Huddersfield Choral Society has every right to sing its own praises.

As the society’s new Choral Director Greg Batsleer says: “They have an incredible history and are one of the UK’s most renowned choirs. Mention the Huddersfield Choral Society to anybody and they’ll say they are really famous. The choir symbolises Englishness and the British amateur tradition. It shows what high standards can be achieved.”

But that doesn’t mean the choral organisation, founded in 1836, is content to rely on past glories.

In fact, as it approaches its second centenary the choir has ambitions to hit new heights. Jeremy Garside, General Secretary of the society, explains: “While Huddersfield has a good name it’s important that you don’t rest on your laurels. We want Greg to develop a strategy for the choir and its musical sound and to move the choir forward.”

President Margaret Atkinson says part of that strategy will be to recruit new members and plan more showcase performances for the choir.

Conductor Greg Batsleer at rehearsal with Huddersfield Choral Society.

But she’s also eager to change the public perception of the society which enrols through audition.

She said: “We don’t want to be perceived as elitist. We are all from normal backgrounds but to achieve the standard that we aspire to, which is competing with the best choirs in the country, we have to have auditions.”

For Greg, the chance to work with the 165-strong HCS is an amazing opportunity for one still in his 20s and he admits it looks good on his portfolio, which already includes the positions of Chorus Director with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus and Artistic Director of the National Portrait Gallery Choir in London.

He shook things up when he re-auditioned the entire Scottish chorus but says he won’t be taking the same approach at HCS.

But he added: “I will at some point hear everybody sing and bring in target-based development. The thing that really attracts people to a choir is its reputation. I will be assessing what we can add so we are seen to be vibrant and attractive to new singers”.

Like most high-flying musical directors Greg has a peripatetic life. He spends part of his week in Scotland, part in London where he is based and recently began travelling to Huddersfield on a regular basis to lead HCS rehearsals.

Conductor Greg Batsleer at rehearsal with Huddersfield Choral Society.

Originally from Manchester where he sang with the Manchester Boys Choir Greg can recall performing on the stage of Huddersfield Town Hall and hearing the HCS.

“It’s an honour now to be in charge,” he added.

Baritone Greg says music was always the most important thing in his life. While he played in the school football team and was a keen cricketer and tennis player, sport couldn’t compete with music.

He explained: “There was nothing else that I got the same joy from as music. Choir or orchestra practice (he played the cello) were the best part of the week.”

And so it was perhaps not surprising that he went on to study singing at the Royal College of Music in London, won a scholarship to Princeton University in America and, having caught the conducting bug, was asked to conduct the Halle Youth Choir back in his native Manchester.

Greg’s new appointment follows a long period during which the HCS has managed without a choral director (following the suspension and subsequent resignation last year of Joseph Cullen) and he takes over from former deputy chorus master Darius Battiwalla, who prepared the choir for its performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Albert Hall in September. Greg will conduct the HCOS Christmas Concert in Huddersfield Town Hall on December 9, but not the annual Messiah on December 20 and 21.

Greg says one of his missions in Huddersfield is to forge a closer performing relationship between the adult choir and the HCS Youth Choirs, which are now being led by Alison North, known for her role as musical director of the award-winning Lindley Junior School Choir.

Alison North conducts the choral society juniors at their practise session, All Hallows School, Almondbury.

The Youth Choirs, founded 30 years ago and formerly led by Susan Wilkinson, are also moving into a new era and Alison says she has lots of plans for the groups, including entering them into next year’s Mrs Sunderland Music Festival.

Alison is a great believer in choral competitions which she says give children something to work towards and a sense of achievement when they perform. Lindley Junior School Choir, which she founded in 1999, has enjoyed incredible success both locally and nationally. It has taken a variety of titles, including BBC North Choir of the Year, BBC Songs of Praise Choir and the Barnardo’s Children’s Choir of the Year.

What’s remarkable about her achievements is that Alison is a self-taught choral conductor. While she has a well-established musical background and has been a lifelong choral singer herself, she never had any formal training with a baton. But she is a qualified music teacher, plays the violin, viola and cello, and has become a force to be reckoned with on the choral scene.

Alison also leads the 170-strong Lindley Community Choir, which she formed in 2011 and has members aged from six to 80. It too has become an award-winning ensemble – a real achievement because, unlike her school choir, its singers don’t have to audition.

Alison North conducts the choral society juniors at their practise session, All Hallows School, Almondbury.

A music and mathematics teacher at Lindley Junior School where she also conducts a string group, a boys’ choir and training choir, Alison is a working mother-of-four with what seems like boundless enthusiasm. Somehow she finds time to give voice lessons to her nine-year-old daughter Madeleine who has just taken three trophies at the Haydn Wood Music Festival and be a carer for her severely disabled 10-year-old son Alexander. Her other two children, Matthew and Nick, are now in their early 20s.

So when Alison says: “I owe it all to my husband Lee,” she means it sincerely. Without his support she could not have made the commitment to so many choirs.

But she believes passionately in what she does.

“All the parents of the children in the choirs say their children grow in confidence and become performers,” she said. “Music has so many benefits. I’m very fortunate to work in a school where the headteacher understands that. Now I’m looking forward to working with the teenagers in the youth choir, as that’s one age group I’ve never worked with before.”

Alison will be conducting the Youth Choirs at the Christmas Concert with HCS.

Conductor Greg Batsleer at rehearsal with Huddersfield Choral Society.