In 1961 Eric Winch, the Warden of Lymington Community Centre, had the idea of forming a choral group which eventually became Lymington Choral Society. The choir started as an adult education class under Dennis Gilbert, Head of Music at Brockenhurst Grammar School. The group’s first performance was Handel’s Messiah.
Since then Musical Directors have included Roy Heartfield who was also Director of Music at Brockenhurst.  Under his successor, Noel Clarke, the choir extended its activities with an overseas trip to Vitré, France. Vitré afterwards became one of Lymington’s twin towns. Following Noel’s move to King’s School Canterbury the choir was directed by the Head of Music at Walhampton School, Rory Boyle, who composed several works for the choir including The Second Revelation to Thomas The Doubter. Other well-known composers such as Judith Bingham and Douglas Coombes have also written for the Society. Rory was succeeded for three seasons by Valerie Nunns and then by Peter Davies for fifteen. In 1991 Peter was the first to engage a professional orchestra and young professional singers, including four Kathleen Ferrier Award winners, who achieved international celebrity status. Membership increased to well over a hundred, there were annual choral days and three BT Voices for Hospices concerts raising over £20,000 for Oakhaven Hospice. Peter’s final concert was the first in the Society’s history to be sold out.

Michael Goldthorpe was the Musical Director of Lymington Choral Society from 2006 to April, 2020.  He was granted Honorary Life Membership of the choir in October, 2020.  He built on the firm foundations of his predecessors with two concert tours in Normandy and Brittany, performances in New Milton, Basingstoke and Boldre, the latter in collaboration with Lymington Town Band. Ambitious concerts with full orchestra and excellent soloists have continued to be the main performances in Saint Thomas’ Church and the choir has also performed for Lymington and Pennington Town Council for their Arts Festival, for open-air carols in the High Street and for The Blessing of the Crib ceremony. For the Society’s Golden Jubilee a new work, Loved and Unloved, based on local nineteenth century poems, Songs of Lymington, was commissioned from Christopher de Souza. A small group has sung live on BBC Radio Solent and there have been Choral Days, which have attracted new members. The aim continues to be to explore both regular and lesser-known repertoire, to collaborate with and employ local musicians wherever possible together with talented young soloists from London and to perform to a high standard.

Albrechtsberger
Te Deum

Bach
Cantatas Nos 61, 79 and 112, 122, 140 and 147
Christmas Oratorio

Barber
Agnus Dei

Beethoven
Choral Fantasia
Mass in C Op 86

Britten
A Ceremony of Carols
Saint Nicolas

Bruckner
Ecce Sacerdos

Bush
Christmas Cantata (2019)

Caldara
Stabat Mater (2018)

Charpentier
Messe de Minuit

Coombes
Make we Joy (World Premiére)

Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man (2024)

Dvorák
Mass in D

Elgar
From the Bavarian Highlands

Fauré
Requiem Op. 48 (?, 2021)

Goodall
Eternal Light

Gounod
Messe solennelle de Sainte-Cécile (2018)

Granados
Cant de les Estrelles

Handel
Acis and Galatea
Solomon
The Messiah (1961, 2017, 2023 [choruses] )

Haydn
Mass in Bb (Theresa)
Mass in C (in Time of War)
Mass in D minor (Nelson)
Missa Brevis St Joannis de Deo
Stabat Mater
Te Deum No. 1 in C (for the Esterházy Family)
Te Deum (for the Empress Maria Theresa)
The Creation (2002, 2019)
The Seasons

Holst
Christmas Day

L’Estrange
Wassail! (2019)

Karl Jenkins
Gloria (2024)
The Armed Man (?), (2022)
Requiem

Mendelssohn
St Paul

Mozart
Dixit et Magnificat KV193
Mass in C K317 (Coronation)
Requiem K626 (2018) (2023)
Solemn Vespers K339

Pergolesi
Magnificat (2018)

Puccini
Messa di Gloria

Purcell
Dido and Aeneas

Rossini
Petite Messe Solennelle

Rutter
Gloria (?), 2024)
Mass of the Children
Requiem

Saint-Saëns
Christmas Oratorio (2006, 2017)

Schubert
Magnificat D486
Mass in G

Schütz
Christmas Story

de Souza
Loved and Unloved (World Premiere)

Tippett
Five Negro Spirituals (A Child of our Time)

Vaughan Williams
Benedicite
Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Vivaldi
Gloria (2009, 2017, 2022)

A
Darren Abrahams, Tenor 1988/9
Jeanette Ager, Mezzo-soprano 1998, 2000/6
Katherine Aitken, Mezzo-soprano 2015
James Atkinson, Baritone 2018, 2021
Susanna Andersson, Soprano 2003/4
Marie Arnet, Soprano 1999
James Atherton, Tenor 2002

B
Helen Bailey, Soprano 2007/9
Charlotte Baptie, Soprano 2013
Charlotte Bowden, Soprano 2018
Valérie Beauducel, Mezzo-soprano 2014
Emma Bell, Soprano 1998/9
Michael Bell, Tenor 2019
Alexander Bevan, Tenor 2015
Sam Boden, Tenor 2007
Katherine Bond, Soprano 2005
Gwilym Bowen, Tenor 2012
Alex Bower-Brown, Baritone 2022
Eleanor Broomfield, Soprano 2016
Stephen Brown, Tenor 2010
Natalia Brzesinska, Mezzo-soprano 2009

C
Lise Christensen, Mezzo-soprano 2005
Tamsin Coombs, Soprano 2008
Rosanna Cooper, Mezzo-soprano 2017 (2)
Sarah Cox, Mezzo-soprano 1997
Nicholas Crawley, Bass 2012

D
Meryl Davies, Soprano 2010
Peter Davoren,Tenor 2009
Sadhbh Dennedy, Soprano 2006
Milena Dobrzycka, Soprano 2012
Kamilla Kate Dunstan, Mezzo-soprano 2022

E
Charlotte Ellett, Soprano 2002
Wynne Evans, Tenor 1999
Harriet Eyley, Soprano 2014

F
Thomas Faulkner, Baritone 2010
Sarah Fox, Soprano 1997
Louise Fuller, Soprano 2017

G
Emily Garland, Soprano 2011/12/14/21
Robert Garland, Baritone 2016
Elliot Goldie, Tenor 1997
Emily Gray, Mezzo-soprano, 2017
Elizabeth Green, Soprano 2022

H
Hugo Herman-Wilson, Bass 2017
Thomas Hobbs, Tenor 2007/8

J
Stuart Jackson, Tenor 2011
Ruth Jenkins, Soprano 2010
David Jones, Baritone 2013
Natasha Jouhl, Soprano 2001

K
Vasili Karpiak, Tenor 2013
Stefan Kennedy, Tenor 2016
Iris Korkfer, Soprano 2012

L
Sofia Larsson, Soprano 2015
Susan Legg, Mezzo-soprano 1996
Karina Lucas, Mezzo-soprano 2006/8

M
Véronique Macé, Soprano 2014
Rozanna Madylus, Mezzo-soprano 2014
Esther Mallet, Soprano 2019 (2)
Julia Martinez, Mezzo-soprano 2018
Sally Matthews, Soprano 2000
Kathryn McGuckin, Soprano 2002
Laura Mitchell, Soprano 2007
Michael Mofidian, Bass 2015
Louise Mott, Mezzo-soprano 1998
Timothy Murphy, Baritone 2014

O
James Oldfield, Bass-baritone 2009
Alistair Ollerenshaw, Bass 2011
Jeremy Ovenden, Tenor 1994

P
Matilda Paulsson, Mezzo-soprano 2003
Jacob Phillips, Bass 2018
Richard Pinkstone, Tenor 2018
Julian Podger, Tenor 1998
Hannah Poulson, Mezzo-soprano 2016
Alice Rose Privett, Soprano 2012

Q
Samuel Queen, Baritone 2012

R
Kieran Raynard, Bass 2015
Emilie Renard, Mezzo-soprano 2012
Madeline Robinson, Soprano 2022
Michael Ronan, Bass 2019
Edward Ross, Tenor 2018
Kate Royal, Soprano 2006
James Rutherford, Bass 1996 -2006
(15 occasions)

S
Eleanor-Rose Sanderson-Nash, Soprano 2017
John Savournin, Baritone 2012
Ross Scanlan, Tenor 2010
Charlotte Schoeters, Soprano 2015
Nicholas Scott, Tenor 2012
Benjamin Segal, Tenor 2006
Christina Shand, Soprano 2009
Martins Smaukstelis, Tenor 2014
Božidar Smiljanic, Bass-baritone 2013
Ben Smith, Tenor 2017
Rebekah Smith, Soprano 2014
Helen Stanley, Mezzo-soprano 2012
Andrew Staples, Tenor 2004
Louisa Stirland, Soprano 2018
Suen Yin Shin, Soprano 2014

T
Philip Tebb, Bass 2009
Harry Thatcher, Bass 2017
Kathryn Turpin, Mezzo-soprano 1995

V
Nathan Vale, Tenor 2005
Marie Vassiliou, Soprano 1994, 97/8

W
Daisy Walford, Soprano 2014
Kathryn Walker, Mezzo-soprano 2011
William Wallace, Tenor 2015
Richard Walshe, Baritone 2014
Nicholas Watts, Tenor 2003
Derek Welton , Baritone 2007/10
Mark Wilde, Tenor 1995/7
Joel Williams, Tenor 2015/17
Verity Wingate, Soprano 2014
Leigh Woolf, Mezzo-soprano 1999/2000

Solo Instrumentalists
Andrew Knights, Oboe 2019
Sally Bartholomew, Bassoon 2009
Paul Chilvers, Piano 2014
Kate Flanaghan, Harp 2009
Mark Hammond, Organ 2007
Paul Hammond, Guitar 2014
Alice Pratley, Violin 2008
Geoffrey Pratley, Piano 2008
Timothy Rice, Continuo 2014/15/17/18/19/21/22
Ian Richardson, Piano 2011
Joseph Shiner, Clarinet 2013