Holymoorside Choral Society was formed in the dark days of the Second World War. Seventy-five years later the choir is still bringing musical cheer to audiences while contributing to the local community. Leonie Martin discovers the secrets behind its enduring success.
MUSICIAN HERBERT SPENCER moved to the village of Holymoorside during the Second World War. When he placed an advertisement in the local paper in the autumn of 1941, asking for anyone interested in choral singing to attend a meeting in the Village Hall, it must have offered a ray of light amidst the doom and gloom. Records reveal a turnout of more than thirty people at that first meeting, with members ‘agreeing to pay 2d per week to cover the 2s 3d room hire charge for their Thursday evening rehearsals’…