History of the Choir
The Gotherington Singers was founded as a small WI choir in the village of Gotherington 40 years ago by the present conductor, Margaret Crompton. The choir sang at local concerts, WI events and festivals. As it has grown in size and ability, the choir has tackled challenges further afield. They have sung in international choral festivals in Malta and Jersey and successfully competed in open music festivals in the South West and Wales. The choir took part in the WI choir of the year on two occasions.

Musical Director
Margaret Crompton is the founder and Musical Director of the choir from its formation in 1967.

Margaret has been the conductor of the choir for all of its existence, apart from a short break when her family moved away. She resumed as conductor on her return to the area.

She is a graduate of the Royal Manchester College of Music, a member of the Association of British Musical Directors and is a member of the Cheltenham Competitive Music Festival.

Press Release
When Margaret Crompton started a small WI ladies choir nearly forty years ago she little dreamt it would become the success it has today.

The original choir consisted of 15 to 20 ladies, some of whom had little musical knowledge but who simply enjoyed singing. Margaret soon established a reputation of producing wonderful sounds from the choir and she set about enthusing the ladies to tackle more ambitious projects. As the choir became more and more well known locally, the decision was made to expand into a fully fledged choir in its own right.

The Gotherington Singers, accompanied by pianist Pauline Gearey, now has a membership of 45 ladies from all over the Cheltenham area who gather for rehearsals once a week alternating between Gotherington Village Hall and Bethesda Church Hall in Cheltenham. Success followed with Choir of the Day at Sainsburys Choir of the Year competition. Overseas tours to Malta, Jersey, Spain, Italy, Bavaria, Moravia and this year we went to Elba. In 2006 the choir were proud and excited to be invited to take part in the Thora Hird Memorial Fund concert at St. Martin in the Field. Guest of Honour was Sophie, Countess of Wessex together with Robert Powell and Kathy Staff and hosted by Pam Rhodes and Canon Roger Royle. In May this year, after entering the Cheltenham Competitive Festival over many years the choir received the top accolade in their home town with the award of the prestigious Gold Cup. Soloists Viv Nicholson and Melanie Pearson also won awards this year at the festival.

Margaret never lets the choir become complacent but encourages more ambitious and varied programmes. The development of the Newhurst Singers, a small group within the choir, adds contrast to the main choir and some wonderful soloists have emerged over the years, winning competitions in their own right and enabling the choir to provide a magical concert performance.

Site designed and maintained by webmaster@harjin.co.uk