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Christchurch Music Society



Christchurch Music Society is an amateur operatic society based in Newport, South Wales, having been in existence since 1972. An annually elected committee runs the society.

The Society generally performs two main shows a year and supports various charity events throughout the year. Our programme has for a number of years consisted of a pantomime in January followed by a main musical in May, and a charity fundraiser in July.

History of the Society

The Society was founded in 1972 and whilst it was always in our wildest dreams that we should stage a musical, the Society began with concerts and concert versions of the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas. We built a reputation doing this form of entertainment and were frequently being invited to old people’s homes to give performances.

Following a concert at the St. Julian’s Senior Citizens Club, we popped into the St. Julian’s Hotel for a quick drink on the way home. Over a drink or two, we decided to stage a full version of HMS Pinafore, which took place in December 1976, nearly four years after our inaugural meeting. We were relatively pleased with the production and in the next ten years we staged a further ten Gilbert & Sullivan Operas.

As membership changed, so, to some degree taste also changed and by popular request we moved on from G&S and started to stage popular musicals as well. We broke our duck, in that respect with Fiddler on the Roof, followed by Oklahoma, with Sullivan’s nearest shot at grand opera (The Yeomen of the Guard) sandwiched in between.

In 1999 we again wrote a new page in our history book with a very well performed pantomime ‘Cinderella’.

Thirty-seven years on and we have staged no fewer than fifty full stage performances that have all been very well received by our audiences and the media.

The Society has supported our Local Church in many and various ways, including:

Running two Sponsored Sing Along Events, starting at 8 pm on a Friday evening and taking us through the night until 11 am on the following Saturday morning to raise hundreds of pounds for Christian Aid. Staging a Charity Pantomime we raised over £10,000 for the Tsunami Appeal. Taking part annually in the Churches Christmas Carol Service. Running stalls and Santa's Grotto at the bi-annual Church Bazaar.

We have won prizes in the Newport and the Caerleon Carnivals with floats depicting HMS Pinafore and Aladdin respectively.

As a community based society we are fairly unique in that we still perform in a community hall. The hall is transformed into a mini theatre seating approximately 140 people per night in the audience with raised tier seating. We design, build and paint all our own sets, make many of the show costumes and even have our own lighting and sound crew!

Our rehearsal night is Wednesday from 7.30pm to 9.30pm in the Church Hall at Christchurch. Those members playing principle parts in the shows also rehearse on a Friday evening.

New members are always welcome both on and off the stage. Just pop along on a Wednesday and meet the gang!

The Ernest Fuller Founder Members Award

Within the Society, we have our own award for people to work towards. A perpetual trophy was presented to the Society at the Millennium Dinner Dance, to be awarded annually to that person who puts in a significant amount of work behind the scenes.

The recipients of the award to date are:

The Committee

The committee is run by an annually elected panel headed by the President of the society, Ernest Fuller, and seconded by the chairperson - Jan Parfitt. The rest of the committee consists of the vice-chairperson - Paul Middleton, Treasurer - Deb Clarke, Secretary - Jenni McCabe and seven general members, Richard Baines, John Evans, David Williams, Anita Street-Watts, Deb Clarke, Jacqui Green and Katie Middleton.

The Next Show

The next show is the charity show which will be a tribute to ABBA's greatest hits, co-directed by Jan Parfitt, Deb Clarke and Katie Middleton, and will be performed on Friday 26th June 2009.

For more information about the society check out the official website: