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DR. EDWARD
CAINE
Our Musical Director
Dr Edward
Caine is a pianist, conductor, and composer based in the West
Midlands, with a particular focus on choral music and contemporary
performance.
He is Musical Director of Wombourne & District Choral Society,
where he conducts a broad range of repertoire from the Baroque
period to the present day. His work with the choir has included
major choral works such as Mozart's Requiem, Fauré's Requiem,
and Bach's Mass in B minor, alongside a variety of smaller-scale
and seasonal programmes.
Edward is an
experienced choral conductor and accompanist, working regularly
with choirs, soloists, and ensembles in both rehearsal and performance.
His approach is grounded in collaboration, with a focus on developing
confident ensemble singing and a clear, responsive choral sound.
As a composer,
his work has been performed across the UK and internationally,
including at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and
by ensembles such as Opera North and Ex Cathedra. His music has
also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Sky Arts, and he has been
recognised through awards including the Sir Jack Lyons Celebration
Award and selection as a shortlisted composer with Sound and
Music.
He studied at
Durham University before completing a PhD in composition at the
University of York under Roger Marsh. Alongside his artistic
work, he has been active in music education and arts development,
working with organisations including Armonico Consort, and as
a Quality Assessor for Arts Council England.
Edward brings a thoughtful and musically rigorous approach to
his work, combining professional experience with a strong commitment
to ensemble development and musical communication.
Follow the link to his recently updated website at http://www.edwardcaine.com
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Introducing : STEPHANIE SHERWOOD -
Our new Choir Chairman (Oct 2025)
Stephanie
was born and bred in Wolverhampton. Music has always played a
large role in her life: her maternal grandparents were both keen
singers and her father's mother
was a pianist.
Having studied Music and English Literature at university Stephanie
followed a career in education.
Since retirement, however, she has been able to indulge her interest
in music. Stephanie has played for small group concerts as well
as singing in Wombourne Choral's alto section.
She also has an ambition to enjoy opera in as many world opera
houses as she can!
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DR. JONATHAN CLARK
Accompanist
Jonathan
was born in Solihull, England in 1977. In 1996 he was appointed
organ scholar at Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied under
Thomas Trotter. He graduated with an MA in music from Oxford
in 2001 and was appointed Head of Organ Studies at Eltham College,
London before reading for an AMusD at Nottingham University.
He has played extensively throughout the UK and Europe as a solo
organist and pianist at venues as diverse as Westminster Abbey,
Notre Dame Paris and notable concert venues such as Symphony
Hall Birmingham and The Barbican Centre, London.
He has performed a range of concerti including Rachmaninov’s
Second Piano Concerto with the Prague Chamber Orchestra and Beethoven’s
Fifth Piano Concerto ‘Emperor’ with the Manchester
Camerata. In 2015 he performed all of Bach’s Brandenburg
Concerti on tour in Berlin and Vienna with the New London Baroque
Soloists.In 2017, he was the guest organist with the National
Orchestra of Sri Lanka in Colombo for the international Church’s
One Foundation Festival. He has made several appearances on the
BBC’s Songs of Praise and has been featured playing piano
on The Archers, twice!
Jonathan has been a lecturer and repetiteur at Birmingham Conservatoire
and School of Acting since 2018.
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Introducing : CHRISTINE MANDLEBERG -
Our new Choir Secretary (Oct 2025)
(Including Choir Membership)
Christine
was born in the Black Country and was educated at Dudley Girls'
High School and the University of Birmingham.
After bringing up three children, there followed a career in
the steel industry from which she retired in 2014 but which she
re-joined in 2017.
She came late into choral singing, after several years with an
all-female a cappella group in Birmingham under the directorship
of Dr Liz Garnett, and of which she was Treasurer. This was followed
by a short period with a small chamber choir under the auspices
of Jeanne Conard-Jones.
After moving to the area, Christine joined WDCS in 2019 and enjoys
the challenge of rehearsing for and performing the larger choral
works.
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Introducing
: CLAIRE LAKHA -
Our new Vice-Chair (Oct
2025)
Claire
has been a member of Wombourne Choral Society for 25 years since
moving to Wolverhampton from her native Northumbria.
Singing is a welcome break from her work as a G P.
Having avoided
joining the committee for the last 25 years, she is looking forward
to helping WDCS rejuvenate and innovate in time for its centenary
in 2029.
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Accompanists
Rehearsal
Accompanists:
Dr. Jonathan Clarke - (Chris Corcoran, Heather Howell, Callum
Alger, Phil Ypres-Smith) |
Committee Members...
| xChair: |
Stephenie Sherwood* |
| Vice Chair: |
Claire Lakha |
| Treasurer: |
Christine Mandleberg |
| Secretary: |
Christine Mandleberg * (including Membership)
Phone: 07852 102287 - Email: christinemandleberg@outlook.com |
| Friends
Membership Secretary |
Carole Boys * |
| Fund Raising: |
Neil Stockall - (Pre 2025 - Henry Ibberson * (Previous Chairman -
2014 to 2023) |
| Orchestra Liason Officer: |
Stella Hurd * |
| Music Library Administration: |
Candy Woods * & Stephanie Sherwood * - (Archived Music :
Claire Lakha) |
| Stage Manager: |
Neil Stockall * |
| Social Media: |
Lucy Cook |
*
denotes Voting Member & Trustee - ** denotes Honorary Member
(Carol Dixon * - not currently a Committee Member but
willing to remain a Trustee) |
Management
Committee Authorised Signatories:
Xxxx |
| Other Members (Non-Voting)... |
| Musical Director (Ex
Offico): |
Dr. Edd Caine |
| Publicity & Programme Design: |
Mike Coope - Tel: 01902 700426 |
| Ex Officio: Chorus Master
& Conductor, Accompanist, & Deputy Chorus Master |
| Others |
| Orchestra & Soloist Administration |
Sally Minchin |
| Honorary
Vice Presidents |
Henry
Ibberson, Mike Coope |
| Ticket Sales: |
Temporary: Christine Mandleberg, Mike Coope, Julia
Stockall |
Wombourne
& District Choral Society is a registered charity No: 1067808
Wombourne & District Choral Society is pleased to be part
of the 'Making Music' community.xx  |
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We celebrate
90 years...
Formed
back in 1929, the WDCS Choir celebrated its 90th anniversary
in 2019... quite an achievement! To celebrate this event, the
choir performed three concerts during the year. |
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Where we
rehearse...
We
now rehearse every Monday evening in term time at Springdale
Methodist Church, Warstones Road, Penn, Wolverhampton WV4 4LF
from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
How
to find our rehearsal venue...
The rehearsal
is taken by our Musical Director, Edd Caine and the accompanist is (to be announced).
New members
are always welcome...
New singers are always welcome to the choir.
For more information, contact our Membership Secretary, Christine
Mandleberg... Phone: 07852 102287 - Email: christinemandleberg@outlook.com more >>
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WDCS
Safeguarding Information
To download
the WDCS Safeguarding Document as a PDF file, please click
here
>> |
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John
Rutter CBE - Patron of Wombourne Choral Society |
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John Rutter
CBE - Composer
(Patron of our choir)
John Rutter was born in London in 1945 and received his first
musical education as a chorister at Highgate School. He went
on to study music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he wrote
his first published compositions and conducted his first recording
while still a student.
His compositional career has embraced both large and small-scale
choral works, orchestral and instrumental pieces, a piano concerto,
two children’s operas, music for television, and specialist
writing for such groups as the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and
the King’s Singers.
His larger choral works, Gloria (1974), Requiem (1985), Magnificat
(1990), Psalmfest (1993) and Mass of the Children (2003) have
been performed many times in Britain, North America, and a growing
number of other countries. He co-edited four volumes in the Carols
for Choirs series with Sir David Willcocks, and, more recently,
has edited the first two volumes in the new Oxford Choral Classics
series, Opera Choruses (1995) and European Sacred Music (1996).
From 1975 to 1979 he was Director of Music at Clare College,
whose choir he directed in a number of broadcasts and recordings.
After giving up the Clare post to allow more time for composition,
he formed the Cambridge Singers as a professional chamber choir
primarily dedicated to recording, and he now divides his time
between composition and conducting.
He has guest-conducted or lectured at many concert halls, universities,
churches, music festivals, and conferences in Europe, Africa,
North and Central America and Australasia. In 1980 he was made
an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and
in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians. In 1996 the
Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music
upon him in recognition of his contribution to church music.
He was honoured in the 2007 Queen’s New Year Honours List,
being awarded a CBE for services to music.
(WDCS - John visited Wombourne Choral Society in 2009 and
conducted the weekly rehearsal.) |
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The
History of our choir...
Musical Directors
through the years:
Harry
England: 1929 - 1942
Patricia
Groves: 1942 - 1958
Dennis
Powell: 1958 - 1993
David
Parkes: 1993 - 2006
Ian
Clarke: 2006 - 2021
Dr. Edward Caine: 2021 -
History
of Wombourne & District Choral Society
The choir, originally called the Wombourne Choral Society, was
founded in 1929 by Harry England. Formerly a professional baritone,
he had been headmaster of Enville School near Kinver, and organist
of Enville Church. Following Harry’s death in 1942 in his
late eighties, Miss Groves, head of music at the Technical High
School, became the choir’s second conductor. She left the
district in 1958 and was then succeeded by Dennis Powell who
remained the conductor until 1993. (At some stage the original
Wombourne Choral Society changed its name to Wombourne and District
to reflect the fact that many of its members come from much further
afield.)
The rehearsal venue was originally the Wesleyan Chapel, now the
United Reformed Church, in Wombourne’s centre, where the
first concert under Dennis Powell took place. The main work was
Edward German’s ‘Merrie England’. Later the rehearsal
venue moved to the Church School, Wombourne. It was decided that
the choir should become an evening class, initially under Sedgley
Evening Institute’s wing, but later under Staffordshire
Education Committee. This lasted until the choir moved to Springdale
Junior School, Wolverhampton, when we were adopted by Wolverhampton
Education Committee. Several years later, independence was resumed.
Under Dennis Powells’ tenure, the choir developed to become
essentially the choir it has become today. It accompanied the
Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra in many large scale works, including
Vaughan-Williams’s ‘Sea Symphony’, Elgar’s
‘Dream of Gerontius’ and ‘Music Makers’,
Tippet’s ‘A Child Of Our Time’, Constant Lambert’s
‘Rio Grande’, JS Bach’s ‘St Matthew Passions’?
and ‘B Minor Mass’ and Handel’s ‘Messiah’.
Dennis also conducted the choir in a number of smaller works
by less well known composers, such as Moeran, Finzi and Poulenc.
When Dennis Powell retired in 1993, David Parkes became the fourth
conductor and the choir continued to go from strength to strength.
Well-established favourites were mixed with challenges such as
Honegger’s ‘Christmas Cantata?’ There were ambitious
large-scale performances, notably the Verdi ‘Requiem’
and Elgar’s ‘Dream of Gerontius’ both in Wolverhampton
Civic Hall, the latter with Paul Nilon as an overwhelming Gerontius,
Brahms ‘A German Requiem’ in Dudley Town Hall with
Denise Leigh as soloist. Summer concerts became well-established,
giving us opportunities to explore a lighter repertoire including
virtual excursions to Broadway.David also led us on a real excursion
to France in 2003, starting a fascinating musical and social
association with Chantemoy choir from Orléans. This was
followed by a return visit from Chantemoy in 2005. Our choir
made a second visit to the Loire Valley in 2007 and Chantemoy
returned to Wolverhampton in 2010.
In 2006, David reluctantly took his leave of us, and was succeeded
by Ian Clarke, already well known to the choir for his splendid
organ and continuo playing in several of our concerts. Under
Ian’s direction, the choir continued to develop its repertoire
and skills, with performances of steadily increasing scale and
musical quality.
The choir has frequently used local solo singers, including the
baritone John Oxley who was a member of the choir. Other soloists
were often drawn from students of the Guildhall School of Music.
We have over the years been fortunate enough to sing with young
soloists who have later progressed to establish themselves as
major performers on the concert stage. The choir has been accompanied
over the years by a number of smaller orchestral groups, including
most recently Chameleon Arts and the Orchestra da Chiesa. We
have also been very fortunate in the pianists who have accompanied
us both at rehearsals and performances. Anthea Podmore, our accompanist
of very long standing, retired in 2006 and we were very pleased
that the equally brilliant Beryl Beech was willing to join us.
Since 2006, under Ian’s meticulous guidance we made an amazing
musical journey, taking in performances of some of the most famous
and much-loved choral classics, documented elsewhere and on the
web-site, as well as lighter pieces, generally for our Summer
Concert programmes. Beryl was such a delightful, sensitive, hard-working
and talented accompanist for over twelve years, that it was hard
in 2018 for the Choir to accept her decision to retire, though
happily remaining with us as a strong soprano. We were lucky
indeed to be able to welcome Tony Bridgewater to follow on from
her, bringing with him a wealth of experience, not just as an
accompanist but also as a composer and performer, as well as
willingly deputizing as MD from time to time.
[This article has been condensed
by Anthony Rathbone in 2008 from articles written in April 2000
by Dennis Powell, the choir's former conductor and by Giles Job,
our archivist and member of the bass section, and recently updated
(July 2019) by our then Chairman, Henry Ibberson.]
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Helping
to support our choir...
We are developing various
initiatives in an effort better to secure the Choir’s financial
future. More
>>
Programme
Advertising
We are now including advertisements
in the programme, funded by local businesses who wish to express
their support for our objectives. We extend our grateful thanks
to them and ask that our audience support them wherever you can.
Moreover, if you know of other businesses who may wish to support
us in this way, please contact Mike Coope, Publicity &
External Communications Manager (01902 700426)
Friends
of WDCS
New revised rates of £40
a year for an individual membership and £60 for a couple
membership. We will show our appreciation by offering you several
benefits including price reduction on some tickets, reserved
seating, a free programme, an invitation to our social events,
etc. To download a 'Friends' application form, please click here >>
| Visit
the 'Friends of WDCS' page >> |
Membership
and Company Sponsorship
We are also in contact with
local businesses with a view to making their employees aware
of WDCS, to see if they might enjoy singing and inviting them
initially to come along to our rehearsals. In common with Choral
Societies throughout the land, we are always looking for keen
new singers - if you yourself are interested, please do not hesitate
to let us know!
Allied with this, we have embarked on a programme of Corporate
Sponsorship, whereby we are offering local industrial, commercial
and professional businesses the opportunity to participate, for
certain defined benefits, in the funding of our concert activities,
as well as the engagement of our orchestras and professional
soloists. If you would like to find out more about this programme,
or if you know of a business you feel might be interested in
it, please contact Mike Coope or Henry Ibberson (contact details
shown above).
Wombourne &
District Choral Society is a registered charity No: 1067808
| Corporate
Sponsorship leaflet Download >> |
More >> 
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