|
Quire History
The Stanchester Quire was the brainchild of Eddie Upton, Musical Director of ‘Folk South West’ In 1996, he advertised for people who wanted to sing in a new community quire specialising in the wealth of traditional West Country song. The response was surprising to Eddie (to say the least) when about 100 people turned up and the room he had booked wasn’t big enough.!
Since that day the Quire has never looked back. Eddie has introduced us to dozens of old songs many of which were collected by Cecil Sharp, over a hundred years ago, from ordinary folk who had learned the songs from their forbears.
We have performed at a number of events including The Sidmouth Folk Festival, Montacute House 400th year Celebrations & Pageant, Ludlow Medieval Fair, Bishop Jim Thompson’s Farewell in Taunton, Cecil Sharps’ centenary at Hambridge, and in many churches and theatres around the region. We have also enjoyed exchange visits with a French Basque choir, Elhea and we have appeared with the famous Yetties a few times. Please click on the 2007 programme button on the left of this page for details of forthcoming concerts.
We have our own Commitee, who arrange our gigs and any exchanges we may have with other choirs. Recordings have also been made along the way, the most recent being the “Fanfare for the South West” in association with the famous folk artists John Kirkpatrick, Gina La Faux and others.(see link on the left of this page).
|