Mayor Donates Money to Hailsham Choral Society

A £100 donation from the Mayor of Hailsham has been awarded to Hailsham Choral Society, one of a number of recent grants given to local community groups and voluntary associations as a result of coming in under budget on his allocated allowance for the last financial year.

Town Mayor Cllr Paul Holbrook presented a cheque to the Society’s Chair, Milly Clark, in the town centre yesterday [10 March], funds from which will go towards organising future concerts.

In his role as mayor, Cllr Holbrook receives a yearly allowance to cover events and other costs associated with the office of Town Mayor, but in the previous financial year, he did not use all of the allowance and stated that he would donate what was remaining to local community, voluntary associations and charities, as well as other and other local initiatives.

“I’ve attended many of the Society’s concerts to date and enjoyed every single one of them. I am very grateful to the Society, their conductors and accompanists for staging such wonderful concerts, and I look forward avidly to attending future concerts.”

“The Society has a tradition of recruiting first-rate choristers and each and every member always put their heart and soul into the Society’s event performances.”

“I’m delighted to be able to support their good work by way of this small donation.”

Hailsham Choral Society is a choir of over 60 singers based locally and perform at least four main concerts during the year, with programmes featuring anything from Bach to the Beatles, Rossini to Gershwin and Rutter to Rogers and Hart.

The Society is currently looking for new members and holds regular events including music workshops, coffee mornings, and quizzes. At present, they rehearse on Thursday evenings at the Hailsham Civic Community Hall in Vicarage Lane.

Councillor Holbrook will be joining in the celebrations of the Society’s next concert, which will be a special collaboration with Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra and singers from other choirs to be held at St Saviour’s Church in Eastbourne on Saturday 11 May from 7.30pm.

The concert will feature a performance of Verdi’s Requiem, promising to be a very special occasion with some 140 singers and 70 orchestra players performing choral works together.

The programme will be conducted by Graham Jones, with Lisa Wigmore as Leader and Helen Bailey, Rebecca Hughes, Paul Austin Kelly and Jozik Kotz as soloists.

Tickets cost £18 in advance/£20 on the door for adults and £9 in advance/£10 on the door) for under 18s. They are available from via wegottickets.com, from Hailsham Choral Society members and on the door.

Further information about the concert can be found via the Hailsham Choral Society website at www.hailshamchoral.org.