Founded in 1946, the Cheltenham Bach Choir is one of the longest running choirs in the South West, and with around 100 members, it is well established as one of the most popular.

The choir usually holds four concerts a year, and also regularly visits the German town of Göttingen, with which Cheltenham is twinned, to perform with a local German choir.

This month the group will be holding their ‘A Christmas Cracker’ concert on Sunday 16th December at Pittville Pump Room.

Member and Head of Marketing for the group David Sykes has been with the Bach Choir since 2010 and for him, getting involved was a no-brainer.

He said: “I’d always enjoyed choral singing and knew this choir was one of the best in the area.

“It’s great to sing as part of a choir, and the social side of things is brilliant too.”

David is of course looking forward to the show and reveals what they have in store for the audience.

He continued: “We almost always do a show around this time of year, and we’ll be doing a mix of Christmas music, including several carols which hopefully the audience will join in with!

“We’ll be joined by the Flowers Brass Band and the Beauregard Youth Choir, so it should be a very lively evening”

The Flowers Brass Band are ranked among the top 20 brass bands in the world, and this year celebrated their 50th anniversary. Beauregard Youth Choir on the other hand have been around for less than a decade, but despite this have won ‘Best Youth Choir’ at the Cheltenham Festival of Performing Arts for five consecutive years.

The Cheltenham Bach Choir are no strangers to the Pump Room, having performed there as recently as June.

David added: “We performed our ‘Sound of Musicals’ concert this summer, singing excerpts from famous shows.

“We tend to do well and sell out at Pittville Pump Room, it’s a lovely intimate venue that’ll be perfect for a Christmas concert.”