St. Giles has a longstanding tradition of excellent choral music. The choir sings for the evening service each week (usually Evensong), except for the fourth Sunday of the month when we sing for the morning service. We are one of only a handful of churches in the area that continues to offer a regular evening service and we treasure the rich heritage of Choral Evensong in particular.

As well as our Organist and Organ Scholar, we also have a tradition of welcoming excellent instrumentalists to join us for major festivals, with recent orchestral accompaniments includiung Parry, Vaughan-Williams, Handel, Rutter, Chilcott and Mathias.

Joining the Choir

We are a large choir in a small church, but nonetheless are always very happy to welcome new members. We are a happy mix of singers, with ages ranging from 8 to over 80 and experienced professional musicians alongside those at the beginning of their learning journey. Do not worry if this sounds a bit daunting; being alongside more experienced singers will help you to learn quickly; we have an unusual and rather special relaxed approach to working very hard! Those who are interested in swelling the ranks are very welcome to come and try singing at a couple of rehearsals or even just watch what happens for an evening or two. We rehearse on Friday evenings.

We are hugely fortunate to have some very committed and experienced choristers, some of whom have been singing every week in the choir for many decades. We also recognise that poeple have busy lives with work and family committments so our philosophy is a simple one: we will always be delighted when you can be with us, but there is no need to feel guilty when you cannot!

Choristers under 18 are paid a small termly honorarium and those who would like to be are supported through the RSCM "Voice for Life" programme. Singing in a church choir provides an excellent all-round training in music as well as being great fun.

As well as singing, we are not averse to the occasional choir party or BBQ and there is often a football somewhere to be seen...

Choral and Organ Scholarships

We offer a small number of paid Choral Scholarships for experienced altos, tenors and basses under the age of 18 who are able to make a full committment to the choir. We also have an organ scholar each year who accompanies the choir for our evening services. Ususally scholars will be looking to apply for further choral or organ scholarships at university or a cathedral, but this is certainly not a requirement.

Contact us for more information https://www.farnborough-kent-parish.org.uk/con_contacts.html