Appeal for singers to join local choir

Local choir, Tameside Voices, are seeking new members to join.

The community health and wellbeing choir was formed back in 2013, but membership numbers dwindled drastically over the pandemic period. 

Songs range from 1950s to the present day, and include a mixture of pop and musical theatre classics, among many others! Musical pieces are all taught by the choir director Phil Reynolds in a mixture of unison and 2-3 part harmony. 

Rehearsals are held weekly, taking place each Thursday between 4pm and 5:30pm at Hyde Central Methodist Church, and there is free parking next to the premises. 

There are no auditions for membership and no choir singing experience is necessary. There is also no age limitation or any restrictions regarding disability, as the venue has both disabled access & toilet facilities if anybody is less mobile. 

The choir aim to hold two concerts each year, as well as singing at supermarkets and retirement homes, so there are plenty of performance opportunities to get involved with! One of the main focuses that they wanted to highlight is that they don’t charge people for the concerts and constantly endeavour to raise funds for good causes wherever possible. They recently took part in a concert at Manchester in conjunction with two other choirs and some performing arts students from Pendleton College to help raise funds for the NSPCC. 

Anyone who enjoys singing is warmly welcome! 

Steven Bodgers said, ‘We desperately need new members. As we stand, because we have a professional choir master and room hire to cover, we need a certain membership to be viable.  

‘And at the moment we’re far from reaching that, so we’re running at a loss. It’s really a case of how long we can sustain that. It would be such a shame if the choir couldn’t continue because it’s done so many good things and it’s been going for so long. 

‘Right now, our subscription is £5 per week if you come to the choir - nothing if you don’t come. We really don’t want to put that up, particularly in today’s environment so we don’t want to increase that but we do want to increase the membership number.’ 

Steven continued, ‘You don’t even have to be able to sing! But I believe everybody can sing. If you can talk, you can sing.’ 

If you’d like to get involved, you can either turn up any Thursday at 4pm (your first session will be free of charge) or send an email over to steven.bodgers@gmail.com.