Meet the Committee

About Us

The choir is led by a team of dedicated volunteer committee officers/members who ensure that the choir meets its constitutional, legal and charitable status requirements as well as working with our Musical Director to drive the choir forward with exciting and challenging concert programmes. Foremost the committee aims to ensure the choir provides a fully inclusive and educational experience for all members.

Chair - Clive Hookins

I joined Market Harborough Choral Society in 2015 after looking for a local choir. The choir was immediately interesting in both the repertoire it was performing and its social activities. I took over as Chair in 2019 after our previous Chair retired to Scotland. Choral music has been a lifelong interest allowing me to sing with some of the top choirs and music directors both here and abroad. It has been a continuous journey of learning and pleasure in making music with like-minded friends. My time as Chair has certainly been one of challenge as we guided the choir through Covid, requiring the need to rebuild the choir and finances. It has been an honour to have worked with the choir and my committee friends to bring it to the position it is today. Choir numbers are now back to pre-Covid levels; we have a sound financial base and under our new Musical Director, Emma Trounson, an exciting future of music making.

Membership Secretary - Elizabeth New

I joined MHCS in September 2018 and discovered the sheer joy of singing in a community of like-minded people. I already had a teaching diploma in piano but had never sung in a choir. The opportunity to do so did not present itself until we moved to Market Harborough in 2017 and I discovered MHCS, thanks to Clive Hookins, who encouraged me to join. Despite my musical background, I was nervous attending my first rehearsal but was immediately hooked. I had always enjoyed listening to choral music but being able to sing such music was so exhilarating that I decided to take lessons, which have stood me in good stead. I joined the committee in July 2019 as secretary. It is a role I have been privileged to have and it has enabled me to get to know all the members of the choir over that period. Since my nervous start back in 2018, I have sung in many wonderful concerts, become acquainted with works I had not previously heard and learnt so much as a member of MHCS.

Treasurer - Katherine Bentley

Having joined Market Harborough Choral Society in Spring 2015 I was appointed treasurer later that year. Being a Chartered Accountant by profession certainly helps with the job. I have guided the finances of the choir through the good times of celebrating anniversaries and performing special concerts and also the bad times of Covid. I very much enjoy singing all types of music and our music director certainly provides us with a varied and often challenging repertoire. I look forward to being part of the Alto section for many years to come.

Librarian - Christine Pierce

I've been the Librarian of the Choral Society for about 10 years.

After a lifetime of singing in choirs and recognising that those regular evenings have always been my best therapy, I needed to find a choir when I retired from teaching and moved to Market Harborough. I came to listen to the MHCS summer concert in 2012, enjoyed it, thought they looked a friendly bunch and joined them in the autumn. Since then I've sung some wonderful music, made lots of friends and counted thousands of scores as I fill, then empty, the choir folders at the beginning and end of every term!

As someone said, "Choir isn't just about singing; it's about unity, harmony, making something beautiful together." And that's powerful....

Promotions - Publicity, Advertising and Sponsorship - Victor Hall

Coming from a musical background, it was inevitable that I would follow in the family footsteps from an early age, starting with amdram Gilbert and Sullivan productions from aged 15 (forming a G&S Society at University) onwards. Life as a practising lawyer in various roles from my early 20s in the UK and Brussels rather ate into available time for instrumental playing and singing for the next 43 years! Time relented, however, and released my wife and me from its clutches around the time of retirement and we were able to retake control of our lives, since when we have revelled in performing wonderful music surrounded by interesting people! In 2024 I rediscovered the joys of Committee life, taking up the post of MHCS Promotions, thus revisiting a similar position that I had last held for a year in my mid 30s on a regional Committee of a national organization.

Box Office/Tickets - Toby Delahooke

Tuesday night rehearsals are a special time for me in a busy working week. Although before I joined I was nervous I wouldn’t manage such a regular commitment, actually once I made the decision it was easier than I thought. For me now the anticipation builds as Tuesday afternoon progresses, a prompt departure from work, a quick bite to eat and then off to another world. The music is always fabulous, sometimes challenging but the pleasure you get when it all comes together for the performance and the smiles from the audience will always make it worth it. I first joined the choir back in 2014, having had very little previous choral experience. I had a rudimentary knowledge of reading music from school but that was enough to get me going and hooked. Everyone was so welcoming and I soon settled in. Don’t worry if you're not sure which section you should sing in, there are people to help. Some of my friends are a little shocked when they find out I sing, but I suspect most of us have some hidden talent that was just waiting to be nurtured and given a chance to grow. The great thing about a choir is that you can start softly then grow louder as your confidence and skills develop. The results can be spine-tingling. I joined the committee in 2019 and contribute where I feel I can but principally doing the ticket sales and organising the occasional social event. My only regret is that I didn’t join a choir earlier!