The Callington Singers will be holding their Spring Concert on Saturday May 3 at the Rock Methodist Chapel in Yelverton.

The concert starting at 7.30pm will feature works by Mendelssohn, Fauré, Vaughan Williams and Brückner, and some more contemporary works by Lauridsen and Whitacre.

Formed in 1983 by Graham Williams, the choir has sung each week except during Covid, and at height of its membership had as many as 95 singers.

Now the group of 40 singers meets each Thursday at 7.30pm at Callington Primary School to rehearse, under the musical direction of Sarah Gard. They are in need of new singers especially tenors and basses. One singer has turned 87 and still sings regularly with the group.

A spokesperson for the choir said: “We welcome new singers at any time and there are no auditions because we think everyone should have the chance to give singing a try.

“We would love to get a few more tenors and basses, not necessarily men as we have two lady tenors and have had lady basses too in the past.”

Their concerts are ticket free with the group just asking for donations towards the hire of the venue. They do their best, they say, to make sure that the music they sing as accessible as possible.

The spokesperson continued: “We will be singing some really beautiful music to welcome Spring and providing our usual spread of delicious cakes and treats for you.

“In particular, the choir are delighted to be singing Abendlied by Josef Rheinberger again and The Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre, which we have learned from scratch.”

In the past, the singers have taken part in festivals at home and around the world including a tour of Sicily. The choir was led by Graham Williams until his retirement in 2019 after heading up the choir for 37 years.