Choir to celebrate 65th Anniversary
From the Gloucestershire Gazette, 04.09.25:One of Gloucestershire’s leading amateur choirs is set to celebrate its 65th year this month as rehearsals resume for an Anniversary performance of Handel’s Messiah in November.
Tyndale Choral Society, based in Dursley, is also celebrating passing the 100-member mark for the first time. Singers will gather to share memories – and a slice of a special cake, currently being baked. There will also be a display of old photographs and documents from the choir’s archive.
Chairman Magnus Carter said: “We always intended to have a big celebration to mark our Silver Jubilee five years ago – but of course, that happened during one of the Covid lockdowns and had to be cancelled.
“So we couldn’t let our 65th go by, and we decided to revisit Tyndale’s first ever public performance by again singing the most famous of all oratorios – Messiah. It’s fantastic that we can celebrate two milestones – reaching 100 members in the year we mark such an important anniversary.”
Tyndale Choral Society evolved out of North Nibley Church choir, when a new choir mistress, Molly Neale, took over in 1959, after retiring from her role as a professional soprano soloist. Under her leadership the North Nibley choir flourished and in the following year was relaunched as Tyndale Choral Society.
For the past eleven years, the choir has been conducted by the charismatic Ben Sawyer, who is also a Lay Clerk in Gloucester Cathedral Choir and director of award-winning chamber choir, The Oriel Singers.
Tyndale’s performance of Messiah will take place at St James’s Church, Dursley, on Saturday 15th November, and tickets are available online after 19th September.
Soloists will include old friends of the choir - alto Elisabeth Fleming and tenor Tim Burton, who both featured in Rossini's Messe Solenelle in 2023 with Tyndale. They will be joined by Gloucester-born soprano Catriona Holsgrove, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, and bass William Stevens, a fomer choral scholar at Bristol Cathedral.
Picture:
Music Director Ben Sawyer (right) and accompanist Christopher Guild (left) with members of Tyndale Choral Society. Photo by Alan G. Law.
