News

Thank you to all of you who came to our concert on 7th June, and i hope you enjoyed the music – and the food! You may have seen a photo in the Dorking Advertiser.

The concert was given by a little more than half our current singers, which means we are at present a rather small choir – at the Leith Hill Music Festival we were the smallest choir taking part by quite a large margin.

Capel Choral Society has a very long history –  it is now approaching its 110th anniversary, having been founded in October 1904, in order to take part in the first Leith Hill music Festival the following year. Since then the Choir has had its ups, winning its Division in the Festival Competitions on many occasions, and downs, when members of singers have shrunk – on one occasion, in the 1920’s, this prompted the conductor Mr Gore (the local schoolmaster) to pronounce that unless more tenors were recruited he would recommend that the choir should be disbanded!

In recent years due to a number of factors, (singers leaving the area, illness, work commitments, or just anon domino) Capel’s numbers have once again shrunk and we are beginning to feel rather small in the company of other choirs. Various initiatives have been taken to increase numbers, but while we have been happy to welcome a few new singers, the departure of others has resulted in a net fall in numbers. The situation has reached a point where the low number of singers (particularly tenors!) is also having an adverse effect on the Choir’s finances – without an unpopular increase in subscriptions the financial reserves will gradually decrease. This will threaten the feature of Capel Choral Society and its participation in the Leith Hill Music Festival, of which Capel is one of the two remaining founding members.

We therefore ask you to seriously consider if YOU would like to sing with us – we are a friendly enthusiastic group who really enjoy meeting on Monday evenings to make music together. We maintain that most people can sing, and all Festival choirs encourage people to take part by not imposing an audition or requiring you be able to read music. Singing in a  choir is a most enjoyable experience – which also has known health benefits!

We urge you to at least give us a try, and guarantee the future of the society which has been part of the village life for over 100 years.

See information about, and pictures of, the choir on our website, www.capelchoralsociety.com or contact our Secretary at secretary@capelchoralsociety.com or phone 01306 712365