The mayors and mayoresses of Farnham and Waverley were among the delighted audience attending the Waverley Singers concert at St Thomas-on-The Bourne Church on October 19.

Richard Pearce’s singers rose to the occasion in great style to produce a memorable evening of choral music.

The Cherubini Credo in Eight Voices is 20 minutes of constant eight-part singing which must be one of the hardest choral works to perform. But the Waverleys emerged from sometimes slightly murky valleys to stride triumphant on the sunlit uplands of a glorious finishing Amen!

Then came Salvator Mundi, John Blow’s cry for help with long, agonising, harmonic clashes, brought to us with marvellous tuning, expressiveness and intensity.

All the choral music was sacred, but the organ pieces in the middle of each half gave contrast - the slightly cheesy Rheinberger Sonata and the rumbustious Mendelssohn War March of the Priests, both delivered with panache by Philip Scriven.

Bruckner's Christus Factus Est brought out a magnificent performance from the men, before the finish with Finzi’s God is Gone Up - up with a triumphant shout, with conductor, choir and organist fully committed, hugely appreciated by the audience, with much clapping and many bows.

Thank you, Waverleys. A great concert.

John Broom