A Profile of the Choir’s Founder

Bob Barrett, the Choir’s Musical Director and Conductor, sang with the Stockton Male Voice Choir in the first concert in Northallerton Town Hall on the evening of June 17th 1968. Born in 1929 in Seaham, County Durham, Bob moved to Northallerton in 1961 after having been appointed Senior Accountant to the County Treasurer’s Department. Bob’s musical talent was first recognised in 1967 when, having directed a Scout and Guide Gang Show he became the pianist for the Amateur Operatic Society and conductor for the Women’s Institute Choir. Though the Choir’s performance of Malcolm Williamson’s cantata ‘The Brilliant and the Dark’ secured a victory in the County Competition it failed to win National Title. Undeterred Bob, at the request of Bert Whittaker, a member of the Amateur Operatic Society, formed the Northallerton Male Voice Choir in 1968 and took up the post of Musical Director.
Keen to develop his obvious musical talent Bob obtained the Associate and Licentiate qualifications of the London College of Music and subsequently the Licentiate Teaching Diploma of the London Trinity College for singing. In 1982 Bob was appointed Deputy County Treasurer, a post he held until his retirement in 1989. In October 1989 Bob took control of the Romanby Ladies Choir following the retirement of Elsie Coombs, the Male Voice Choir’s pianist for 14 years, and reformed it as the Northallerton Ladies Choir. In 1990 Bob became a member of the Rotary Club of Northallerton and was it’s 50th President in 1996.After ill health forced Bob to hand over the Conductor’s baton he stayed in touch with the Choir and is currently our President .