Join Us

Sung in a choir before?

Not sung in a choir before?

Want to try a singing session ?

Simply turn up any Wednesday from 7.30 to 9.30 pm at:-

Saint Hilda's Church
Stanton Road
Preston Gate
North Shields
Tyne & Wear
NE30 3PH

Don’t worry if you can’t read music or you are not sure about whether you are a tenor, baritone or bass. You will be given expert guidance, encouragement and an opportunity to develop your musical talents.

Or for an informal chat about Backworth Choir please contact the Secretary or ring Gerry on 07963515190

secretarybackworth@gmail.com

MEMBER COMMENTS

Andy Rutherford, Bass
Joining the choir has proved to be the best and most important social decision I have made in recent years. The enjoyment of Choral music has become an important aspect of my life, providing both a real artistic element and new found friends of similar interests.
I continue to enjoy the benefits of choral singing, socialising and the presentation of local and continental public concerts. Rehearsal is also an essential part of choral singing and readers with musical interests and some singing ability, should consider joining a local choir for the pleasures and benefits I have mentioned.

Joining a new choir:- Bob Evans, Baritone
I joined the Dalesmen Male Voice Choir in 2009 and was a member for 11 years. For family reasons in 2020 we moved back to Tyneside. Having caught the bug of singing I resolved to join a new Choir following the move. I got in touch with the Choir Secretary in August 2021 and said that I was interested in joining. Unfortunately, at that time we were in the middle of the Covid pandemic and the rehearsals were online by zoom. Nevertheless, I was issued with my music and was pleased to find that there were quite a few pieces with which I was familiar. Eventually in October the Choir resumed rehearsals in Saint Hilda’s Church Hall in North Shields. It's strange joining a new organisation – you don't know the names and one of the things I found was that, although I thought I knew some of the pieces, the arrangements were different. The repertoire is an interesting mix. I particularly like African Prayer and Aya Ngena. Local songs we sing include Big River (written by Jimmy Nail) and Cullercoat’s Bay. We do two songs harking back to our mining heritage - Working Man and The Colliers Requiem. You might find this hard to believe but we also sing Gwahoddiad - in Welsh! It was hard work getting up to speed with the new repertoire but I determined that I would work on it and every afternoon before practice night I would go through the teach tracks of those songs we were doing that day to familiarise myself with them. Getting to know new names and faces took time but after a few months I felt as if I belonged. The first concert was a joint concert where we were involved with an event called Home Opera. This was led by the Royal Northern Sinfonia together with a local ladies’ choir and a number of schools. HOME was a community opera which explained what "home" meant to the people of North Shields and the surrounding area. It linked dance, song, drama and the spoken word. The Choir sang The Colliers Requiem, Cullercoat’s Bay and Bobby Shafto. It was enjoyable and satisfying to be part of such a venture and I think there will be similar projects in the future. We finished the year with a Christmas concert which was very well attended and seemed to go down well. Again we shared this concert with a local ladies’ choir. The Choir was affected by the pandemic and the number of members was reduced but I think next year will see us singing in more local churches and getting back to our pre-pandemic schedule.