A field full of choirs - Godalming's greatest day of the year!

Ruth Bolton
1 day ago
2 min read

It’s always mid-summer. So far it’s always been sunny - and if it isn’t, we know now that it will be joyous whatever the English weather brings.

I’m always up early and on-site volunteering, putting out last minute flags and chairs, checking last minute details. Last year I was stage managing, covering several different stages in-between my on-stage choir appearances. It was so nice to meet Sound Mix, the first choir of the day on the Court Stage with their first ever performance. Dressed in sequins, super-well rehearsed and in full voice, the crowd started to gather as shoppers came off the High Street wondering what the live music was all about. Turns out the second choir I welcomed to the stage - Off The Scale - were members of a previous choir I had been in years before...the world of singing can be a small one… and, next on stage, I was singing with the Farncombe Jazz Choir’s first performance of the day.

ChoirBLAST is such a buzz. All day long, the Burys Field is full of locals, families and choirs on chairs and picnic blankets. As you walk through the independent craft and food and drink stalls down to the Bandstand, up into St Peter and St Paul’s Church, round to the Deli Stage and onto the High Street, you realise the whole town is FULL of choirs from all over the country; performing, filling the restaurants, browsing the gift shops, or sitting together by a stage somewhere listening to the many and various different types of choirs - large, small, professional, amateur, new, established, young, old, folk, rock, barbershop, musical theatre - and all so very welcome.

It’s always worth a visit to The Duck stage behind the Godalming Library - an oasis by the river and shaded by the trees - a good place to snatch some calm and dip out of the festival melee with a sandwich and a beer.

And before you know it, after another stage manager stint at The Wilfrid stage, and an afternoon performance on the Field Stage, the evening schedule has begun. The day ends on the The Field stage - the stage lights are on and the entertainment is cranked up to another level as the Hull NHS choir set the scene. The evening ends with the touring antipodean Soul Song Choirs - a festival set as good as any festival finale I have seen at any music festival over the past 15 years - nostalgic mashups, hilarious compering and the crowd singing along, celebrating the end of a magical, emotional and inspiring day.

Can’t wait for Saturday 13 June 2026 - see you there!

For more information or to sign up for ChoirBLAST 2026 go to https://www.choirblast.com/volunteer