Registered charity (No. 282468)
Designed By HTML Codex
The Deal and Walmer Handelian Choral Society is a choir of all ages and voices; what brings us together is an enjoyment of singing sacred and secular music from a range of composers, classical and modern. We aim to perform three times a year and choir rehearsals are focused on these performances. There is no audition, and you will almost certainly be sitting beside people with both more and less experience than you. We are led by an experienced conductor and a wonderful accompanist.
So you want to join us? Wonderful! We look forward to meeting you. Our rehearsals are normally held on Monday evenings from 7:15 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Deal Parochial Church of England School, Gladstone Road, Walmer, CT14 7ER where there is plenty of parking and a warm welcome (see map). The first step is really straight forward. Complete the join us form by using the Contact us link. Once this has been completed, our Choir Membership Secretary will make contact with you and invite you to join us at our rehearsals and will give you more information. If you would prefer to contact our Membership Secretary directly then please do so: membersec@dwhsociety.co.uk
We always suggest prospective members attend at least one rehearsal prior to making a decision on whether to become a member. You will be introduced to your Voice Part Rep. If you are unsure which voice part you should be in, then please have a word with our Chair or Music Director who will then spend some time with you to make sure you are singing in the right voice part and that you feel comfortable. However this is not an audition!
Let the Membership Secretary know if you would like to become a permanent member of the Handelians. We will also take payment for membership at this point.
The DWHCS subscription year runs from September through to August of the following year. The money goes towards ongoing costs of rehearsal venues and payments to our Musical Director and Accompanist as well as other costs including insurance, royalties and music hire. The annual membership fee is currently £140.00 per year, payable in September. This can be paid in two halves: £70 in September and £70 in January. For new members joining in January the subscription is £90 for the balance of the year to September. For new members joining in March/April the subscription is £50 for the balance of the year to September. For students and under 25s the annual subscription is £40 We ask that subscriptions are paid by Bank Transfer if possible as this avoids extra Bank Charges. As a registered charity, we always encourage members to "Gift Aid" their fee which allows the choir to reclaim any tax on it. Gift Aid can be as much as £1000 a year which is a great help towards the costs of putting on our concerts.
Regular attendance at rehearsals is essential to maintain and build on our high standards. We can only keep putting on good concerts if we have good rehearsals. Our Musical Director must feel confident you can sing well in a concert and to achieve this, members of the choir are asked to attend the majority of rehearsals. We keep an attendance register to monitor this. We know that unexpected events happen, so please keep in contact with your Voice Rep. Anyone concerned with their ability to sing in a specific concert please let us know as early as possible to allow us to plan ahead. It is especially important to attend planned rehearsals on the Saturday of a concert as this is the first chance we have to sing with our concert musicians.