Choir ends on emotional high note after 192 years

The final performance, featuring some of the choir's favourite songs, was one of their best yet, chairman Dave Perfect said

A choir which has been running for 192 years has staged an "emotional" final concert.

Warrington Musical Society was set up in 1833, but said it was folding due to financial difficulties and declining members.

Chairman Dave Perfect, from Warrington, Cheshire, said it had never recovered from losing members during the Covid-19 pandemic and had just 18 members left.

He said the farewell concert at Christ Church Padgate was one of their best yet, with about 75 attending to hear the choir's favourite choral works from over the years.

"We are singing as well as we have done and it was good to end on a high," he said.

The church was packed for the final performance by the Warrington Musical Society

The 64-year-old said the majority of the remaining members had been with the choir, which is one of the oldest continuing music societies in the country, for about 25 years.

He said the society had 90 members in the 1960s and 1970s.

"It was emotional," Mr Perfect said. "One member has been with us for 30 years. It was sad when it has some much history.

"We decided last year to end, though, as we were running out of money and have been unable to attract new members."