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An Introduction to Herne Bay Community Singers
The Herne Bay Community Singers have been running for several years and rehearse most Wednesdays at Hampton Primary School.
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As a Community Choir our focus is on fostering a friendly welcoming environment where people of all ages and singing abilities can come together, make friends and enjoy singing. Being a Community Choir, we like to do our part to support the local community, and in 2025 we raised £1,266 for SNAAP through various fundraising activities. This year our chosen charity is Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury, and we will be supporting them at their annual festive Santa Run on Herne Bay seafront.
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The Choir is run by a committee who took on the task of keeping the choir going when the original Musical Director (MD) who founded the Bay Community Singers decided to close the Choir. Since then, we have gone from strength to strength, and the appointment this year of Edward Greenhalgh as our new MD, has breathed a new lease of life into the Choir. Edward has a passion for Musical Theatre, which has led him to work as Musical Director on numerous professional and amateur productions, including tour work and we feel very lucky to have him as our MD.
You don’t have to be a professional singer to join, or have the voice of an angel, you just need to enjoy singing for singings sake. Edward as our talented Musical Director arranges songs and harmonies and leads the rehearsals to make sure we sound great and are performance ready.
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We encourage new members, and we have a Facebook page so anyone interested can find out a bit more about us by going to our Facebook and Email links on the Contact Us tab.
Meet the Team
Edward Greenhalgh - Musical Director
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Edward's career is deeply rooted in choral direction, vocal coaching, and professional musicianship, encompassing performance, producing, directing, and education.
He has directed a diverse range of ensembles, including chamber choirs, choral societies, and community choirs, and currently leads two community choirs, one of whichi s our very own Herne Bay Community Choir. With experience spanning both adult and children’s ensembles. Since 2004, he has been Choral Leader at the parish church of St Laurence-in-Thanet. A role that has included training and preparing choristers for RSCM awards—an organisation for which he has also served as an examiner.
Edward has a passion for Musical Theatre, which has led him to work as Musical Director on numerous professional and amateur productions, including tour work. This role heavily involves vocal coaching and leading ensembles.
• Selected MD Credits: West Side Story, Into the Woods, Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, Hairspray, Les Misérables, The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Spring Awakening, Billy Elliot, Company, In the Heights, and Oliver.
In his capacity as a vocal coach, he has trained students at several performing arts schools, including Stagecoach, preparing them for performances at venues such as Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, and Disney Paris. His recent directing and composing work include a commissioned production for English Heritage.
SOPRANOS
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Our Sopranos are a fun vibrant team of people whose voices typically sit higher in our harmonies. Our Sopranos are our biggest team and have a big strong sound.
ALTOS
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Our Altos are bit smaller than the Sopranos but create just as much sound. They always have a great energy and have a super strong sense of rhythm. Their voices typically tend to sit a bit lower in our harmonies.
BARITONE
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Our baritones are a small but amazing group of typically men, who give us our warm and full sound. They may be a smaller group, but they are a huge asset to our choir and contribute to the harmonies.
Chairman
Richard (Baritone) is the Chairman of the Choir who delivers an annual report at the AGM and makes sure everything is running smoothly. Richard runs the local and successful restaurant Mortimers in Herne Bay and often runs fundraising and social events for the choir there, the karaoke events are great fun..
Membership Representative
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Sharon (Soprano) is one of the first faces you will meet in the choir, and she will greet all new members and help explain about the different parts as well as make sure they have everything they need to join in. Sharon is super friendly and lovely and a wonderful friend to everyone in our choir.
Treasurer
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Sue (Soprano) is the Choirs Treasurer and deals with all the finance. She will be one of the first faces you see on the door of the choir, as she will make sure you are all signed in and take your payments for either the week or the term (depending on how you choose to pay). Sue is very welcoming and helpful and will always be on hand to answer any questions you may have.
Performance Organiser
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Denise (Alto) is our performance Organiser for the choir who liaises with Ed about which performances we should take and makes sure they are all organised. She arranges all the booking forms, equipment we may need and communicates with whoever would like to partner with us. Denise is a very passionate member of our choir and takes a key role in communicating with people who are interested in booking or joining choir.
Secretary
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Jo (Alto) undertakes all the administrative tasks. This involves tasks such as creating out all the forms we use in choir, running our annual AGM and committee meetings, typing up minutes, looking at licencing etc. Jo is a crucial member to the committee and plays key role in keeping the choir running. Jo is very kind and a great member to raise any questions or queries you may have.
Our team of helpers
Choir Buddies
Jackie, Lynne and Steve
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It can be a bit daunting when you first join a new choir, especially if you don’t already know someone there. We are a very friendly bunch in our choir, but just to give that extra bit of help, to put new members at ease and to help existing members with any little troubles or concerns they might have, we have our wonderful choir buddies, made up of Steve Watts (Baritone), Lynne Ryan (Alto) and Jacqueline Maylum (Soprano). You can easily identify them by their badges, but they will always make themselves known to new members.
Jan, Sue and Nonnie
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Jan, Sue and Leona (otherwise known as Nonnie) are the kind and amazing ladies who make sure we have our tea, coffee and a biscuit in the break! They all love singing and are part of our amazing Sopranos.
Kay Parker-Hinder
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Kay (Soprano) is the wonderful lady who helps with the Bonus Ball. Each week in choir, you have an option to pick a number or numbers (depending on how lucky you feel) - its £1 a number - and at the end of the session we see what the bonus ball was for that week’s lottery. The winning number wins half of the money raised, with the other half going to our chosen local charity, which is voted for annually by choir members. It’s a lot of fun, and a great way to raise some money for a local cause.