An annual award is made by MAKING MUSIC in honour of Lady Hilary Groves; it was established in 1990 to commemorate conductor Sir Charles Groves’ 75th birthday and marks the contribution of Lady Hilary Groves to MAKING MUSIC as both Vice-President and an ardent supporter of amateur music making in the UK.

The prize, a certificate signed by MAKING MUSIC’s patron, the Duchess of Kent, is presented annually to an individual member of an affiliated organisation who has made an outstanding contribution to music in the community.

In 2008, MAKING MUSIC awarded the Lady Hilary Groves prize to Julia O’Connor-Beach, the secretary of Tyndale Choral Society.

Julia O’Connor-Beach has served as the honorary secretary of Tyndale Choral Society for over three years. It is no exaggeration to say that in those three years, by sheer energy, effort and enthusiasm, she has transformed the society. She has extended its reach into the local community, created a calendar of social activities almost from scratch and built a solid management infrastructure to support music making.

To start with the least exciting of her contributions: she has brought the governance of the society up to best of breed standards. By researching and melding information from the Charities Commission and the private sector she has drawn up policy documents and rules, now endorsed by the members, that put the society on a solid foundation.

An example of the social events that she has introduced is the ‘cinema picnic’; a private film showing in a miniature cinema followed by a lavish picnic ... catered by Julia. This is now an annual event. Her latest coup is to organise a trip to Highgrove (the Gloucestershire home of Prince Charles) which will take place in August.

On more serious matters, Julia has provided the drive to ensure that concerts are always adequately funded: from small individual initiatives to her successful application for a £1,300 lottery grant.

Two years ago Julia introduced a Saturday choral workshop. Sailing close to the wind, pushing the event every week at rehearsals and wondering if attendance would be sufficient to cover costs .... the day was a great success. She also provided refreshments and tea thus missing the workshop herself! Next September will be her 3rd workshop - it will be conducted by Nigel Perrin.

It is not, however, for any of the points above that we wish to nominate Julia for the Lady Hilary Groves Prize; we imagine that many societies enjoy the services of a dedicated and creative secretary. Our urge to recognise Julia comes from her commitment to taking choral music beyond the society to those in the community who have never had the opportunity to experience and enjoy singing.

Last year, she mooted the idea of setting up an Absolute Beginners Course for members of the general public who had little or no knowledge of music - not knowing a crotchet from a quaver. She persuaded the society to support the initiative, as an investment in the future, and set to work. She engaged a tutor, organised publicity and recruited existing society members to act as mentors .... she made it happen. Despite initial scepticism from the committee, 35 people signed up for the course. A few people fell by the wayside but 24 made it through the course and are now singing with the society, rehearsing Kodaly’s Music Makers and Psalmus Hungaricus for its next concert.

Obviously, an influx of two dozen new members is good for any society but the transforming impact on the individual participants is surely the essence of what a music-making charity, such as Tyndale Choral Society, should be about. It is for this, reaching out into the community and enabling a wider spectrum of people to enjoy singing, that I and other members of the committee think that Julia deserves recognition.

The judges’ citation is published on MAKING MUSIC’s web-site. The presentation was made by Linda Grant on November 15th, 2008, at the society’s winter concert.