Where and when do Selly Park Singers rehearse?
Selly Park Singers rehearse on Monday evenings at Christ Church, Selly Park, Birmingham B29 7PS from 7:15pm. Term dates are published on this website. More…
How much does it cost to sing with Selly Park Singers?
The current membership fee is £55 per term, payable at the start of each term by cheque, bank transfer or standing order.
New members are given a settling in period with no fee for the first half term. If you are happy to continue, then £27.50 is due before the end of your first term.
SPS does not wish the cost of membership to be a barrier, so please contact the treasurer, in confidence, if payment is difficult. For instance, if you are in receipt of benefit or are a student, then a half fee is all that may be expected.
SPS provides all music free of charge through a hire scheme. It may be possible to buy a personal copy of some music from the choir library if you prefer.
Remember that if you pay UK income tax, SPS can claim gift aid relief on a proportion of your subscription. This is a very useful source of extra funds for the choir, so please complete a form with your details.
SPS welcomes additional donations from current and past members, to help with general running costs and special projects.
A Season to Sing Summer Concert 2025
A capacity audience gathered for SPS’s Summer Concert A Season to Sing on Saturday 14 June 2025
One of our audience members sent us this lovely review!
I really enjoyed the concert, it was a magnificent spectacle! The way the sound echoed uniquely around the magnificent church really added to the effect of the music. The words blended seamlessly with the music, and I loved how all the vocal ranges got a chance to carry the tune. The body percussion was amazing and it was great how it could convey the feeling of the storm so well. My favourite part was in ‘Winter Freeze’ when the choir unexpectedly made a loud shiver at the end of the movement, and in ‘Song of Harvest’ the upbeat and inspiring energy of the choir would have matched the energy of the farmers in the past. I was sitting near the choir so I could see the concentration and hard work everyone had put into it and it turned out perfectly. The fantastic organ really added to the experience by providing the emotions for all of the songs and the organ solo was absolutely perfect. I knew some of the music before but now I’ll remember all of it because of the concert.
Thank you so much to everyone who made it happen. It was totally worth it!
Scarlett (11 years)
Read another review, with further photographs, here by Barbara Hathaway
Read a further review here by Ann Day
And a final review here by Ann Waugh
Alleluia Winter Concert 2024
A large and appreciative audience gathered for SPS’s winter concert Alleluia on Saturday 30 November 2024
This is what one of our audience had to say:
I absolutely ADORED the Alleluia concert! I especially loved the Sound Forth the Trumpet in Zion! Everyone had obviously practised so much and it really paid off. The handbells, tambourines and bells really made the Alleluia Song of Gladness uplifting and joyful. My brother loved the Leonard Cohen Hallelujah. Also, thank you to everyone who brought delicious cakes. It was amazing.
Scarlett (11 years)
Read another review of SPS’s Winter Concert 2024 here by Katie Day
The Power of Music Spring Concert 2024
SPS performed the 2024 Spring Concert at Christ Church Selly Park. The programme consisted of arrangements of popular songs and original compositions by Dennis Pim. The Sandy Band also performed well-known songs and Lynn Davies, a choir member, played some jazz piano solos.
Read about our Spring 2024 concert – reviewed here by Ann Day and here by Maddie Langham-Walsh
Who Could Ask For Anything More? Summer Concert 2023
SPS performed the 2023 Summer Concert at Christ Church Selly Park. The programme consisted of arrangements of popular songs from The Great American Songbook, Irish Folk Songs, works by Fauré and Opera choruses. SPS’s long-standing accompanist Richard Price played a piano solo, and the Sandy Band performed too.
Read Jane Williams’ review of the concert here…
What do SPS sound like?
During the early days of being back together as the Coronavirus Pandemic restrictions were lifted, we learnt a Kyrie written by SPS’s very own Sandy Creswell and as part of the learning process we recorded it during a rehearsal. At this stage it wasn’t as perfected and polished as it was by our summer concert, but it does give an idea of the SPS sound. Click here to hear it.
What did SPS do during the Coronavirus Pandemic restrictions?
We’ve kept going all the way through the Coronavirus Pandemic restrictions, but in very different ways. Even now our rehearsals aren’t quite as they were before March 2020. More…
SPS Recent History
Concerts in 2016 included Masses by Mozart, Haydn and Dvorak alongside works by Elgar, Bach and more. Concerts in 2017 included an afternoon of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and arrangements of songs by the King’s Singers. Concerts in 2018 included an afternoon concert of folksong arrangements by John Rutter and works by Brahms, Bach and Haydn. In June 2019 SPS performed Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with accompanist Dick Price playing the demanding piano part, Colin Baines playing Harmonium. The soloists were Sonia Ruth, Kristina Shakeshaft, Russell Painter and Paul Mocroft. After two years without performing a concert due to the coronavirus pandemic SPS once again presented a Summer Celebration Concert in July 2022. More…
SPS concerts usually feature solo performances which over the last decade have included organists George Nicholls and Thomas Howell, sopranos Sonia Ruth and Grace Constable, clarinetist Peter Gosling and The Sandy Band.
SPS Concerts have recently taken place in the Church of the Ascension, Stirchley, Selly Oak Methodist Church, St George’s Church Edgbaston, Christ Church Selly Park, Bournbrook Hall at Bournville Gardens and St Francis Church Bournville.
Founded originally as a choral society, the choir now performs a more varied repertoire. This diversification has been guided over the years by several talented conductors. Concert performances about twice a year reflect this wide range of secular as well as sacred music.
The church’s collaboration with the choir over recent years has been much appreciated, and sharing carols at Christmas with the residents of local care homes also links us with the community. More…
At SPS Concerts and Rehearsals we often have cakes. (The pictures say the rest…)
