Musical Team - Tamworth Ladies’ Choir

MUSICAL TEAM

Hilary Griffiths – Musical Director

Hilary was born and brought up on the Isle of Man and developed a love of music from an early age. She learned to play the flute at school and played in various groups and orchestras on the island.

She studied at St Martin’s College, Lancaster, a teacher training college, singing and playing in several college run music groups.

Her first teaching job brought her to North Warwickshire. During the 1980s Hilary played flute in the pit orchestra for several productions of the Nuneaton Gilbert and Sullivan Society and the Nuneaton Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society. She also sang with the City of Birmingham Choir for four years until her children came along.

From 1992 – 2005 Hilary worked for Warwickshire County Music Service as a peripatetic Class Music teacher. In 2005 she had a career change and now works as a Bookkeeper for a firm of accountants in Shenstone.

Hilary sang with Atherstone Choral Society before she joined Bedworth Singers in 2004. There arose the opportunity to take split rehearsals and stand in for the MD when he couldn’t attend rehearsals. That was when she was bitten by the conducting bug, and, since she missed the creative challenge of teaching, she began to look for some conductor training.

The desire to conduct became stronger after attending two choral conducting courses at Reading University. The course tutor recommended she attend the Sing for Pleasure Summer School at Keele University, a week long intensive programme of training for choral conductors. Hilary has attended six summer schools and numerous weekend courses which has led to her achieving Sing for Pleasure’s advanced level of choral conducting. She continues to attend Sing for Pleasure courses.

Hilary was Musical Director of Bedworth Singers, a mixed choir, from 2010 to 2018 but in June of 2018 was appointed Musical Director of Woodland Singers, another ladies choir based in Rugby.
She was Musical Director of The Sheepy Melody Makers a small vocal group from Sheepy Magna, for five years but bid them a fond farewell in January 2019 to become Musical leader of Oadby Community Choir.Hilary took over as Musical Director of Tamworth Ladies’ Choir in June 2017 and she hopes her tremendous passion for music rubs off on the choir and is looking forward to a long and successful association with it.

Andy Smith – Accompanist

The choir were very pleased when Andy agreed to become their accompanist in February 2019 following a period “on loan” from Mercian Singers where he is Musical Director.

He started playing the piano at the age of five, followed shortly after by the trumpet and he has been playing music ever since, concentrating on the piano since his late teens.

After studying at the Royal College of Music in London on a Saturday Junior Scholarship scheme, between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and obtaining his Diploma he decided that professional music was not for him as he preferrred to play for a hobby.

Andy moved from Hertfordshire to Tamworth in 1999 to follow his career in banking.

During his musical career he has worked with a number of amatuer operatic societies in the Home Counties as both accompanist and Musical Director.

To add variety he has also played keyboard in bands varying in style from ceilidh to rock.

Andy joined the then Tamworth Male Voice Choir in 2005 as accompanist before taking over as Musical Director in 2009.

Subsequently Andy oversaw the choir’s very successful transition into the Mercian Singers, a full range mixed choir.

Despite his busy schedule with Tamworth Ladies’ Choir he still finds time to look after his wife Katie, a soprano singer, and two grown up daughters, neither of whom share their parents interest in music.