The choir was founded in 1960 by
Geoffrey Waller
specifically to sing in the Aldershot Music Festival. Approaches to
local church choirs brought volunteers from many backgrounds and walks of life.
Since there was an odd one from here and an odd one from there, the name "Odd
Fellows" seemed very appropriate. However you may notice a bit of ambiguity
setting in, since in recent times we have been tending towards dropping the 'tag'.
Sadly Geoff died on 3 September 1998 at
the age of 86; we shall miss his attendances at our concerts from time to time
to check up on us - and ensure we were maintaining the very high standards
he had sought for the choir.
We were fortunate that Geoff was succeeded as Musical Director by
Colin Wilson who maintained the standards and developed our
style over twenty years. Colin was born in Merthyr Tydfil, educated in science
at Oxford and has had a career in teaching. He brought a thoroughly
professional level of expertise to the art of conducting and under his
leadership the choir explored many new avenues of performance and achieved new
heights. Colin hung up his baton at the end of 2000 and, although he occasionally joins the
ranks of our Second Basses, he now does most of his singing with the London Welsh MVC.