Nearly 400 singers from West Yorkshire choirs will be raising the roof at the Huddersfield Town Hall next month in aid of a worthy cause.

Yorkshire Choirs in Song is the first concert to be organised by the Association of Yorkshire Choirs and will be held on a weekend afternoon to encourage as many people as possible to attend.

The Association was formed nearly two years ago by choirs which had left the Yorkshire West Group of the National Association of Choirs following a dispute over policy.

The Group no longer exists but the Association is growing in strength and now has 21 member choirs. Ten of them will be performing at the afternoon concert on Sunday, April 13, in support of the Mayor of Kirklees’ charity, One Community Foundation, The foundation is a non-profit organisation that supports local community causes by managing money donated to make grants to charities and community groups – in short linking local donors with local needs.

Taking part will be six female outfits, two mixed-voice choirs and two male voice choirs.

The Huddersfield U3A mixed voice choir is conducted by Eric Cooper, who is also Chairman of the Association. It has 110 members. It was formed in 1984 as U3A class with a membership of 30 and earlier this month took part in a live BBC Radio Leeds broadcast commemorating the First World War. They will sing five joint items in two first half spots while the other mixed-voice choir, Huddersfield Voices – formerly known as the Huddersfield Methodist Choir which formed in 1946 – will be led by their recently-appointed musical director Charles Rhodes.

Marsh Ladies Choir celebrate winning the ladies choir 21 voices and over category in the Mrs Sunderland Festival

The six ladies choirs are being split into two groups with Denby Dale, Horbury Singers and Vocal Expressions singing as one choir and Almondbury, Marsh and Huddersfield U3A joining together. Denby Dale, whose musical director is acclaimed soprano soloist Sarah Ogden, started life in 1967 as part of the local Women’s Institute and in February were winners of their class at the Mrs Sunderland Musical Festival.

Horbury Ladies began as a mixed voice choir in 1972 but became an all ladies choir in 1980 and unusually one of its members, Cynthia Cotton – who has been a second soprano and soloist in the choir for more than 20 years – was appointed musical director in 2009. Vocal Expressions, whose members are mainly from the Holme Valley was formed in 1997 and now has about 45 members.

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