History

The Bristol Phoenix Choir was founded by Ronald Short in 1963, starting from an evening class group. A vinyl recording of the choir is extant dating from 1976; the choir at that stage sang mostly short pieces of folk-type music.

The next conductor/chairman was Paul Stephens. Under his direction the choir expanded to a peak of about 80 voices. By 1985, the choir was rehearsing at Christ Church, Broad Street, in Bristol city centre. Concerts were given at a wide variety of venues including some in locations outside the city.

The rehearsal venue was changed in 1988 after much searching to the then Liberal Club in Jacobs Wells Road. Unfortunately the club closed and another search resulted in the venue changing again to Clark's College in Clifton.

Paul relinquished his dual post in 1990 to take holy orders and the BPC's constitution was rewritten. A conventional structure was adopted with a chairman, secretary and treasurer and committee members met regularly. Other posts such as librarian and membership secretary were also outside the committee. The new committee, chaired by Roger Syrett, appointed David Ogden as Musical Director shortly after he graduated from Bristol University.

Musically, the choir then prospered and the next problem was the closure of Clark's. Luckily, Bethesda Church was just around the corner. David Ogden moved on to greater responsibilities and Ian Ball was appointed as MD. He in turn made a career move to Gloucester and Prof. Leslie Bunt, our current musical director, was appointed in 1998.

The choir now rehearses at St Matthew's Church, Cotham.