Members of the Roses’ Choir have long been looking forward to 19th July and their performance at Tewkesbury’s Roses Theatre.

The choir, led by professional voice coach Lindsay Martin, will be singing a wide range of up-beat songs on what promises to be a memorable evening for the 30 members of the vocal group. “We’re so excited, we’ve been rehearsing for this performance for a long time and we’re all raring to go,” said Lindsay. She continued: “We’re performing in the auditorium tonight and for lots of people in the choir it will be their first time getting up on stage and singing in front of an audience. It’s my first time running the choir and I do have a few nerves ahead of the concert but that’s to be expected.

“On Tuesday we had our final rehearsal, the vibe in the room was so upbeat and positive which was a very good sign. I really believe that performing should be fun and enjoyable, there was a lot of smiling faces on Tuesday which I’m sure will be reflected in the performance tonight.

“Most of the choir members are people who have retired due to when we rehearse on a weekday morning. A lot of our members have sung when they were at school many years ago but didn’t have the opportunity to sing once they left school. Other members have come to us with no singing experience at all, so it’s very satisfying to offer them a chance to become part of the choir. It’s not just about the singing either, it’s good for people to get out and make new friends.

“There’s 30 or so of us in the choir and we get together every Tuesday morning for rehearsals. The one thing we’ve made a real effort with this year is getting the choir out in the local community, so we’ve been singing at various events in the town which has been fantastic, you can see how the confidence levels of everyone in the choir have improved.

“We cover music from the 20th and 21st century. I’m a jazz singer so we do a few jazz numbers as well as songs by The Beach Boys and The Temptations but also current artists like Noel Gallagher. Looking further ahead we want to perform as often as we can and build a choir that becomes recognised across the county.”

It won’t just be the Roses’ Choir that will be singing tonight, they will be joined by another vocal group from the town. Lindsay continued: “The Tewkesbury Pub Singers are going to be singing with us which is very exciting. We want to develop strong relationships with local choirs and this is the first step of working together with another group of singers.

“In terms of what we’re doing long-term we want to do more concerts in the community. I want to help foster a togetherness in the community and welcome new members to the choir. It would be amazing to think we could create a singing festival here in Tewkesbury. That’s the dream further along the line.”