The story starts in 1964 when Sheila gathered 6 of her students together in her parent’s front room and formed the Kentwood Choir. During those first ten years there were a few notable events; the choir won a class in the Swindon Music Festival and then Sheila Snook won the heart of Christopher Harrod. It was obviously a decade of firsts, the first Annual Show was performed in the Playhouse Theatre (part of the Mechanics Institute), the first Long Playing Disc was recorded and Kentwood went to the famous Llangollen Eisteddfod. When the Wyvern Theatre opened, Kentwood was on stage at the inaugural concert. At this time it was a young ladies choir and so they were able to make their first TV appearance on HTV’s ‘Women Only’.

The songs that we are singing tonight from this decade are: Chapel In The Moonlight, Hallelujah To The Lamb and My Way

The second decade also saw some excursions to Lincoln, Teeside and Greenwich, being just a few. It also saw a foreign trip to Swindon’s twin town Salzgitter in Germany. Kentwood had made its first foray onto foreign soil. With the success of that trip, others quickly followed with two trips to California in the USA, then to Norway and Romania. Time was also found to rehearse and record two more albums.

This was the decade when Top Of The World, Climb Every Mountain and Bridge Over Troubled Water joined the repertoire.

Kentwood’s Roaring Twenties certainly went into overdrive with performances at London’s famous Royal Festival Hall, trips to Poland, Spain and Austria and another major TV appearance on ‘Bob Says Opportunity Knocks’. More recordings were made but 12 inch vinyl was dying and these were cassette and CD. Not to be left out, the Junior Choir secured a run at the London Palladium, performing with Philip Schofield in ‘Joseph And The Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat’ and were then selected to appear in that year’s Royal Variety Performance in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Beautiful Girls, St Louis Blues, American Trilogy, Joseph Megamix, Even Now, One Voice, Rhythm Of Life, One Day More and John Miles Music joined the repertoire in this decade.

Always keen to accept exciting challenges, this more mature decade saw a full theatrical production of ‘The Sound Of Music’ at the Wyvern Theatre; a guest appearance at a star studded concert in Windsor for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s 80th birthday organised by The Loyal Order of Water Rats. The Water Rats were not the only stars who had noticed Kentwood. After being invited to join us at the Wyvern Theatre, Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine returned the honour and Kentwood performed with them in the Christmas Shows in Wavendon and their 50th Anniversary Gala in the Royal Albert Hall. With so much else going on it was not surprising that only one CD was recorded and only one excursion to foreign climes, Ireland.

The Processional Hymn, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, It Don’t Mean A Thing, Ev’ry Time I Feel The Spirit, Morte Christe Hymn, Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves and Just Arrived all first appeared with Kentwood during this decade.

This most recent period of Kentwood featured an appearance on Songs of Praise where Kentwood was seen in the beautiful Malmesbury Abbey. A visit to a choral conference at Guildford Cathedral provided a lasting memory for the choir in that it included singing ‘The Armed Man’ under the baton of the composer Karl Jenkins! Other trips included opening the ‘Garden Season’ in Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth’s garden and another trip to Ireland. Three CDs were recorded.

New music is constantly joining the list of Kentwood’s repertoire and It Is Well With My Soul, Somebody To Love, Dream A Little Dream, O Fortuna and This is The Moment all come from this most recent decade.