The story of Inverness Choral Society continues live at next week's Ness Bank Church concert and in their new book celebrating their centenary
It’s ironic that in the year Inverness Choral Society celebrated their centenary they were probably quieter than they have ever been before in their 100-year history.
They haven’t been able to perform since November 2019 – and their ambitious plans to perform Haydn’s Creation to mark the centenary year in 2020 had to be put on hold.
But their music and their story are back at the heart of the community they have been entertaining and supporting since the 1920s.
Next weekend they will perform an hour of short choral favourites at the city’s Ness Bank Church on Saturday (March 26).
And now a special 64-page book – packed with photographs, programmes, posters, press cuttings and reminiscences looking back over the society’s history – is available in Waterstones Inverness.
The book has been put together by Fran Tilbrook – who points out that chairman Carol Brown also played a crucial role, applying on the society’s behalf to the Inverness Common Good Fund for help with costs, for example.
“It’s been fun to do and I’ve really enjoyed doing it,” said Fran – who handles publicity for the society.
Fran, who joined the choral in 1983, said: “Early in 2021 I had the idea for a centenary book to expand on an earlier document written by our then secretary Patricia Moore who had outlined the society’s first 70 years. I did the research and spent weeks reading all the society’s minutes going right back to 1920, which were with various members of the society, different secretaries have had to house it all. But Gordon Tocher our conductor also had a lot, mostly minutes. There were correspondence files as well.
“So I waded through lots and lots – but what better way to spend lockdown!”
Fran also got contributions from choral members, from reminiscences to little jokes. An appeal for photographs went out and there was already a huge archive of press cuttings.
What do those include?
Fran said: "Everything! – because we don’t just do our concert performances, we also do coffee mornings to raise funds – and we have photographs of coffee mornings dating back to the 1980s. There are photographs of our carolthon where we sing in the Eastgate Centre to raise funds for local charities and have raised over £70,000.
"We have previews of concerts and some reviews.
"I’ve taken a photograph of every single one.
"It’s a great relief that it’s done and I’m pleased it is being so well-received. And the thing is, you see, it’s a combination of history and contributions from members which are lovely and readable."
One of those who has contributed is the young Highland tenor Glen Cunningham from Nairn.
Fran said: "Glen Cunningham, who was a member, is now a tenor working with Scottish Opera.
"He was so enthusiastic about our accompanist Sheila Bruce – who has accompanied the choral since 1976. Sheila encouraged Glen with singing and as he sang with us he knew he wanted to make it a career. "
The book also has an archive section.
Fran said: "It has got every performance we have done at Eden Court since 1977 in full detail – and even earlier ones are on our website. Obviously, with it being 100 years we have concerts going back to 1920."
Fran worked with Russell Turner of Bassman Books to design the book and 200 copies have been printed.
“It’s interesting because it is not just choral members who are buying it,” Fran said. “A few other choral societies have heard about it and some of them have said ‘We’ll use this as a kind of template for our own history’.”
About half the choral members have now returned, though there are hopes more will come back when the threat of Covid fades.
Fran added: “Some new people joined us in January.”
Gordon Tocher, who has been a conductor with the choral for just over 20 years, said: “I can’t tell you how glad we are to be back singing together.
“Various online experiments we tried during lockdown passed the time, but they weren’t really satisfying. It was so good to see so many people coming back, just desperate to sing together again on a Monday night.”
The concert will include many of the world’s favourite works for voices with sacred music and opera choruses by Verdi, Puccini, Gounod and Wagner. As well as well-loved pieces such as Cesar Franck’s Panis Angelicus and Mozart’s Ave verum corpus (Hail, true body), there will be a Gilbert & Sullivan sequence – with two pieces from The Pirates of Penzance and two from The Gondoliers which should be fresh in the minds of anyone who saw Scottish Opera’s sparkling production late last year. Other opera highlights include the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore, The Soldiers’ Chorus from Faust and The Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhauser.”
Easter music from Handel’s Messiah will close the special evening.
Gordon, who sang the Messiah when he first joined the choral as a teenager, said: “With Easter coming we thought we would do some of the Easter music for a change.”
Inverness Choral Society will sing on Saturday, March 26 in Ness Bank Church, Inverness, at 7.30pm, entry £10 (shared between the society and the church). The book, Inverness Choral Society 1920-2020, is available at Waterstones, price £10. For a copy by post (£12 including postage), contact: invernesschoral.org.uk
