'On the Beat'

The NewsLetter of the Essex Police Choir

Autumn 2008

Chairman will be sorely missed
Peter J Simpson OBE (1939-2008)

On behalf of all members of the Essex Police Choir, it was with deep sadness that we learnt of Peter’s passing during one of our rehearsal evenings last month. As a founder member and current chairman of the choir for almost 20 years, he was the inspiration and driving force behind the formation of the choir in 1989. We will all miss his commitment, dedication, help and guidance that he had given us all over those years. Peter was a man who loved his singing, and will be best remembered for not only compèreing our concerts, but for the short comical songs that he used to burst into during his introductions. The hours of work he put in behind the scenes will never be known, but he will indeed be a hard act to follow. Some members of the choir have had the pleasure of knowing, working and singing with Peter for nearly 30 years and he will be remembered as a true gentleman, loved and respected by all who knew him.

Annual Concert - Saturday 25th October 2008 – SOLD OUT AGAIN!!!

Ticket sales for the annual charity concert have gone very well this year, with all tickets for the evening being sold by mid September. The night again was a resounding success with Choir and Band joining forces with a varied repertoire, with new pieces being performed by the Choir as a taster from our 2009 Programme including ‘Tonight’ and ‘Hymn to Freedom’. Thank you to everybody who supported the night allowing us to make valuable contributions to our chosen charities for 2008. We are now looking forward to next year’s concert where once again we will be joined by the Band and for the first time with the Kessenyan Singers from Cornwall. Don’t forget to put the date in your diary -17th October.

Tour to Ireland – latest

The choir is pleased to announce they are on their travels again in Spring 2009. This time they are off on a tour of South West Ireland for concerts with the Kerry Choral Union and the Duhallow Choral Society. The choir will be extending the visit for members to tour the Ring of Kerry and taking in the sites around Killarney and the Iveragh Peninsula.

St Aiden’s & St George’s

The choir helped raise over £800 for the Lady McFadden Breast Clinic at a recent concert at St Aiden’s Church, Leigh-on-Sea in July. (Pictured left) and over £1000 for church funds at St Georges Church in Great Bromley.

New Music

To keep variation in our concerts the choir always endeavours to learn new music. The repertoire for 2009 will see the introduction of a number of new pieces including ‘Hymn to Freedom’, ‘Westering Home’, ‘Tonight’ from ‘West Side Story’, ‘The World in Union’, ‘Three Times a Lady’, ‘All That Jazz’ from ‘Chicago’ for the ladies and ‘Calon Lân’ for the men plus many more, some of which were performed at our annual concert in October.

Christmas Concert – Saturday 13th December

The Christmas concert will once again take place at Trinity Methodist Church in Chelmsford on Saturday 13th December. Tickets cost £6.00. Please contact Mark to reserve tickets for this event as numbers are limited to 200. They can then be obtained by sending the enclosed booking form and a cheque payable to ‘Essex Police Choir’ and a SAE to Mark Lawrence, 1 Freeman Close, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5FJ.

New Members

The Choir has had a good year with recruitment, with the singing members now topping nearly 60 (we’ll soon need a double decker bus to get to concerts!) However, new members are always welcome, particularly men, if you are interested check out our website or contact Norman Eastbrook or Mark Lawrence for further information.

New concerts – New venues

With the concert programme now set for 2009, the Choir is excited to be visiting a number of new venues in Essex and beyond. As well as the tour to Ireland the choir is also visiting Kelvedon Hatch, plus two of the largest churches in the region with St James the Great in Colchester and Trinity Church at Long Melford in Suffolk. For the Annual Concert in Chelmsford the Choir will be joined again by the Essex Police Band and the Kessenyan Singers from Torpoint in Cornwall. The Kessenyan Singers will no doubt bring some colour to the concert with their uniform and blend of traditional and modern music – hopefully living up to the meaning of their name, which is Cornish for harmony. The 2009 season will end in traditional fashion with the Christmas Concert at Trinity Methodist Church in Chelmsford. Following the end of the Choirs 20th Anniversary year we all look forward to the future and our next milestone of our 250th concert.