Heritage Lottery Fund
In 2016, the Choirs were awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £10,000 for a project to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. The Choirs worked with four local schools to explore the First World War and its impact on the local people of south Essex through poetry, literature, music, family history and creative writing. From this work, the students contributed lyrics to a new choral work Never Forget which was composed by Roger Humphrey and performed in Southend. This piece of music was subsequently performed at the closing ceremony of the 1418 NOW Poppies Wave Exhibition on Gunners Pier, Shoeburyness, to an audience of over 3,000.
In 2013, the Choirs presented the opera Noye’s Fludde in Southend, Tilbury and at Southwark Cathedral to celebrate the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth - composer and former President of the Southend Boys’ Choir. This project received funding from Arts Council England and involved pupils from local schools, youth orchestras and professional musicians.
