When you start a concert with What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor in four-part harmony, and the audience joins in with great enthusiasm, you know it’s going to be a fun evening.

And so it was for Strawberry Hill Community Choir’s summer concert, Songs of the Sea, on Tuesday 7 July 2026. There was drama! Wild weather! Peaceful lagoons! And a lot of laughter on the way.

“Amazed that anyone can join, no auditions necessary – thought it was so good!”

Audience comment

Captained as ever by our dynamic music director James Speakman, the choir sang a wide-ranging programme including pieces by Herbert Sumsion, Thomas Campion, CHH Parry and Eric Whitacre, traditional songs such as The Wellerman (New Zealand), Skye Boat Song (Scotland), and modern favourites such as Sailing by Gavin Sutherland.

And what solo treats we got! Our extraordinary baritone soloist Patrick Alexander Keefe rose to the occasion with storming solos in Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, Charles Trenet’s La Mer, and Frank Loesser’s Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat.

Jon Booth, our accompanist on piano and organ, gave us Debussy’s gorgeous, meditative La Cathédrale Engloutie on the piano.

Our MD James’s rendition of Hornpipe Humoresque on the organ had choir and audience enthralled – and there were gales of laughter as we recognised the musical references.

Good dynamics and rounded sound!

Audience comment

Thank you to everyone involved, to our audience and to the wonderful staff at St Mary’s Church Twickenham for making us so welcome. It really was an evening to remember, for all the right reasons.

Video coming soon!