The choir was formed in April 2000 when the London Road Partnership in Bath provided a grant to fund a local choir as part of its millennium celebrations. The plan was for Su Hart to lead a community choir, open to anyone and everyone regardless of ability or experience, for 12 weeks, and then to perform at the London Road Carnival in July of that year.
This whole experience was such fun that the 40 or so people who took part wanted the choir to continue even after performing at London Road Carnival, and so The Walcot State Choir was formed.
Here are some of the things we’ve done since then:
- We sing at the opening of Bath Fringe Festival each year
- We’ve taken part in the musical finale of Bath Music Festival for several years
- We commissioned Kirsty Martin to write a song cycle for us, which we performed at the Rondo Theatre in April 2004. We raised some of the money to pay for this through a sponsored triathlon
- We’ve held several fund-raising concerts in Bath’s Rondo Theatre and Walcot Village Hall
- We’ve raised money for WaterAid, Global Music Exchange (supporting the Baka people of Cameroon), Bath Community Playbus, Kara (an AIDS support organisation in Zambia), Dorothy House (a local hospice), the education of a girl in Uzbekistan, and ActionAid
- We travel to London each year to sing along with around 30 other community choirs from across the country at Sing for Water, an annual event to raise money for WaterAid at the Thames Festival
