'Flying Free!' - 5th April 2025

Our spring concert at the Methodist Church in Holmfirth was very successful. There was a large, appreciative, and very generous audience who enjoyed a wide variety of music from both the choir and our guests Opus 3.

The raffle and donations for refreshments raised £500 for Forget me Not Children’s Hospice, which means Vocal Expressions have raised well over £3000 for them since January 2024 through raffles, sales, sponsored events etc.

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the fund raising and to the organisation of a most enjoyable concert and to our lovely audience.

Scarborough 2025 - Residential Workshop Weekend

After we weren’t able to have a residential workshop last year, the choir was really looking forward to its weekend together in Scarborough, to enjoy each other’s company and learn some new music, and we weren’t disappointed. The weekend’s organisation and our new venue, the Weston Hotel, were excellent, and so was the music Nicola introduced to us. Everyone worked hard to learn the new pieces, and as usual Nicola and Lloyd managed to make it an enjoyable experience. The creative ones among us came up with a brilliant idea to get everyone involved and having fun - a competition to make hats made from balloons! On Saturday evening we enjoyed a good meal together, a lucky dip and a raffle to raise funds for the Forget me Not Trust, games and more singing! No wonder we all looked a bit weary on the journey home! Even the weather had received the memo, and out came the sun, so that we could enjoy Scarborough at its best.

Thank you to everyone who put in so much time and effort to make the weekend such a success.

A Christmas Box of Delights

Our Christmas concert with Holme Valley Orchestra was a sell out. It definitely lived up to its title, with a wide variety of wonderful Christmas music from both the choir and orchestra. There were old favourites and some lovely new music too, a chance for audience participation and a wonderful solo from Nicola. A great start to Christmas.

The raffle in aid of the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice was extremely well supported, making over £500. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the concert a great success.

Christmas Singing -December 2024

December was a very busy month for the choir. On the 7th we sang for the shoppers at the Co-op in Holmfirth and raised £50 for its chosen charity, Dr Bernardo’s. We really enjoyed singing for the Square Peg in group again in Holmbridge, following their annual Christmas lunch on 18th, and had lots of fun singing at the Fleece in Holme on the evening of 20th. In between there was the small matter of our Christmas concert with the Holme Valley Orchestra on 14th. (see above).

Wooldale Christmas Fair - Saturday 23rd November

Despite the terrible weather there was a good turn out of choir members to sing along to our new Christmas backing tracks at Wooldale Christmas Fair. The ladies sang really well and enjoyed bringing a bit of Christmas cheer to Wooldale on this wet and gloomy day. Don’t we look smart in our new jackets too?

Thank you to everyone who came along to sing and to the team who made it all happen, despite some very trying conditions.

Janet and Mark's Wedding - October 2024

What a lovely, happy occasion! The choir were delighted to sing at the wedding of one of our own, Janet Booker, to Mark Butters at St Georges’s Church Brockholes on Friday 18th October. Lots of smiles and tears (of happiness) all round. Love and congratulations to you both from all your friends in Vocal Expressions.

Celebrate Huddersfield - 21st September 2024

Vocal Expressions were delighted to be asked by the Rev Rachel Firth to take part in Celebrate Huddersfield in St Peter’s Church, Huddersfield. The event was organised by Rev Firth and her colleagues to celebrate Huddersfield - its communities, faiths, culture and diversity. The service was a combination of music, prayer and reflections by guest speakers. The choir was smaller in number than usual and the venue a large one, but our three songs were very well received and made an uplifting contribution to the service.

Part of the celebration was the completion and launch of the new outdoor performance space in St Peter’s Garden which has been developed in partnership between the church and Kirklees Council. Following the official opening performed by former MP Barry Shearman, assisted by the Bishop of Huddersfield and Harpreet Uppal, the current Huddersfield MP, there was was an evening of music, dance and theatre performed by local groups.

Autumn workshop 2024

There were lots of happy smiles at this autumn’s workshop because not only did we enjoy starting to learn some new music for Christmas, but we also presented Nicola with a wedding gift from the whole choir. Nicola married her partner, John, in Wales on Saturday 21st September. Love and congratulations from us all in Vocal Expressions.

'Summertime" concert July '24

What a splendid concert and afternoon tea. Sold out! We couldn’t have fitted another person into St David’s Hall for what was a great afternoon of beautiful song, amazing piano, and scrumptiuous cake.

As the photos show: the audience were lovely, the hall was transformed (thank you social group), our guest, Maria King, kept us all very entertained with her fantastic piano skills, and the home made cakes (thank you Altos) were much appreciated. Oh, and the choir weren’t bad either!

The raffle in aid of Forget-Me-Not Children’s Hospice raised £387. Thank you to everyone who donated prizes including local businesses, Andrew’s Greengrocers, Little Bridge Wine Bar, Slaithwaite and Taylors of Honley.

Putting on a concert and tea is a lot of work, so big thank you to all who helped to make ‘Summertime’ a resounding success.

Holmfirth Arts Festival 15th June '24

As you can see we had fun performing at the Holmfirth Arts Festival despite the awful weather. Not so sure it was so much fun for the rather diminished audience, who came along to be entertained in the pouring rain, and stoically stayed for our whole set. They seemed to enjoy it and we even got a few compliments. Thank you to everyone who turned out and to Maria King who stepped in as our accompanist and did a fantastic job, despite the awful journey she had to get to Holmfirth, and the lady who signed all our lyrics.