Billingham Oratorio Choir 

Gillian Sild Musical Director (2007 - Present) Gillian has lived and worked in the North East since 1981, during which time she has become well known as both a soprano soloist and singing teacher. She has performed throughout the area in opera, oratorio, operetta and recital work, and still appears as a soloist in a variety of venues. She is currently a member of Tees Valley Gilbert and Sullivan Society with whom she has undertaken a number of principal roles. She has been a teacher at Brougham Primary School in Hartlepool since 1992 and has spent much of her time promoting singing within the school. In recent years she has worked as an animateur for the Singing Communities Project, and then Second Wave, and this has taken her into a number of other primary schools in the town to work with their choirs. From 2005 to 2010 Gillian was Musical Director of the Hartlepool Youth Choir, working with both the senior and training choirs. In 2009 she conducted the finale of a Choral Prom in Hartlepool with a combined choir of over 250 singers from a number of choirs in the town. Gillian has been our Musical Director since 2007 and has enjoyed working on a variety of choral works with the choir. In 2011 she was appointed as Musical Director of Northern Voices, a new choir which has been formed in Darlington.

Musical Directors 1989 - 2007 David Boddy Matthew England Tim Jackson Alan Oyston

John Beagle Founder and Musical Director (1978-1989) When John Beagle founded the Choir he was working as an inspirational Head of Music at the former Stockton and Billingham Technical College at the Billingham campus. Working with young people he felt that there was very little opportunity for young musicians north of the River Tees, and so started a Choir of his own. After 11 years of hard work with the Choir he retired as Director in 1989.