The Ex-Hartlepool Youth Choir will perform traditional carols and Christmas favourites at St George’s United Reformed Church in Park Road from 4.30pm this Sunday 14 December in aid of the church and Alice House Hospice and Hartlepool Food Bank.
The show marks the end of a proud history for the choir under the guidance of conductor and music teacher Chris Simmons MBE.
He said: “Back in the late 1960s the music advisor for Hartlepool was setting up groups for promising young players and I said that as a singer myself, he should be making provision for young singers.
“His response was to ask who would run it, so I volunteered and in 1969 Hartlepool got its first Youth Choir.
“’It was supposed to be my last time conducting last year but due to a bad fall just before the first rehearsal, the final concert is actually this year.
“It’s really lovely to work with these special people, some of whom I’ve known since they joined the Youth Choir 50 years ago.”
The choir officially stopped performing in 2010 due to declining numbers but the tradition of singing a special Christmas Carol Concert for former members – the X-HYC – began in 2016 after one of the singers, Pam Garrington, was inspired by her fight against breast cancer to bring everyone together again.
Singers travelled from as far afield as Sumatra and France to rejoin the group for the occasion every year, with a popular combination of carols and festive tunes.
But as former choristers are now living all over the UK and overseas, the concert will be the last, as it has become more difficult to bring everyone together in order to rehearse for the event.
Tickets are priced £5 and are available on the door .
