Headington Singers

This is the Headington Singers limbering up for what is surely their most important gig to date; a celebratory concert to mark their silver jubilee.

Later, I get the opportunity to hear the choir rehearsing a setting of Wordsworth’s The Solitary Reaper, a new commission from Oxford composer Samuel Pegg, to be premiered at the jubilee concert. Conductor Sally Mears is taking them through their paces with energy, enthusiasm and good humour. “Once more,” she says to the tenors, after they have mastered a particularly tricky passage. “Just so that I know it wasn’t a fluke!” It wasn’t. They do it again, and it’s spot on. It all bodes well for the concert, when this 100-strong choir will join forces with the Isis Chamber Orchestra for an evening of festivities, which will also include Corelli’s Christmas Concerto and Charpentier’s Midnight Mass.

It’s a far cry from the small group that gathered in Headington back in 1985, with no men and a repertoire of songs that didn’t quite fill the programme for their first concert, and had to be supplemented by a bassoon quartet brought together by the choir’s first conductor, Mark Goddard.

The choir started out as Singing for Pleasure, and met in the local community centre — a rather more humble setting than their current plush surroundings at Headington School. “At first we didn’t have any music, but fortuitously two of the founder members were staff at Cheney School and they raided the music cupboard, and we were singing everything they’d got,” recalls Carolyn Gulliver, who founded the choir with pianist Maureen Cooper. “It was some time before we were brave enough to put on a performance.”

But the choir quickly grew and now puts on three concerts a year, performing a varied repertoire.

Highlights include a concert performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for their 20th anniversary, and a gala concert with Oxford Collutorium and the Radcliffe Orchestra in 2007 to mark the closure of the Radcliffe Infirmary.

In 25 years they have had only two changes of conductor — Tony Dwyer took over from Mark Goddard in 1991, with Sally Mears taking over in 1996. The name may have changed, but there is no doubt that this choir still sings for pleasure.

“It’s a very friendly choir,” says Carolyn. “And there’s no auditions, but we have a lot of good singers scattered throughout the choir.”

Hilary Bradley, who has sung with the choir for around 20 years, said: “It means we’ve been able to attract a wide section of the Headington community. “So we’ve got people of all ages — we’ve got a lot of young people, which is nice to see — and we’ve got people from all ethnic backgrounds. There are people haven’t sung since they were at school, people who are experienced and very good singers, and everything in between. But Sally is so good at making everybody feel they can do it.”

With so many choirs in and around Oxford, it’s a wonder they all survive, but they do — and Headington Singers certainly looks set to be around for quite a while longer. “At times, I wondered if it would carry on, because it takes a lot of pushing,” says Carolyn.

“It’s so satisfying to see the way it’s grown and thrived. I really feel great about it.”

lHeadington Singers’ Jubilee Concert is on Friday, December 3, at All Saints Church, Lime Walk, Headington. For tickets call 01865 765878.