Location

Batheaston, near Bath, UK

Specialisms

I run Solsbury Community Choir, a friendly and welcoming singing group in Batheaston near Bath.

Additional information

I’m Cathy and I set up Solsbury Community Choir in February 2021, to offer singing opportunities for people in my local area that would help people feel joyful, vibrant and connected.

Solsbury Community Choir is a friendly mixed choir, open to everyone and with all singing abilities welcome. We sing a wide range of songs in different styles, and we learn everything by ear – there’s no need to read music.

I love to sing, and I feel strongly that we all have a voice to share, even if we’ve been told that we can’t sing at some point in our past. My approach is inclusive, supportive and nurturing, and I love to welcome people of all singing abilities.

I’ve been making music since I was at school, playing flute, saxophone and piano, and going on to study Music at Newcastle University for a year, during which time I led chamber music groups, a university big band and studied composition and arranging. Throughout my subsequent 20-year career in sustainable energy I continued to perform regularly, taking up double bass in my twenties, and performing regularly with band Owl In The Sun, with whom I’ve released 3 albums and received BBC Radio 1 and 2 airplay. Following a career break in 2019 (during which time I founded sustainable cut flower business Umbel) I started to retrain as a choir leader, inspired by the Covid pandemic to use music as a way of helping reconnect with each other.

I especially love arranging songs, and creating welcoming spaces in which people can come together to sing and make music.

I live in Batheaston with my family on the flanks of Little Solsbury Hill.