The magnificent sum of £1153.18 was raised for Sobell House Hospice at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford at our recent Voices for Hospices 2019 concert in Steventon Village Hall on Saturday 28th September.  Read the concert report

The choir presented a ‘big’ cheque to Sobell House ambassador, Jo Lennon, at its rehearsal in Steventon Village Hall on Thursday 6 February.

Read the article about the concert in the Sobell House newsletter

Helen Pearce conducts while the choir accompanies musical director Terry Pearce in singing ‘When Britain Ruled the Waves’ from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta ‘Iolanthe’

The Christmas Concert on Saturday 14th December raised the wonderful sum of £573 for the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. This small UK charity based near Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire trains dogs to alert deaf people to sounds, as well as helping them to leave loneliness behind. Choir member, Sharron Jenkinson, told the audience and choir about the charity’s work. She also introduced everyone to Riley, the 11-week old hearing dog puppy she and husband George have just started training and the slightly older Troy, currently being trained by another choir member, Jane Sutton and her husband Phil.

Riley and Troy, with their trainers, at the Steventon Choral Society Christmas Concert on 14 December 2019

The last of the sponsorship money is now in. The treasurer tells us the Voices for Hospices concert in October raised an amazing £2050 for Sir Michael Sobell House Hospice in Oxford. Everyone has been very generous and we’re thrilled to be able to give them such a large amount.

Report of the concert

Good news – we raised £731 from our second Christmas concert towards a defibrillator for Steventon. This is almost three-quarters of the cost so hopefully it won’t be long before one is installed in the village. Thanks to everyone who came to support our fund-raising efforts.

Last season Steventon Choral Society supported four charitable causes with donations to:

• Voices for Hospices (£1457)
• ARCh Oxfordshire (£523)
• St Michael & All Angels Church, Steventon (£562)
• St Mary’s Church, Streatley (approx. £600)

The grand total raised was £3142 – well done to everyone who took part in a concert or came to one of our fund-raising concerts.

On top of the £460 raised for the piano fund at St Mary’s Church, Streatley, with our concert there on 5 April, the treasurer told us last week at the rehearsal that she’d sent £330 from the choral society to St Michael & All Angels Church at Steventon towards their funds from the concert there on 13 April – a good result all round. Now lots of music to learn for the summer concerts which are only a month or so away.

Both spring concerts went pretty well. The programme’s two main works, Schubert’s Mass in G and the choral suite from Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Arm, being supplemented by three anthems by John Rutter, The Heavens are Telling from Haydn’s Creation and two pieces sung by a small  group. Good results for the two venues in terms of fund-raising.  The concert at St Mary’s Church Streatley last weekend raised £460 towards their piano fund – the plan is to top up a recent bequest to buy a grand piano for the church to enhance the concerts there. No news yet of course of the amount raised for St Michael & All Angels at Steventon from last night’s Palm Sunday concert but audience numbers suggest a reasonable boost to their funds.
Full concert report

Good news at the rehearsal last Thursday. The choral society has donated £523 to Assisted Reading for Children in Oxfordshire – the proceeds of the Christmas Concert on Saturday 14th December.  So with the £1447 given to Sobell House, Oxford, from the Voices for Hospices concert in October that’s almost £2000 we’ve raised for charity so far this season.