## **Chairperson’s Report to Annual General Meeting, 9[th] October 2025** 

_This has been my first year as chairperson of the Altnagelvin Hospital choir, I have been honoured to carry out this role but wish to declare that without the support, hard work, and dedication of the other committee members I would not have been able to fulfil my duties._ 

_This report is a review of the past year 2024-2025, which has been a busy year for the choir. In the early autumn, we bid farewell to Nicky Morton our accompanist. Nicky accompanied the choir for a number of years in rehearsals, concerts and deputised on occasion for our musical director. He brought music, skill, patience and good humour to our practices and has been greatly missed but we have been grateful for all his input to the choir and wish him well in his endeavours._ 

_The choir began the season in October supporting the Altnagelvin ICU memorial service at the Guildhall. This is always a very moving event and we are honoured to be able to bring even a little bit of musical joy to those who have lost their loved ones in the previous year in the intensive care unit._ 

_In early December, we held two carol services, which were well attended, and generous donations raised significant funds for our charity. This year we sang ‘_ _**Mary did you know?** ’ which was arranged by our very own and very talented Derek Collins._ 

_We were again able to sing carols on the wards shortly before Christmas, which is always a delight and for me one of the high points of the year._ 

_The choir started back early January to finish the preparation for our concert in late January, 2025. We were supported by fantastic soloists, Anna Gregg, Patrick McGinley and Ryan Garnham and despite the impact of storm Eowyn on the travel arrangements of one of our soloists, the concert went to plan and was a great success evidenced by the positive comments from the audience. Huge congratulations to our choir but as always, we are very grateful to Derek Collins, our musical director who prepared us so thoroughly for the event, despite the stresses of the travel disruption._ 

_The choir again had the opportunity to perform The Chilcott Jazz Mass in Christchurch as part of the regular Sunday service but this time as part of the City of Derry Jazz festival.  It was a pleasure and honour to be accompanied by Ben McGonigle on the piano, David Whiteside on drums and Peter Doherty on the double bass, who supported the performance and improvised so well._ 

_Our final performance of the season in Christchurch was the beautiful St John Passion by Bob Chilcott. This moving and dramatic work explores the story of Christ’s passion with sensitivity and musicality. Several of our choir members portrayed the character roles, adding depth to the drama. The principal soloists –our very own Joanna Higgins, Chris Wright and the tenor Charlie Clarke Hughes who narrated the story in arioso style were accompanied by Jack Wilson on the organ and Cheryl McCay on the cello. The audience was invited to attend an early rehearsal and sang very well in the hymn sections, which added to the sense of connection and overall enjoyment for both choir and audience._ 

_A lighter summer event occurred when the medical school requested our presence at the retirement event of Professor Louise Dubras- dean of the medical school and a_ 



_member of our soprano section. This was an emotional event for Louise, who was totally surprised by our presence on the day._ 

_Thanks to the generosity of one of our tenors Alister, the choir enjoyed a late summer social outing to Alister and Peter’s beautiful home. Derek entertained us with amazing organ pieces, Joanna with her beautiful singing and the choir had to sing for their supper too with renditions of some familiar melodies. Only then, could we enjoy a walk around the grounds and tuck into the delicious food._ 

_The performances attracted some new members this year and some returning members, which is always encouraging as our choir post pandemic is rebuilding to its previous state and hopefully will continue to go beyond this._ 

_The hard work of the choir and committee has permitted us to make a donation this year to the chosen charity of the Macular Society although it will be slightly less than previous years due to the rising costs for the choir._ 

_We sincerely thank Jim for arranging the use of Christchurch as our rehearsal venue when the usual room was occupied for the month of May this year and we are also grateful to Jim for facilitating the use of Christchurch for our concerts, where we enjoy the beautiful acoustics._ 

_One of our Altos, Mary Coyle has taken over the social media accounts in terms of publicising our events and often captures interesting moments at rehearsals or in the tea break to spark interest and maintain our social media profile. This has led to a 10% increase in Facebook followers and a 13% increase on Instagram. Mary has really embraced this role and went one-step further this year by writing an article for one of the Trust magazines for staff- promoting the choir as a positive activity for health and wellbeing._ 

_I would like to thank all of the committee members who have shared their knowledge and wisdom with me this past year and have more than shared the workload- thanks to Lesley, Vicki, Jim, Mary, Cathy, Maureen, Paul, Derek and Paddy for their hard work and dedication and keeping me on track- I really appreciate the team effort._ 

_I would like to thank our outgoing president Dr. Paddy McEvoy who has demonstrated leadership, dedication and commitment to the choir in his role over the past 6 years.  Paddy, as you step down from your role as president of our choir, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your exceptional leadership and dedication. We are grateful for the time and effort you have invested in guiding us- always with a smile and always saying just the right words at the right time. Thank you again Paddy._ 

_Finally, I would like to thank all of the choir members – without you there would be no choir, no concerts and no opportunity to raise money for the charities we endeavour to support. Your passion for singing and commitment to the choir has an impact on our community as we continue to fundraise and bring joy with singing._