One of Gloucestershire’s most active choirs are gearing up for a new term of rehearsals and performances.

The Choir Factor has become synonymous for providing opportunities to enthusiastic vocalists across the county and their members are preparing for another busy term which gets underway on 3rd September.

The Choir Factor’s Musical Director and Founder, Esther Bettis, has been a music teacher for over 20 years as well as being an accomplished pianist, guitarist and violin player. Her early career was spent as a piano teacher in Surrey which continued when she moved to Gloucestershire in 2003. It was in 2007 that Esther devised her plan to create her very own choir. Esther explained: “I wanted to run a choir for a very long time. I first had the idea when I was young, probably the same time I started secondary school. It was the day that Diana and Prince Charles got married, The Sound of Music was on the TV and I vividly remember being blown away by it. I knew from that very moment that music and singing was what I wanted to be involved in. I set up a choir when I was at school and we used to sing at all the music festivals in Kent, we had a great time.

“We start a brand-new term during the first week of September. There’s four weekly choirs held in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Quedgeley and Gloucester. Our singers pay a fee every term which then entitles them to turn up to as many rehearsals as they want at our four venues. Some singers attend two or three sessions a week which shows the enthusiasm they have. We sing a lot of modern pop songs from artists like Paloma Faith and even songs from films such as ‘The Greatest Showman’. Our whole ethos is based around having fun, so rehearsals and performances are always very relaxed as well as being educational.

Esther has many fond memories from the last decade, with several performances that will stay long in the memory. She continued: “We’ve performed alongside G4, a four-piece vocal group who reached the final of the X Factor back in 2004 and have gone on to be a really successful group. Another memorable performance came a few years ago when we were asked to perform on the pitch at Kingsholm before a Gloucester game. We were live on TV, I was giggling like a young child! That has to be the stand-out performance from the last decade. Everyone involved did themselves proud, to get to sing in front of thousands of people, that’s not something that happens all too often.”