A Short History of John Ruskin Choral Sociey

John Ruskin Choral Society was formed in 1981 at John Ruskin College in Selsdon. The College Head of Music, Paul Kelly had decided to put on a performance of the Messiah in that year and as well as students, staff and parents were invited to join in. The performance was so successful that it was decided to form a choral society to give three concerts a year. Since then the society has given over sixty concerts encompassing a wide variety of music in a number of events in and around the Croydon area.
In the early years when there was a large input from the students the society could call upon about sixty singers. The choir continued to meet there until 2002 when the College could no longer accomodate them in the evening. They then moved to Shirley Methodist Church where we now have a membership of around fifty singers.
Since 1981 the choir has had five musical directors, Paul Kelly (1981 to 1991), Howard Thomas (1987), Bruce Cornelius (1991 to 1994 and 1997 to 2000),Roy Terry (1994 to 1996) and Adrian Connell (2001 to present).