A SCHOOL choir is to take part for the first time in the annual Christmas concert of Pershore Choral Society as part of a new youth policy announced recently to encourage more young people to enjoy classical choral singing.

The Prince Henry’s High School Chamber Choir from Evesham will be performing during the Christmastide event in Pershore Abbey on Saturday, December 15, starting at 7.30pm.

A former Prince Henry’s scholar, Doug Haycock, 21, of Little Comberton, who is a graduate in Law at the University of Kent in Canterbury and is now studying for a Legal Practising Certificate with an MSc in Business at Bristol, will be singing the baritone solo in the main work being performed by the senior Pershore Choral singers.

That centre piece of the concert is Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the choir will also be singing a selection of favourite traditional carols.

The inclusion of the Prince Henry’s students in the event is the opening gambit in an ongoing drive to enable local teenagers to experience and perform some of the greatest choral music ever written.

“This is an exciting innovation for us and our eventual aim is to get young people singing with us as fully fledged members of our choir,” said Ron Haden, chairman of Pershore Choral.

“In recent years, most classical choirs have struggled to attract younger members, but they are the future.

"We would be failing in our duty as custodians of live choral music if we did not enable them to experience the spine-tingling excitement of singing the work of the great composers accompanied by professional musicians of high quality.”

Tickets are available from Val Holton on 01386 553391 or val.holton@btinternet.com and from Blue, 19, Broad Street, Pershore.