Notes On Our History
- When the Society was founded in 1772, King George III was on the throne, Middleton’s population was about 300, Mozart was 16 years old, and Beethoven only 2.
- The founders were Sir Thomas Egerton of Heaton Hall, Rev Mr Assheton, and 40 others.
- Meetings were held monthly, on the Monday nearest the full moon (no street lights!) at the house which later became the White Hart Inn.
- Each member paid 6d per meeting, 4d of which was to be spent on malt liquor, for the benefit of the Inn.
- Over the years, the meeting place moved to the Hare and Hounds, the Ring o’ Bells, the Assheton Arms, Long St Methodist church and St Stephen’s church.
- From the 1930s - 1950s, membership was too small to put on performances, but in 1952, the Society resumed as a mixed, not an all-male, choir. Concerts began again and continue to the present day.
- The centenary concert in March 1872 was Handel’s Messiah at the Co-operative Hall on Long St.
- The 150th anniversary concert in February 1922 was again at the Co-operative Hall and included a work by Max Bruch.
- The bicentenary concert was Haydn’s Creation at Middleton parish church.
- Famous soloists have included Isobel Baillie, Owen Brannigan, and Elizabeth Harwood, while the centenary concert included members of the Halle choir and orchestra and members from the Chapel Royal, Windsor, and Manchester Cathedral.
- In 2014, the Society gave the world premiere concert performance of “If We’re Not Together We’re Nowt” at Bojangles Theatre, Middleton. The musical, by R. Barry, I. Jenkins and G. Marshall, celebrates the Rochdale Pioneers on their 170th anniversary.
(Information from an article by John H Barnes in the Middleton Guardian, 1st December 1978)