News

Guy Turner will be devising and compèring another of his excellent quiz evenings to raise funds for the choir at 7.30pm on Saturday 18th May 2024 at the WI Hut, 7 Station Road, Bingham NG13 8AQ. Ticket price £15, to include a fish and chip supper. Participants are invited to bring their own wine/beer and glasses.

The sun shone and the singers came from near and far. One person had got up at dawn and driven up from London that morning. Such is the charisma of Bob Chilcott, one of the leading choral composers and conductors of our time. Bingham and District Choral Society was honoured that he had agreed to lead our first Singing Day since the pandemic. The Minster School at Southwell was an excellent, spacious venue.  Ably supported by our superb accompanist Michael Overbury, Bob led us through a selection of his own pieces, some hauntingly lyrical, others challenging us with exciting, complex rhythms. In-between sessions, a magnificent selection of home-baked cakes was eagerly consumed by the singers. In short, we had all the ingredients for a hugely successful day. Our thanks go to Bob, Michael and the volunteers from BDCS who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to enable everything to run so smoothly.

The Bingham & District Choral Society’s Christmas Concert is a hugely popular community event and a highlight of our winter programme. This year’s concert took place last Saturday at Bingham Methodist Church where we were joined once more by the wonderful Carnarvon Children’s choir. After the performance, there was a retiring collection for Framework, a Nottingham-based charity whose mission is to support and house homeless people. The collection raised the splendid sum of £400. Also included were  two hearing-aid batteries and a small Euro coin!

With sincere thanks to the students from Nottingham Trent University who created the video: Georgia Alvey (Producer, Editor and Vision Mixer), Hannah Barnaby, Haris Dar, Ollie Ellis (Camera Operators), Adam Oldfield (Production Assistant), Jack Perkins, Tyla Sutton, Joseph Hay, Joshua Thacker, Cameron Patrick, Ethan Stuart (Audio).

Many thanks also to Brad Poulson for his patience and technical wizardry in uploading the video to YouTube

Guy’s heroic endeavour to walk from Land’s End to John ‘O Groats was followed eagerly by members of the choir in the summer. We are now able to announce that, as one of Guy’s four charities selected to benefit from the funds raised by his walk,  Bingham and District Choral Society will receive £3,121.60 . This is a splendid boost to the choir’s finances at a time when extra resources are badly needed. We are  hugely grateful to Guy and wish him every success in completing the walk in shorter stages over the next year or two.

LAND’S END TO …. ER …. ELLESMERE

Despite a great start, local musician Guy Turner’s solo attempt to walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats was cut short at Ellesmere. He woke up with a very painful foot, which was diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis, brought on by constant heavy duty walking, and was forced to call a halt to the walk.

Guy has now returned to Nottinghamshire and his work as a singer in Southwell Minster Choir, and conducting Bingham Choral Society.

Despite the great disappointment, Guy prefers to emphasise the positive! He walked 468 miles in 28 walking days, which averages nearly 17 miles per day. He survived long walks and high hills during the heat wave. He has raised over £18,000 for his four charities. He met lots of interesting people and saw some amazing scenery. Even though shorter than planned it is an adventure he will never forget.

He plans to complete the journey over the next couple of years, but in short sections.

If you would like to read about his walk, all the daily blogs can still be found on his website, as can details of the charities and how to donate.

https://guyscottturner.wixsite.com/guygoesnorth

Here are some images  of our lunchtime concert with Scunthorpe Choral Society  at St Mary’s Church Newark on Saturday 18th June 2022, followed by a celebration lunch and a presentation of a set of Jubilee mugs to our founder and first Musical Director, Neville Ward. Our special thanks go to James Turner, the photographer.

Our splendid 50th anniversary mug is now on sale. It will be a lovely memento of this special year. Sincere thanks to choir member Linda Hunter for her brilliant artwork.