Below are brief descriptions of how the Singers celebrated their 30th and 40th anniversaries.

Thirtieth anniversary

Between December 2007 and June 2008 the choir presented a series of three highly successful concerts in St. Barnabas Church to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The programme in each concert was designed to showcase one aspect of the wide range of music from the repertoire that the Singers have built up over the years. The first concert of seasonal music was accompanied by a small orchestra and included Vaughan Williams’ ‘Fantasia on Christmas carols’ and Rutter’s ‘Magnificat’. The second concert in the season of Lent consisted of unaccompanied music in a reflective mood and included Victoria’s ‘Requiem’ and Whitacre’s ‘Sleep’. In the final concert at the height of summer, the singers let their hair down with a selection of light music including Flanders and Horovitz’s ‘Captain Noah and his floating zoo’, madrigals, folksongs and arrangements of Beatles songs.

In addition to being musically successful and a fitting way to celebrate the choir’s 30th anniversary, the three concerts raised nearly £2000 for the St Barnabas Parish Hall refurbishment appeal.

Fortieth anniversary

During 2017 the Choir celebrated its fortieth anniversary with two Sunday afternoon events that both included a short concert followed by tea and cakes and then choral evensong. Both concerts were in the Singers’ ‘home’ church of St Barnabas in Linslade with its superb acoustics for choral music. The first concert, on Passion Sunday, showcased the serious side of the Linsdale Singers. The main work in the concert was Herbert Howell’s sublime Requiem for unaccompanied double choir and soloists. Also included in this concert were Part 1 of the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Thomas Tallis, a set of spirituals arranged by Richard Allain, and anthems for the season of Lent.

The second concert explored the lighter, secular side of the Choir’s repertoire and included a number of Linsdale favourites. The main work in the concert was ‘Songs and Sonnets‘ – George Shearing’s jazzy choral settings of words from Shakespeare accompanied by piano and bass. Also included in the concert were a set of favourite English anthems spanning the centuries from Tudor composer William Byrd to twentieth Century composer Herbert Howells, as well as a variety of secular pieces including arrangements by the Singers’ Musical Director of ‘A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square’ and the Beatles song ‘When I’m sixty-four’. The concert ended with one of the Choir’s all-time favourites, Bruckner’s Locus iste, with many Linsdale alumni joining in.

Both concerts raised much needed funds for the upkeep of St Barnabas Church.