VIVA! 28th March 2026

The weather may not have been very spring like, but there was plenty of sunshine and warmth in evidence our Spring concert at the North of England Centre for Music & Arts at Standedge, Marsden. What a lovely venue and splendid appreciative audience. The choir sang really well and the Rossignol String Quartet were sublime. For a couple of hours we were all able to put aside the troubles in the world and just enjoy the music. Thank you everyone who worked hard behind the scenes to make the concert a great success.

As usual choir members and our audience were very generous in supporting our raffle in aid of our 2025/26 charity Square Peg. A further £340 was raised which will go towards activities at their weekly Wednesday get togethers.

Winter workshop 2026 - Scarborough

What a wonderful workshop weekend we had at the Weston Hotel in Scarborough. Everyone worked really hard at learning two lovely new pieces of music, with quite a lot of success thanks to Nicola and Lloyd. But it certainly wasn’t work and no play. It was a chance to get together and get to know each other better, and have lots of fun. What an inventive bunch we are - original poems, songs, monologues, games involving socks, and the Holme Valley’s answer to ‘Riot Women’ kept us all entertained on Saturday night! Even so, there we were again on Sunday morning ready for another day of music making. Thank you to everyone involved.

Christmas Eve - The Barnsley Carol

The Barnsley Carol was written by Arthur Godfrey in 1933 and rediscovered in Barnsley Museum Archives in 2023. This lovely version which the Vocal Expressions sang at our Christmas Concert on 14th December 2025 was arranged for us by our accompanist, Loyd Buck. Our performance is also enhanced by the accompanying bells of the Clifton Bell Ringers, our guests at the concert.

Square Peg Christmas Singing 2025

A good time was had by all when we sang festive songs at the final Square Peg get together before Christmas. The group are VE’s chosen charity to support this year and our fund raising has not only helped them to pay for various activities they all enjoy, but meant that this Christmas they could all receive a Secret Santa gift too, which you can see in the photos.

Run, Rudolph, Run 14th December 2025

What a wonderful concert! The choir sounded great, the Clifton Bell Ringers amazed us all with their skill and beautiful tunes produced by the 144 handbells. The hall looked so pretty and festive, the refreshments were plentiful and tasty, and the audience were fantastic. There was such a lovely, festive atmosphere and music for every taste: traditional carols, classical music, ‘a bit of cheese” and rock and roll.

It was a real team effort to put on such an entertaining afternoon. Thank you to everybody who contributed in some way, and a special thank you to Nicola for her positive encouragement and direction, and Lloyd for his splendid arrangement of ‘The Barnsley Carol, made extra special on the day by an accompaniment from the Clifton Bell Ringers.

Square Pegs - November 2025

The Square Peg group are the local charity Vocal Expressions has chosen to support for 2025. We are delighted to have been able to donate £1000 to them so far, which they have used for a variety of activities that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. Here they are enjoying their recent Halloween decoration making session. They look to be having lot of fun, although I’m not sure about the person being dressed up as a mummy!

Autumn Workshop - September 2025

We had an excellent workshop at Hade Edge Band Room to help us get to grips with the new pieces for Christmas. What a lot we achieved! Everyone worked really hard and we enjoyed rising to the challenge and singing together, not mention a bit of socialising too. As usual Nicola and Lloyd made it a positive and pleasurable day - a big thank you to them both for all their hard work.