We’ll be meeting up for my last Choir Extravaganza on 10th July 2026, and after this, I shall be retiring from choir work.

I wanted to take just a little time to reflect back on this amazing journey that working with community choirs has been.

I started back in 2010, and in the intervening 16 years, I have sung with hundreds of choir members in a vast array of venues – Cathedrals, Castles, Parks, and Theatres. We’ve baked in the sun (the Lincolnshire Show leaps to mind!) and been drenched in the rain (Lincoln Castle, where SCONE’s sheet music actually dissolved in the force of the rain!).

I wanted to pull out a few key events from the years, but increasingly I find that it isn’t the events that stick in my mind, but the people, and the communities that we’ve all built together. As I think back, I realise that what I remember is smiling faces looking at me, laughter as we all get things wrong together, and tears as it comes together perfectly. But always, always all of us working together in the same direction. We’ve sung at choir members’ weddings, and funerals. We’ve looked at pictures of babies, and held friends whilst they cried. We’ve all played our part in keeping these wonderful communities running.

And if I have one wish as I move on in a different direction with my life, it is that these communities of song, friendship and joy stay solid, welcoming new people and bidding a fond farewell to others in the way that they always have.

Be kind to Tim and Jack as they take over steering these amazing choirs in new and wonderful directions. I’ve had years to understand what a rustling score sheet means, they may take a little while longer to get up to speed. Carry on singing, always, and remember:

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?