Cheltenham Minster Singers were formed in May 2013. Cheltenham Parish Church (St Mary's) was made a Minster on 3 February 2013 and Paul Collacott was asked to form a scratch choir to sing at the service. 29 people gathered to sing from the gallery in the Minster. They sang Locus Iste by Anton Bruckner, a piece written for the dedication of a chapel in Linz in Austria. Those in the choir enjoyed the experience and asked whether something more permanent could be set up. Three months later we had an inaugural meeting (and sing) with even more people and decided that the Minster Singers would come into existence as a choir that met once a month.

The choir now meets one Sunday afternoon a month, except for December. We aim to put on three regular concerts a year: late January/early February to mark the anniversary of the Minster Making (Locus Iste is always sung), June/July for an afternoon concert with strawberries & cream and late November for an Advent Carol concert. Each concert always has a guest soloist. Paul Collacott is still the conductor and Michael Barrett the accompanist.

Anyone can join the Minster Singers and there is no membership fee. We usually sing relatively short pieces of sacred or appropriate secular music, which are copyright-free, and now have a reasonably large repertoire.

Rehearsal dates for 2026 are as follows with all rehearsals in the Minster from 2.30pm to 4.30 on a Sunday afternoon:

1 March (February rehearsal)

29 March

26 April

31 May

21 June

26 July

23 August

27 September

1 November (October rehearsal)

22 November

The two remaining concerts for 2026 are

Saturday 27 June - Summer Strawberries and Cream Concert at 3pm

Saturday 28 November - Advent Carols at 11am

If you would like come and join us and/or have more information, please get in touch with the church office by emailing office@stmatthewsandtheminster.org