Yes. The choir welcomes children from age 7 upwards. Adults are also welcome subject to balance of parts.

No. We are a non-auditioning choir. You don’t have to be a great singer to join – you will become a better singer and musician as a result. Alongside rehearsals we run education and training following the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) Voice for Life Scheme.

We don’t have any dress code for rehearsals on a Friday evening. Often children may still be in their school uniform or you may choose to wear something more comfortable.

No. We have choir members currently living as far away as Romiley and Poynton. Most live in Mellor / Marple Bridge / Marple / Compstall but there is no restriction.

Just bring yourself - music, pencils etc. are provided.

No. We welcome anybody with any faith, those who are questioning and those who are not of faith. Being a church choir, the music we sing is generally church music and our main purpose is to support the worship at St. Thomas’ by leading the sung and spoken parts of the church service. Part of the Voice for Life education programme that we follow is to help make sense of what is going on in the services and what the words of the music mean. Our rehearsals end with a brief chorister's prayer.

Yes. The choir is committed to inclusivity and values diversity. We welcome newcomers of any age (generally above 7!), race, gender, sexuality, class etc.

Well we hope so. Choir may not suit everyone but the best way to find out is to give it a try. There are children in the choir from most of the local schools so there is likely to be a familiar face. There is a break time in rehearsal to give some time for forming social bonds (and eat biscuits). One of the main things that the children enjoy is meeting up with their friends. We are a friendly bunch and there is a good mix of everyone getting to know each other across the whole choir. If there are any problems or worries with settling in then please speak to any of the head choristers. You will be allocated a buddy at your first rehearsal to help you out.

Well I hope not. The choir is not very cliquey. It is a small group of never more than 20 children and currently never more than 10 children in a half choir, so everyone tends to be inclusive. Again, any worries or problems to the head choristers or myself.

Any age 7-70+ is a great time to start singing in the choir. The main restriction on joining earlier than 7 is the level of reading ability and concentration span. Generally, we aim most recruitment at a primary school age but other ages are very welcome.

Attendance at Friday evening rehearsals and (when comfortable) Sunday morning services is expected most weeks (or please let me know to help with planning). Once a month (usually third Sunday) we hold an additional Sunday Evening service which has a lot of music to sing and is the choir highlight of the month. We also sing in occasional special services such as the Nine Lessons and Carols on the Sunday before Christmas and on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday of Holy Week just before Easter. The trebles of the choir are asked to sing for Weddings on a Saturday on occasions – these are optional but there is extra pay on offer. For parents, we hope that you would come and support choir events. We also have a rota of volunteer adults to sit in on the trebles’ rehearsals as extra support to make sure there are at least always two adults present for Child Safeguarding reasons.

As the choir is supported by church there is no cost to join the choir. In fact, the trebles get paid a small amount of pocket money for their attendance at rehearsals and services. Voice for Life training is also provided by volunteers free of charge. There is a cost involved in going on our residential trips away which are optional. We usually go away for a weekend at the end of November to Fort Belan in Wales to learn music for Advent and Christmas and we usually go away for a week in the summer to be the choir in residence in a cathedral for a week.

We sing a variety of church music. Some songs are very old (some have been sung for about 500 years!), some modern (occasionally the same year that they have been written). They are written by lots of different composers who you will get to know a bit about. Some of our favourites are: Bach, Wesley, Stanford, Rutter, Chilcott…. Mostly we sing in English, sometimes in Latin and occasionally other languages such as French and German. The music we sing depends on the season of the church’s year and its various festivals. Obviously, there are lots of carols at Christmas!

For rehearsals we wear anything comfortable. For services we wear our traditional choir robes. These will be provided for you (Mary Heijbroek looks after our robes). When you are happy enough to join in with services Mary will get you measured up. At first children wear a cassock which is a black robe which goes over your clothes covering everything from your neck to your ankles. You will also wear a ruff which is a white frilly thing that goes around your neck. When you become a full member of the choir you will be presented with your surplice which is the white robe that goes over your cassock and hangs down to just below your waist. You will notice that some trebles in services also wear medals on ribbons of different colours around their necks. These are the awards of the RSCM Voice for Life Scheme. The only bit of the uniform you need to remember to bring or wear to services are your black shoes and black socks.

Vocal Development Group 6pm in the Mellor Centre

Trebles' Rehearsal starts in church at 6.30pm

Break (with biscuits!) is 7.15pm

Full rehearsal then starts with the whole choir at 7.30pm and finishes at 8.30pm

Some of our younger primary-school age choristers who need to get home to bed leave at 8pm.

Yes – observers are welcome. We have a rota so that at least one other adult is present for Child Safeguarding reasons. We also run some Voice for Life teaching sessions in the vestry during rehearsals which will also need two adults to be present.