A Brief History of the Choir
Since its founding in 1943 by conductor Ambrose Chalk, Southampton Choral Society has built a strong reputation for ambitious performances and musical excellence. Originally formed from local Free Church choirs, it quickly became a significant part of Southampton’s cultural life.
Over the decades, the choir has performed under several world-renowned guest conductors, including:
- Sir Adrian Boult
- Sir Charles Groves
- Sir Simon Rattle
- Owain Arwel Hughes
- Sir Yehudi Menuhin
Under Musical Director Derek Goodger from 1971, the choir performed regularly at Southampton Guildhall with major orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Sinfonietta. During this period, Southampton audiences heard landmark works such as Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Later Musical Directors continued to broaden the choir’s repertoire and standards. Aidan Fairlie introduced works ranging from Fauré’s Requiem to Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi. From 2009, Peter Gambie further strengthened the choir’s reputation through acclaimed performances, major collaborations and the BBC-supported premiere of Ian Schofield’s choral drama Freedom.
The choir has also performed major works such as Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Rachmaninov’s Vespers, and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, the latter conducted by Brian Kay in Winchester Cathedral. Today, under Musical Director Andrew Hayman, Southampton Choral Society continues to present ambitious concerts and collaborations.
Our Honorary President
Lord Mayor's charity
The Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of Southampton, Councillor James Baillie has chosen three charities to support in her mayoral year. Any monies raised will be given to the charities at the end of her term of office. All charities are local and very relevant for Southampton.
Saints Foundation
Saints Foundation, the charity of Southampton Football Club, supports Southampton by delivering projects that respond to the ever-evolving needs of the people of the city. Connecting with communities using the power of the Saints badge, we help those who feel the impact of inequalities the most. We support people in need throughout Southampton, providing life-changing opportunities to help our city and its communities thrive.
We have five key focus areas:
- Health
- Education
- Gender equality
- Employability
- Pathways
Our work is delivered in schools, community centres, parks, hospitals, care homes, leisure centres and at our home at St Mary’s Stadium.
Our vision is that Southampton is a city where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Oasis Southampton City Farm
Oasis Southampton City Farm has been at the heart of the local Southampton community for over 80 years providing a range of services to targeted groups as well as the wider local community. Our work includes targeted sessions for Learning Disability and Brain Injury clients, school and youth group visits, birthday parties and more. The farm also holds four extremely successful open days each year, and all activity is supported by a strong local volunteer team.
Vision and Values - Oasis Academy Lord's Hill
Southampton Sea Cadets
Operating since 1942, Southampton Sea Cadets is a registered youth charity. The Unit is located on the banks of the River Itchen in Southampton, and its cadet members and staff (all volunteers) are drawn from the wider Southampton area. It is a thriving unit with 65 cadets and 26 adult volunteers, meeting twice per week and many weekends during the boating season.
At Sea Cadets, the young people aged 10 -17 enjoy adventures such as sailing, rowing, kayaking, first-aid training, piping and drill, and earn nationally recognised qualifications, sail offshore, and travel abroad. Young people become resilient and confident and have improved motivation and skills. They learn to become leaders, and Sea Cadets helps them to cope with today’s complex and often overwhelming world, and embed the values of loyalty, honesty and integrity, respect, commitment, and self-discipline in everything they do.
Adult volunteers have the opportunity to undergo training and gain recognised qualifications.
In 2022, the Unit won the area award for diversity, as it has a number of disabled cadets, is multi-cultural and tolerates no discrimination. It is a successful unit entering and achieving recognition in a number of national competitions. The unit actively supports community events, such as Remembrance Day, Merchant Navy Day and The Southampton Marathon. Southampton Sea Cadets is honoured to have been chosen as The Lord Mayor’s Charity for 2023.
What we do - Sea Cadets Southampton
Our Patron
Our Patron is the well-known conductor and broadcaster, Brian Kay.
Brian divides his working life between the broadcasting studio and the concert platform. His many presentations for BBC radio have included Brian Kay’s Sunday Morning, Brian Kay’s Light Programme, the weekly listeners’ request programme 3 for all and Choirworks – all on Radio 3 – on Radio 2 the popular programmes Melodies for You and Friday Night is Music Night, and for Radio 4, Comparing Notes and Music in Mind. His former BBC World Service programme Classics with Kay reached an audience of millions all over the world. Brian’s television presentations have included the competitions to find the Cardiff Singer of the World and the Choir of the Year, and for fifteen years, the New Year Day Concert from Vienna. He has twice won a Sony Award as Music Presenter of the Year, including the coveted Gold Award in 1996.
On the concert platform, he presents and narrates concerts with many of the leading orchestras. His narrations include Peter and the Wolf, Tubby the Tuba, Babar the Elephant, The Snowman, The Musicians of Bremen, Walton’s Facade, Honegger’s King David and Bliss’s Morning Heroes.
He was, for ten years, Chorus Master of the Huddersfield Choral Society, and Conductor of the Cheltenham Bach Choir, the Bradford Festival Choral Society, the Cecilian Singers of Leicester, and the Kendal-based Mary Wakefield Westmorland Festival. He is frequently invited to conduct choirs and orchestras in many parts of the country and has directed choral courses at the summer schools of Dartington, Warwick, Ardingly and Eastbourne. Further afield, in New Zealand he has conducted the Orpheus Choir of Wellington and the Auckland Choral Society, and in Sheffield, Massachusetts, the Berkshire Choral Festival. He is a Vice-President of the Association of British Choral Directors and of the Royal School of Church Music.
Brian Kay has twice appeared at the Royal Variety Show – in 1978 as a member of the King’s Singers (he was a founder member, and as the bass voice in the group performed over 2000 concerts world-wide) and in 1987 conducting the Huddersfield Choral Society. He sang the voice of Papageno in the Hollywood movie Amadeus (his wife, the soprano Gillian Fisher sang Papagena). He has also been the lowest frog on a Paul McCartney single, one of the six wives to Harry Secombe’s Henry VIIIth, and a member of the backing group for Pink Floyd!
