The Hastings Town Singers are looking for new voices. By Julia Mortimer

The first time I saw the Hastings Town Singers was when they performed, fleetingly, at another first – Hastings Pride 2017; I had hoped that this year I would be reviewing a rather longer set, as well as encouraging new members by extolling the joys of singing with HTS. Sadly this was not to be as the 2018 weather gods rained on Pride’s parade on a grand scale and by the time the Singers were due to appear, the event was pretty much washed out. They are, however, very definitely looking for new recruits.

In order to find out more about what’s involved, I talked to a rain-splattered Chris Hills who joined HTS almost two years ago.

He told me that HTS came into his life following the death of his partner of 35 years. Knowing that he needed to rebuild his life on his own, he started to mull over the things he’d always wanted to do but had never had the chance and singing ‘for the simple joy of it’ popped up. A quick Google search on ‘singing for fun in Hastings’ took him to the HTS website and he’s been singing ‘everything from Motown to Mozart’ with them ever since.

On his first visit to Castledown School on a Thursday evening, he was relieved to find that there were no scary auditions or sight reading required; he received an open-armed welcome from other choir members and just joined in with the singing. You can have two free sessions to find out if it’s for you before you sign up (£25 per month). People often worry (not unreasonably) that they can’t sing but Chris says you don’t need to have a good voice or any experience. ‘If you like to sing in the car or the shower or while you’re dancing you’ll fit right in’.

The choir is led by the dynamic and inspiring MJ Paranzino, who brings decades of experience from both the USA and the UK. She also runs two choirs in London and one in Brighton and for events all four come together to form one massive ‘community choir’. Given that they are amateurs, with the emphasis on fun rather than perfection, the sound of the combined MJ singers is pretty impressive. Chris told me some of the particularly memorable moments in his time with HTS have included singing Jessie J’s ‘Price Tag’ alongside local schoolchildren in West London at a charity concert for Grenfell Tower residents and a magical Christmas concert in the atrium of the V&A, singing Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ at full volume. He also found himself singing Mozart’s beautiful ‘Laudate Dominum’ alongside prisoners at Wandsworth Jail as part of MJ’s ‘Liberty Choir’ programme. Events like these are optional and it’s fine if you just want to sing locally or at rehearsals. At HTS the emphasis really is on having fun.

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Chris, like many others in HTS, found that joining the choir has enriched his life enormously, ‘It’s hard to believe how much that Google search changed my life.’ So, whether you’re looking for a life-changer or a fun activity on a Thursday night, HTS might be just the place for you.

• For more information go to: www.hastingstownsingers.co.uk or email:
[email protected], visit Facebook and Twitter 

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