Rotherhithe & Bermondsey Choral Society

RBCS is a friendly non-audition mixed-voice amateur community choir based in Rotherhithe, Southwark, south-east London.
Our aim is to practise and perform good music to suit a variety of tastes, and have a good time in the process.

Rehearsal time: 8.00–9.45 pm every Tuesday during term-time.

Rehearsal place: St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, Saint Marychurch St, London SE16 4HZ subject to availability. Please check your choir emails for up-to-date information.

Current repertoire:

  • Clive Jenkins’ Mayflower Pilgrims cantata, for our Winter Concert on Saturday 13 November, 7pm at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe – close to the moorings from where the Mayflower set off on the first leg of its voyage to America.
  • Favourite Christmas carols from 100 Carols for Choirs 🎄, for a carol concert in December, date and venue to be confirmed.

COVID SAFETY
After many months of Zoom meetings, we’re delighted to be rehearsing in person again. As an intergenerational choir, we’re conscious that we need to be extra careful about social distancing and mask wearing. All choir members wear masks when entering or moving around the rehearsal space, and many of us choose to keep our masks on throughout the rehearsal.

IMPORTANT: In an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, weekly rehearsals are currently held online. A small group of singers rehearse LIVE with our Musical Director, Sue Heath-Downey, and are broadcast via Zoom in high quality for the rest of the choir to join. We are singing carols from the book “100 Carols For Choirs”, with scans of the music emailed weekly to the members. Details of how to join the rehearsals are sent via the choir email list. If you would like more information don’t hesitate to get in contact.

New members are always welcome for all voice parts. If you enjoy singing and are interested in joining us, please contact us, or just come along to the next rehearsal. See our Join us page for more details of membership.

 

NEWS

  • CHRISTMAS PAST (AND CHRISTMAS FUTURE?)
    Here’s a (pre-Covid) video of RBCS singing carols under the tree in Trafalgar Square – courtesy of France 3 TV News. Enjoy!

EVENTS

  • WINTER CONCERT
    The Mayflower Pilgrims cantata
    Saturday 13 November 2021, 7pm
    St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe , SE16 4HZ
  • CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT
    December 2021
    Date and venue to be confirmed
  • SPRING CONCERT (CANCELLED)
    Requiems by Maurice Duruflé and John Rutter
    4th April 2020
  • CHRISTMAS CONCERT
    Benjamin Britten, Ceremony of Carols
    14th December 2019
  • Southwark Park 150 Year Anniversary
    16th July 2019
    Southwark Park
  • SPRING CONCERT 2019
    Brahms, A German Requiem
    13th April 2019
    St James’ Church, Bermondsey
    SE16 4AA

 

  • CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2018
    Alexander Lestrange, Wassail! Carols of Comfort and Joy
    Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Messe de Minuit de Noel
    15th December 2018
    St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe,
    St Marychurch Street, SE16 4JE

 

  • SUMMER CONCERT 2018
    Songs from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story,
    and more
    14th July 2018
    St. Peter’s Church, Bermondsey,
    Paradise Street, SE16 4QD

 

  • Pictures from our Spring 2018 performance


 

  • CAROL SINGING ROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE
    in Trafalgar Square
    Thursday 21 December 2017, 7–8pm.

 

  • WINTER CONCERT 2017
    Seasonal music including Francis Poulenc’s Christmas Motets
    (Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël)
    Saturday 2 December 2017, 7pm,
     St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe – St Marychurch Street, SE16 4JE.

 

  • ILLUMINATE ROTHERHITHE 2017
    On 23 November, members of RBCS took part in the Mayflower Concert at St Mary’s Church – part of the inaugural Illuminate Rotherhithe festival.
    Click on the image below to watch a video of the concert.

 

 

  • SUMMER CONCERT 2017
    Carl Orff’s  Carmina Burana and music from mediaeval Europe

RBCS Community Choir
directed by Sue Heath-Downey
plus the wonderful Boutcher Primary School Choir
with soloists Kirsty McLean (soprano) and Panos Ntourntoufis (tenor)
accompanied by percussion and two pianos

TIME: Saturday 8 July 2017, 7.30
PLACE: St Peter and the Guardian Angels Church,
Paradise Street, SE16 4QD
(off King’s Stairs Gardens, near The Angel pub)

Download a flyer here.

 

 

 

 

  • RBCS IN THE COMMUNITY

Funday1_cropOn Saturday 19th September 2015, members of RBCS sang at Cherry Garden TRA Fun Day, to celebrate the refurbishment of the TRA Hall.

The organisers said, ‘A great big thanks to you and all your singers for your brilliant contribution to our Fun Day. It was such a lovely finale!‘Funday2_crop

Thank you, Cherry Gardens TRA, for inviting us! We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

 
RBCS and friends sing Verdi’s Requiem at St James’s, Bermondsey, 5th April 2014
Photography by Thea Downey

 

Singing in Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, May 2013

 

We are proud and honoured to have won a Southwark Civic Award for our community activities.

Civic_award_2013

Please click on the image to see a full-scale version.