choral Society was very pleased to asked back again in 2017. This year the event was on Saturday 3 June – another fine day though a little breezy. The choir, accompanied by Rob Thomas and directed by Terry Pearce, sang a short programme of musical hits including:

• You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
• Consider Yourself from Oliver! by Lionel Bart
• Dance The Cachucha from The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan
• Down To the River To Pray – an arrangement of a traditional American song

As well as Steventon Choral Society, the lineup featured Any One Aloud, Ynysowen Male Choir (Aberfan), Tenovus Choir, Cor Melblon Abercynon, Rechoir and the South Wales Male Choir.

Photos by Jamie Beeken

2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Sobell House. The annual Lights of Love event was held on Saturday 10th December. For the second year running Steventon Choral Society was invited to lead the carol singing, the singing of ‘We Will Always Remember You’ (the song composed  specially for Sobell House) and to sing two pieces – ‘Do You Hear What I Hear’ and ‘Christmas Blessing’. The heavy rain meant that the choir was forced to sing inside the entrance to the Churchill Hospital rather than outside with the many people who came along to remember and to see the ‘switch on’ of the Lights of Love Tree covered in lights in memory of loved ones.

Oxford Mail news item and photos

Steventon Choral Society was the first English choir to perform at the annual Choirs in the Castle charity concert at Coity Castle near Bridgend in south Wales. This year’s event, held on Saturday 4 June, raised over £4,000 for Y Bont, a Bridgend-based charity which supports families with disabled children.

The choir, accompanied by Rob Thomas and directed by Terry Pearce, sang a short programme of musical hits:

• Oklahoma from Oklahoma by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
• You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
• Climb Every Mountain from the Sound of Music by by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
• Black Hills of Dakota from Calamity Jane by Sammy Fain and Paul Webster
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight (‘Wimoweh’) from The Lion King by Solomon Linda, George Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore
• Consider Yourself from Oliver! by Lionel Bart

The audience was very warm and welcoming, and clapped along with the livelier numbers.

As well as Steventon Choral Society, the lineup featured Tenovus Choir, Maternal Harmony, Bois Geotre Hen A’r Cylch, Cantorion Ceoty, Rechoir and the South Wales Male Choir.

Photos by Tom Hartley, Richard Harrison and Jamie Beeken