About the Choir

​

In 1946,  on Saturday 14th December the Eastcote and District Choir gave their first concert.  There were 70 sopranos, 38 altos, 15 tenors and 24 basses.  We can only dream of such numbers today.  The concert was at the Pinner County School, Beaulieu Drive, Eastcote and they sang Handel’s Messiah, with part of the Pinner Orchestra, led by Gwendolen Stocken and the conductor was Millicent Ward, ARCM.

 

The choir was renamed Eastcote Choral Society in 1970.  The choir has had several conductors and taken part in concerts with other choirs in the UK and abroad.  In 2006 it celebrated it's 60th Anniversary with a programme which included Handel’s Messiah. 

 

In 2017 the Eastcote Choral Society changed its name to the Eastcote and Ruislip Choral Society, reflecting the fact that we rehearse in Ruislip and enabling us to raise funds from businesses in  Ruislip.

 

In 2026, on Saturday 14th March,  the choir will celebrate it’s 80th Anniversary with another performance of Handel’s Messiah.

 

Robert Jones became Musical Director in 2009; Laurence Frankel was our accompanist for many years.  Mark Hammond, organist at St.  Edmund’s Church, Northwood Hills, has recently become our accompanist.  Our repertoire is ever expanding.   We have sung works as diverse as  Joseph Horowitz’s Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo,  Haydn’s Creation, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s  Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast and Alan Bullard’s Travelling Tales.  More recently we have tackled jazz with Will Todd’s Mass in Blue, and Bob Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass.