Trustee Candidates' Statements

Richard Fletcher, Tenor (standing as Treasurer)

I have been singing second tenor with the choir for about ten years. I enjoy the camaraderie of the tenor section and the exhilaration of singing with a good choir. I have acted as the choir treasurer for three years and appreciate being able to contribute to the life of the choir.

Gill and I have four children and two grandchildren who keep us busy. We enjoy gardening and travelling, I also keep bees. I am an electrical engineer, now largely retired, having worked most of my career as a fire investigator and managing director of a company of forensic scientists and engineers.

Paget Fulcher, Bass (standing as Vice Chair)

I joined the choir at the beginning of 2023. I had been thinking of joining for a little while but when I saw that the spring concert included ‘Carmina Burana’ which I had really enjoyed singing 25 years earlier as a member of a similar choir in North Hertfordshire. My recollection had been that it was fairly straightforward – how the memory can play tricks! As well as singing with this choir, I also sing with the male voice choir and its offshoot the Edmunds Octet, the latter being famous for having twelve members, but gloriously directed by Benedict. I hope that my experience of singing in a range of choirs will enable me to bring additional insight to the committee.

Against the often expressed advice not to move to an area that you do not know when you retire, we moved from Hitchin in November 2018 to a house in Bury St Edmunds where the brewery is our neighbour. Mary, my wife, and I think that we could not have made a better choice. We found that we arrived in a town that has so much to offer in so many ways, but above all it is the friendliness of the people, and the choir has added yet another dimension to our lives.

James Heathcote, Tenor (standing as Chair)

I joined Bury Bach Choir for the St Matthew Passion in 2019 and have loved the experience of singing in a large and successful choir. Although still working as a GP at Angel Hill Surgery, I will be further reducing my work commitment from December this year and - although we all know that work really does ‘expand to fill the available time’ - I hope that this will give me the time to chair the choir and, hopefully, do it well.

We are very lucky in Bury to be able to sing wonderful music to a high standard and I hope that the next few years will see us continue doing this together.

Carolyn Heywood, Alto (standing as Secretary)

I have been a member of the choir since 1975 when Mike and I (newly married) came to live in Suffolk. Choral singing has been my constant enthusiasm from an early age, starting with school choirs, then while working in London and even when we lived for a while in Singapore. I am retired now but, apart from involvement in various ways with our farm machinery manufacturing business, I was a magistrate on the Bury bench and an adviser at Citizens Advice, both for over 20 years. 

I have benefited enormously from the opportunities and experiences that come with membership of our choir and I would love to think that we can offer a similar 50 years to any young member joining now ! My enthusiasm for and loyalty to Bury Bach continues and to contribute now as a trustee would be the icing on the cake. 

Sarah Mansfield, Soprano (standing as Box Office Manager)

I joined the choir in 2011, delighting in the opportunity to sing The Dream of Gerontius as my first Bury Bach Choir concert. It’s now a very important part of my life. 

Singing has been a central feature of my life since childhood. From singing the Latin mass each Sunday in my VERY Catholic upbringing and the chapel choir at school, to a brief stint with CUMS chorus at university (before rowing totally took over) and various church and community choirs. 

I qualified as a teacher in 1995 and have worked in various educational settings across a wide age range. My main subject is English Literature but I am also passionate about music education and am currently enjoying the opportunity to work with several local schools on Noye’s Fludde. I am also a member of The Singing Schools Steering Group. 

I am standing for re-election to further contribute to the wonderful world of Bury Bach Choir as we move towards our centenary. 

Julia Rance, Soprano (standing as New Members' Secretary)

I have always had a passion for music since a very young age and was brought up around a huge variation of genres, including classical music. I have a very busy life as a mum of two children and as a wife. I am a primary school teacher and a leader for music and art design at my school. This has helped me develop my knowledge and understanding of how music impacts our lives and entwines with the arts, too.

I have been on the committee now for a couple of years as a singing member and have been very active in many areas to help out others with their roles and to support the choir behind the scenes.

I would now like to develop my skills to offer the choir a face for the members, both new and yet to be! I envisage continuing to help others in the choir alongside this role of supporting and engaging others in joining, settling in and continuing to enjoy choir camaraderie and fellowship – after all, the choir is all about people!

Steve Ruthen, Bass (standing as Concert Manager)

I’m a 2nd bass (only because there’s no 3rd bass part). I joined the choir in 2001 and my first concert was Handel’s Messiah. That was lucky as I’d last sung anything as a treble many years before, but I recognised some of the tunes. That’s my definition of sight reading.  I’m married to alto Sally and Wednesday evenings are almost sacred as the one pastime we share a passion for. Invariably when one of us likes a new work, the other is unconvinced. But by the end of the rehearsal schedule we normally have it nailed.

I’ve been retired for over 6 years, and gradually I’ve taken up small roles with various groups.

Other interests are chess (OK, for me it’s a drug) plus local history. Despite retiring from Greene King I remain a brewery guide there, and will clock up 40 years continuous service next April. I also have a passion for the wildlife of South Africa and have made several trips to remote places where the only antidote to a snake bite is don’t get bitten. 

I would be delighted to serve the choir if elected onto the committee. Although I’ve been a member for many years, I never cease to wonder at the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes for every concert. I would like to play a small part in the choir’s continued success.

Janet Todd, soprano (standing as Librarian)

I joined the choir and became Librarian in 2008, and have been here ever since!

Richard Chatham, Bass (standing as a Singing Member)

I joined our choir in 2012, and am now retired after a career of international travel exporting and as a Director of a company in Bury for 25 years. Married to Claire, I have two grown-up daughters and two lovely busy grandchildren. In addition to the family I enjoy long distance walking, gardening, playing tennis, listening to the cricket and watching rugby. I am churchwarden of our village church and help as a volunteer for the Suffolk Home Library Service. 

I have sung in choirs since I was a boy and had an early introduction to being a small part of a choir that can produce a truly uplifting sound. That uplifting feeling is still the same today with our choir.

The Bach Choir brings hard work and fun as we meet, learn, practise, improve and perform to high standards—together. I would like to offer myself to serve as a singing member on the committee to help the BBCh to continue to develop and flourish.

Jo Dekkers, Soprano (standing as a Singing Member)

I joined Bury Bach Choir in 2016. Singing has always been a part of my life, from school, where I was in the Chapel choir and a Concert Choir that gave termly concerts of larger choral works (including performing Brittain’s War Requiem in the Albert Hall). After the University choir and a break to have children, I joined the Stevenage Choral Society in 2001, until I moved up to Suffolk in 2008.  

I started my career as a neuroscientist, conducting research into childhood Motor Neurone Diseases and left the lab to join the Medical Research Council in 2000. On moving to Suffolk, I joined the University of Cambridge, and am currently the Head of Research Operations, with responsibility for the operational delivery of research grants and contracts for the University of Cambridge.

I manage a large office, so I have experienced the challenges imposed by the pandemic. I am acutely aware of the amount of work the Choir Committee has been doing to ensure that we were able to return to singing together safely after lockdown, and am extremely grateful that they have been willing to give of their time and expertise so that we can continue to enjoy singing and performing.  I would like to join the committee in order to offer my experience and support and ensure that we can sing together for years to come.

Mary-Clare O’Sullivan, Alto (standing as a Singing Member)

I first joined Bury Bach Choir in 1999. I have sung under Fred and Philip but with a long hiatus due to work and family commitments. I rejoined the choir in 2018 and have been here ever since. I have four children and several grandchildren who my husband and I care for regularly. I have had two careers; the first in financial services marketing 1984-2000 and, following a complete re-training, the second as a Cardiology Nurse from 2005-2020. I am now retired. Outside of the choir I enjoy theatre and music of all types, yoga and walking our energetic Airedale.

I want to continue working as part of the team steering Bury Bach Choir into a new era. With Benedict at the helm, I hope we can continue to broaden our musical repertoire and widen our audiences, without losing our brand recognition and status within Suffolk as an outstanding choir. I am under no illusions that this will be a challenge, but I'm up for it!

Marian Rutherford, Alto (standing as a Singing Member)

I came to Bury St Edmunds in 1970 to start my nurse training and never left! 

When I retired after 42 years at the West Suffolk Hospital, having sung in a couple of other choirs, I felt I needed to join a choir which offered me the opportunity to sing more challenging works and the Bury Bach Choir has certainly fulfilled that need! 

I love singing with this choir and felt I would like to be more involved as a committee member as the choir goes forward with Benedict at the helm.

John White-Thomson, Bass (standing as a Singing Member)

I joined the choir in September 2022. Having been brought up, and gone to school, next door to Canterbury Cathedral, I have always loved choral music. I sang a lot at school and university, before life (three children) and work as a solicitor and internal auditor (in Ipswich and London) got in the way. For the last 30 years my singing has largely been confined to the car. This prompted the children to give me a Cacofonix to stick on the dashboard as a reminder only to sing when alone.

Working from home during lockdown, however, released me from the daily five-hour commute, gave me back my evenings and the opportunity to look for a choir to join. The Bury Bach Choir was the obvious choice, and I am so glad I joined. With so much gloom in the world, it is refreshing to be able to spend time each week concentrating purely on music alongside 100 or so like-minded people. As a prospective singing member of the committee, I would like to be involved in and help shape, in whatever way I can, What the Bury Bach Choir Does Next.