Singers of any standard (and age!) are welcome, you don't have to be able to read music to join.
The choir is open to anyone who has a passion for singing.
Membership is £7.50 per month.
Sue Stirzaker comes from a musical family – her Mum and Dad were both singers and her Dad was also a euphonium player of considerable talent, playing with the championship section CWS Manchester band in the 1950s. Music always filled the house and that has continued down the generations.
Sue learned to play piano and trumpet as a child and spent many happy hours as part of youth orchestras, wind bands, competing at music festivals and performing at concerts. In her teens she discovered brass bands and has played for a number of bands, including Eccles, Mossley, Moston and Beswick, Besses o’th Barn and, of course, Astley Youth Band!
Sue took time off to raise a family and then studied teacher training with music specialism at Manchester Metropolitan University. After doing a few years teaching in a primary school in Gorton, Sue took up a position with Salford Music service to do music teaching full time. Since then she has worked for lots of different music services and also set up her own business, Happy Music Limited.
After many years of amateur singing, Sue decided to audition for the Hallé Choir and has been with them now for 5 years. It’s amazing to be able to sing with such a talented and dedicated group of people and Sue has sung in venues all over the country, including twice at the Proms and toured with the choir to Spain.
Music is definitely an integral part of Sue’s life and she is proud to have been involved with Astley Youth Band since it first started in 1994. She ran the Training Band for many years and is now musical director of the wonderful Astley Unlimited Choir. Any spare time is music related; teaching, running a training band at Kearsley Brass Band and another community choir at Blackrod.
This quote from the famous Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly sums up Sue’s philosophy on life and music perfectly!
