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Following the decision of our  current Director, Val Beynon to step down this summer we are pleased to announce that Elspeth Wyllie, currently  Musical Director of the Women's Choir at the Blackheath Conservatoire, has been appointed to lead us from 1st September 2025. Elspeth has previously held MD positions with the Surrey Heath Singers, St Laurence Catford and St Paul's Herne Hill.

Horsley Choral Society’s Christmas Concert has raised a record £1233 for its nominated charity, at its performance of Handel’s Messiah just before Christmas. Thanks to the generosity of those attending the sum raised was almost double that collected last year.

This year’s charity, Annabelle’s Challenge, nominated by choir member Jacqui Fisher, is a charity supporting people who have Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (vEDS). vEDS is a rare connective tissue disorder that affects all tissues, arteries and internal organs in the body making them extremely fragile. Patients are at daily risk of sudden arterial or organ rupture often with catastrophic results. They also have extremely fragile skin which bruises and tears with little or no trauma. Daily life is a difficult balance between managing the extreme anxiety of a major rupture whilst trying to live fulfilling and productive lives. Patients are on constant high alert and emergency ready.

VEDS is thought to affect around 800 people in the UK. The condition is genetic and there is no known cure. Annabelle’s Challenge supports people with this awful condition as well as their families, giving them a safe space to talk and share their experiences. They help people to navigate their medical care and to advocate for themselves with medics who mostly haven’t heard of or had any experience of vEDS. They also work to raise awareness, both generally and within the medical profession and raise funds for research.

Jacqui’s son was diagnosed when he was 7 years old. Since then he has suffered multiple complications including collapsed lungs, dissected arteries, bowel rupture, lung bleeds and numerous cuts and severe bruising.  At the age of just twenty-four he suffered a stroke.

Jacqui volunteers for Annabelle’s challenge as a patient advocate. Her role involves running support groups, supporting patients and their families to be prepared and self advocate in the event of a medical emergency and raising awareness and knowledge, especially amongst health care providers. Jacqui is always looking for ways to help raise the much-needed funds to support this work. Over the last twenty years outcomes for people with Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome have improved, with some people now living into middle age. This is due to the tireless work of Annabelle’s Challenge and some very dedicated medical specialists who support them. Raising awareness and funds helps to save lives, and gives people affected by Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome hope for the future. More information on its work can be found at https://www.annabelleschallenge.org

Horsley Choral Society is a non-audition choir which rehearses every Monday in East Horsley. They are currently preparing for a performance of local composer Will Todd’s Passion Music, part of the Leith Hill Music Festival to be held on Friday 11th April in the Dorking Halls. The Choir welcomes new members- more information can be found at www.horsleychoralsociety.com

In 2011 when Val became Musical Director of HCS, she was already a familiar face to the choir having both sung as a choir member and on occasion stepping in to conduct when the previous MD had been away for one reason or another.

Val was born and brought up in Sheffield and from an early age enjoyed music, dancing, singing and piano. As a child, she attended weekly concerts by the Halle Orchestra under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli and later at school in North Wales, furthered her musical studies, playing 3rd violin in the school orchestra and leading the choir. After attending Dartington College of Arts she studied at Rolle College, Exmouth following a course for musical education in schools. She continued her singing studies and achieved her ARCM in singing teaching. 

Returning to Sheffield to begin her teaching career, she joined the Bach choir, often travelling to Huddersfield, Leeds and Bradford to give concerts. In 1970 she moved to Oxshott with her parents and  a teaching post at Danes Hill School taking posts as Director of Music and Head of Pastoral Care and also conducting the Chamber Choir at the school. 

Increasingly involved in village life, Val formed the Oxshott Junior Singers, a village choir for children and also took on the WI choir. Her own choral singing with the Leatherhead Choral Society and her involvement in the Leith Hill Musical Festival led her to re-found the Oxshott Choral Society in 1975, which immediately took part in the Festival. With Horsley Choral Society also singing in the Festival, Val finds herself very busy competing on two LHMF days.

Although now living in Cobham, Val retains a very active life in Oxshott and is Director of Music at St Andrew's Church, Oxshott. Thanks to Val, Horsley and Oxshott Choral Societies are now firm friends and have performed together on several occasions. In 2023 Val was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the community in Surrey. The award came as recognition for all Val has done in encouraging music making and singers through the various choirs she has conducted in the County.

In 2024, under Val's leadership HCS were divisonal winners in the Leith Hill Music Fesitival.

Val will be a hard act to follow but both choirs have been discussing arrangements for recruiting a successor with further announcements anticipated later in the year.

Horsley Choral Society, under the leadership of Musical Director Val Beynon BEM, were crowned divisional winners at this year's Leith Hill Music Festival held at the Dorking Halls on Saturday 13th April 2024. The Festival was established in 1905, by Margaret Vaughan-Williams, the sister of the renowned composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams who was the festival conductor until 1953.

Saturday's competition involved six local choirs who each performed three works, one accompanied, one unaccompanied and finally a work by a living composer, in front of the adjudicator, Neil Ferris who is set to take over from current festival conductor Jonathan Willcocks later this year. Horsley outscored the competition to be crowned worthy winners.
The award was accepted on behalf of the 60-strong choir by Val Beynon during the evening performance when all six choirs totalling 250 singers, accompanied by the  Southern Pro-Musica Orchestra, came together for a major concert which included works by Morton Lauridsen and Puccini finishing with the tradition singing of the Vaughan-Williams hymn 'God be with you till we meet again'.

HCS's next concert, "Eventide",  featuring Faure's Requiem, will be on Sunday 2nd June at St John's School, Leatherhead. New singers are always welcome to join regular rehearsals on Monday evenings in East Horsley Village Hall. For more details see News and Events on this website