Bangor Ladies Choir are based in Bangor Northern Ireland on the coast of County Down by the shores of Belfast Lough.
The Choir was formed back in the early days of 1976 by Isobel Reid, the founding conductor. In 1990 Isobel retired from conducting and the baton was confidently passed to Musical Director, Joan Houston who led the choir to become one of the finest Ladies Choirs in Northern Ireland.
In April 2011 Paul Briggs was appointed as Musical Director of Bangor Ladies Choir and together with Deputy Conductor Christine Crutchley, Assistant Conductor Margaret McDowell and Accompanist Joanne Cruise with Deputy Accompanist Sheelagh Greer.
In June 2017 Paul Briggs decided to step down as Musical Director with Bangor Ladies Choir in order to concentrate his musical talents and expertise with Ballyclare Male Choir. Bangor Ladies Choir will always be very grateful for Paul’s direction and guidance and how he raised the choir’s performances to new heights. Taking the reins from Paul in 2017 was Christine Crutchley who had been Deputy Conductor with BLC and she looked forward to bringing her style and panache to the choir and moving forward to a new era.
The Choir membership now stands at 67 ladies. Being part of the choir requires two very important elements – dedication and commitment – and it is evident that, over the years, these have remained at the core of the choir, demonstrating the loyalty of the choir members not only to each other but to keeping the talent of choral singing alive and well! Excellent performances just don’t happen and a lot of hard work and effort is put in at every rehearsal, however, the camaraderie, enjoyed by everyone, is also a very special part of being a Choir Member.
In 2005 the local Council of the borough of North Down conferred the status of Borough Ambassador on Bangor Ladies Choir. This was the first conferment ever to an external Organisation outside of the Council Membership and the Choir were privileged and proud to accept this unique position. In 2015 the Borough of North Down merged with the neighbouring borough of Ards but the Choir will always remain Ambassadors for the town of Bangor, the Borough of Ards and North Down and indeed Northern Ireland – irrespective of whether their travels take them across the Province or across the world.
