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Walton Voices evolved from Walton and Oatlands Choral Society, which was founded in 1934 by Mr Welton Hickin, organist and choirmaster at St Mary’s Church, Oatlands and was originally known as the Oatlands and District Choir. Few records remain from its early years, but its is known that the Society continued to flourish during World War II, and, at a concert in June 1946 performed works including George Frideric Handel's Acis and Galatea, under the baton of the founder.
From 1948 to 1963, Herbert G Crellin was the Musical Director. During this period concerts of sacred music were performed in a variety of churches in the area, with a concert of more secular works being performed in June, usually at the Oatlands Park Hotel. Peter Marshall took over the baton in 1963, and formed a link with Wallington Choral Society, where he was also Musical Director. The two societies joined together for their concerts and, combined, had over 100 voices which enabled them to tackle demanding choral works such as Verdi’s Requiem and L.v. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. The choir was often accompanied by an orchestra at this time, led by Peter Marshall’s wife, Davina.
In 1971, William Hayward became Musical Director, and, although the link with Wallington was broken, the Society continued to perform more substantial works, including the works of more modern composers. From 1975 until 1993, James Attfield held the position of Musical Director, with John Riley as Associate. The policy of mixing the old with the new, and shorter works with the grand works, continued. When James Attfield stood down in 1993, the role of Musical Director was taken on successively by John Riley, William Hayward and Andrew Daldorf. In 1996 Susan Higgins took over as Musical Director, remaining with the Society until 2011, when she passed the role on to Sarah Burston.
Membership of the Choir had started to fall considerably by the spring of 2013 and it was decided to take the Choir in a new direction and relaunch it with an inspirational new Musical Director, Jonathan Kilhams, and a new name - Walton Voices. Since then the choir has almost tripled in size. They sing music they love and which they enjoy sharing with audiences at concerts for their local community. The are keen to encourage more people to come and sing with us and newcomers can be assured of a warm welcome.
Thanks to Jonathan Kilhams' initiatives they have combined at concerts to sing with local school choirs and arranged workshops with them in support of their music curricula. They have also collaborated with Royal Holloway, University of London (of which Jonathan Kilhams is an alumnus) to support students of music in refining their music directing skills. Each year they regularly have in excess of 60 members. They also collaborate in concerts with orchestras and bands and in 2016, 2017 and 2019 performed as part of the Festival of Chichester with Southdowns Concert Band in Chichester Cathedral. |
