Toad Lane Concerts: Eccles Community Choir

Eccles Community Choir

The Toad Lane Concerts series welcomes choirs and vocal groups, both local and visiting, as part of its diverse schedule of all kinds of musicians. Eccles Community Choir (est. 2009) made a welcome return on Wednesday 28 February. Mixed ability, open to all adults, it requires no audition and keeps subscriptions low. Their mission is ‘Singing for pleasure and friendship’ for themselves and the wider community. The 27 singers who performed gave a lot of pleasure and made many friends.

Musical Director, Angela Rowley ARCM is an experienced soprano and adjudicator. As one member put it, ‘Every practice session is also a two-hour singing lesson!’ Angela even sang a lovely solo halfway through to give the choir a break. Piano accompanist John Stott also arranges for them as does Alex Gilchrist, one of its members.

The choir have given concerts both in the UK and abroad, including at the Carnegie Hall, New York as part of a massed international choir, and at the Last Post at the Menin Gate, Ypres.

The opening numbers set the programme’s varied pattern, from the finger-clicking ‘It don’t mean a Thing’ by Duke Ellington, through a Shaker hymn to the majestic ‘Ombra mai fu’ by Handel.

An attractive selection of Howard Goodall TV themes was followed by film favourites, and after a sidestep into opera with Verdi’s Brindisi from La Traviata (complete with Italian text), we moved to arrangements of popular standards.

The finale was a rousing Rodgers & Hammerstein medley; here the lyrics ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ and ‘you’ll never walk alone’ summed up the whole experience. The audience left humming, with a song in their heart.

The Queen’s Award-winning Toad Lane Concerts are every Wednesday at 12.30pm at the Grade 1 listed St Mary in the Baum, Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL16 1DZ. Entrance fee is £6. No refreshments. Contact 01706 648872 for further information.

To see details of forthcoming Toad Lane Concerts, click here.

Dr Joe Dawson