HISTORY

The Society was formed in 1948 by Miss Elma Russell, who had conducted the village church choir and the Ingatestone Women's Institute Choir during the war years. She was keen to set up a local SATB Choral Society. Their first conductor was Mr. Arthur Davies from Chelmsford. He was quickly succeeded by Mrs. Dorothy Bayman, who rehearsed the Choir at her house, Tor Bryan, in Ingatestone. She also conducted Shenfield Choral Society and the two Choirs gave several combined concerts. The first performance of a complete work was of Merrie England in May 1949.

In 1955 ill health obliged Mrs. Bayman to hand over the Choir to Mr. Alf Witney, who continued their main annual activities - carol concert and participation in the Essex Musical Association Festivals each May. There were competitions, as a result of which ICS found itself hovering in the promotion/relegation zone between Divisions 1 and 2 until competition gave way to co-operation in combined performances.

When Alf Witney's own health began to deteriorate in 1969 he handed over the baton to Bruce Pennick, who has guided the Choir through thick and thin ever since, apart from five years during which he joined the tenor section under the conductorship of Martyn Heald.

EMA Festivals were usually held in Thaxted Parish Church on the first Saturday in May. ICS continued to enjoy this opportunity to perform a major choral work, in collaboration with amateur and professional musicians, until May 2009. The EMA was then disbanded after over one hundred years of music making.

Links with local choirs have always been strong. ICS has frequently co-operated with Billericay Choral Society on a "home and away" basis. It is also one of the Brentwood Choirs Festival choirs, holding concerts in Brentwood Cathedral every other year.

In December, the Choir holds its own Christmas Concert in Ingatestone and also takes part in the village's Victorian Evening, organised by the Parish Council. We hold a Spring Concert and in the 50th Anniversary year in 1998, this took the form of a revival of Merrie England. More recently, the Spring Concerts have been held in local churches, supplementing Sunday evening service.

A booklet has been published commemorating the first fifty years of the society and has been updated to include our 60th Anniversary which was celebrated on 28th June 2008 with a lovely banquet at Mountnessing Village Hall.

HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY