Some videos of the choir in action, July 2022:
Relational
There’s a strong social aspect to being in the choir, as well as the obvious relational dimension in creating a sound with others.
Uplifting
There’s something about gospel music that encourages and uplifts, whether through the positive message, the energy of the music or its (for want of a better word) ‘soulfulness’.
Creative
Play your part in creating and shaping a live, collaborative sound, and take with you the satisfaction of participating in the creative process.
Educational
Discover a new skill, develop an existing one. Learn a breadth of material, some possibly familiar but the rest new to you, and realise how much fun these songs are to learn!
Register your interest here!
We meet on Monday evenings at Christ Church, Woking (the church in the town square), 8pm – 9.30pm, during school term time.
Come along for a taster session: your first night with us will be FREE of charge, whichever of our Mondays you choose.
If you’d like to get in touch first, please use this form.
2024 Dates:
- Spring term 2024: Mondays 8 Jan – 25 March inclusive, except 12 Feb (half term).
- Summer term 2024: Mondays 15 April – 21 July inclusive, except 8 May (Bank Holiday) and 27 May (half term).
- Summer term 2024: Mondays 2 Sept – 16 Dec inclusive, except 28 Oct (half term).
About
How we work
We run as an uplifting group activity, open to people of all faiths and none. No previous choir experience is needed, nor do you need to be able to read music, because we learn everything by ear. We’re a small, friendly, non-competitive group who find joy in singing together: you may already know that singing encourages the body’s release of endorphins, serotonin and dopamine, and that singing together contributes to our sense of belonging, and fosters trust and social cohesion. If you didn’t, you do now – and we’d love for you to come and experience this first-hand! Your first session with us is FREE.
As well as our weekly Monday evening rehearsals where we all learn together, members have access to online audio resources which help them to hear, learn and consolidate their parts. This setup allows members to keep up if they need to miss occasional rehearsals, and allows new members to catch up with songs the choir’s already started learning.
We’re independently run by choir leader Daren Allder and, though not directly connected to any church in Woking, what we sing has obvious Christian content, and we’re very grateful for the support of Christ Church, Woking, in providing our rehearsal space.
Where and When?
Monday evenings during Surrey school term times (dates for this year are above), at The Gallery in Christ Church’s building in the town centre. Christ Church is the church building on Jubilee Square, near the war memorial and the shopping centres. We start at 8pm, so advise you arrive a few minutes before if possible, and finish at 9.30pm.
History
The choir started, pre-pandemic, as the Woking group of the Wey Community Gospel Choir (which also had groups in Guildford, Farnham and Redhill). The different choirs had some overlap in repertoire and we would aim to meet for collective concerts (and social and training events) as well as doing our individual events.
The Woking group ran for a year up to the first lockdown, and then via Zoom for a term, before pausing. During our time we did a joint concert with the other WCGC choirs in Guildford, and a Christmas set at The Lightbox in Woking and, during the lockdown, we also managed to record one of songs with members submitting their individual parts to be added to the mix. In January 2022, the choir restarted, independently of Wey Community Gospel Choir (which had reverted to just its Guildford group), as Woking Community Gospel Choir.
Daren Allder was the choir leader for the Woking WCGC group and continues as the leader of Woking Community Gospel Choir. We also keep our amazing pianist, Dr Nicolas Gold, in our new guise as well as a number of our singers from beforehand.
We’ve covered a fairly wide range of gospel music material, with songs originally performed by such artists as Hezekiah Walker, Myrna Summers, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Tommy Walker, Chicago Mass Choir, People And Songs, Kurt Carr, KXC, and more.
As we’re a small choir, we don’t get to perform much – if a couple of people can’t make it, it can make the whole thing non-viable! We do put on a summer concert at Christ Church each year and are hoping to do some more as and when circumstances and numbers allow.