The Story of Saints Singers

An article by Sally Flint, soprano 

Chasing the Story

After our summer concert celebrating ten wonderful years of Saints Singers, I told myself and others, that I wanted to learn more about two things: firstly, our inspiring conductor, Elisabeth Brierley, and secondly, about the origins and journey of the wonderful choir I’ve been fortunate enough to join. The first part has already been achieved.

Now, as we step into our eleventh year, the second part of my task is taking shape. I’ll be honest, I haven’t found it easy to only look back because great things are happening in the present and there are lots of future events too, all distracting me from the task of returning to the choir’s beginnings. Take the mini-concert that took place early in September at Winterton Church.

A Joyful Start to the Year

At what has now fondly become known as “Emma’s Coffee Morning”, Saints Singers’ choir, after only two rehearsals, put on our performance outfits, warmed up our voices, and started the new year with a lovely mini-concert in Trinity Methodist Church, Winterton.

Emma began organising the Macmillan coffee mornings when her late close friend was battling stage 4 cancer, and she saw first-hand the incredible support Macmillan gave to her and her family. More recently, Macmillan has also helped her own mum, Kate, our much-valued choir treasurer, through illness and recovery, further inspiring Emma’s commitment to running the event.

This year’s coffee morning, part of the charity’s national tradition, was my first, and I could not have enjoyed it more, not just because I won a raffle prize and ate lots of cake. Emma and her team created a warm and welcoming atmosphere, raising over £1,250 on the day. Over the years, Emma and her family have raised around £10,000 for Macmillan. I gasped when I heard the amount. Wow! Thank goodness Kate is good at sums to help Emma add up all that fundraising money! Our mini-concert was so warmly received in the village and reminded us once again of the importance of community and the role our choir plays in it.

Where Saints Singers Began

But where did Saints Singers come from? How were the first seeds planted and how did it grow from September 2015, when it first started, into the group we cherish today which is able to perform at wonderful local events such as Emma’s Coffee Morning? To find out, more cake was needed!

The Scoop

To begin finding the answers to these questions, I sat down over a latte and a very generous slice of carrot cake at our local pub, The George, for a chat with Lucinda Hopkins, who founded the choir more than ten years ago. I also spoke with several choir members and met Gwenifer Shawyer, who was closely involved in the refurbishment of All Saints’ Church, where the choir meet every Monday evening.

I should say at this point that there has been a lot of information to take in. I am very grateful for everyone’s input, though I must take full responsibility for any factual errors.

The story of Saints’ Singers begins in 2009, when the All Saints Forward group was formed under the leadership of Gwenifer and her husband Robin, with Robin as chair and Gwenifer as vice-chair. Their aim was to secure the future of All Saints’ Church in Winterton, a Grade I listed building dating back to the late eleventh century. The building was much loved but in urgent need of investment. 

Under their guidance, the group explored ways to preserve and improve the church for future generations. Following extensive consultation with the community, they applied for Heritage Lottery funding, a demanding process that required detailed planning and commitment. By 2012 a polished application was ready, and Gwenifer and Robin even drove to Leeds to hand in the hard copy in person.

As part of the funding process, the group had to show how the church could be used beyond regular worship. A professional consultant was appointed to work with local organisations and individuals to explore what people most wanted from their village church. At a well-attended public meeting in late 2013, around eighty people braved a rainy evening to share their thoughts, ideas and sign up for areas of interest, from lifelong learning and heritage projects to lunch clubs and singing groups.“What really struck us,” Gwenifer told me, “was how deeply people cared about the church. Everyone wanted it to stay at the heart of village life; the strength of feeling was heartening.”

As a Grade I listed building, permissions and consultations were needed from Historic England, the National Church Buildings Society and the Victorian Society. It was an ambitious and hugely important project, but it was time to go ahead. The church closed on 31 December 2013 for major refurbishment. The work included, but is not limited to, installing underfloor heating, repairing walls and windows, and levelling the floors to access throughout.

Choir member Lucinda had been part of the lifelong learning group and as the idea of a local singing group took root, Lucinda, who was already involved in a singing group in Scunthorpe, introduced a singing group in Winterton. From those beginnings, Saints’ Singers were born, and the choir soon became one of the clearest examples of how the renewed church could bring people together.

The choir’s original name was Singing for Pleasure, and the group started with just eight founding members (five of whom still sing with the choir today!). With Lucinda driving it forward it was clear that things were going to move forward quickly. What began as a plan to safeguard a much-loved building has grown into a living community project that continues to fill All Saints’ with music and life.

The Early Days

Lucinda told me that she ended up initially running the choir by default, due to a lack of any other volunteers willing to take it on. She claims that she didn’t have a clue what she was doing, but I think she is being modest. Not only did Lucinda bring experience from her previous choir (The Shower Singers in Scunthorpe) but she also brought a whole lot of enthusiasm and a wonderful sense of fun.

Although Lucinda expected everyone to be quite shy at first, she was clearly wrong! She laughed as she recalled how the group would meet fortnightly, play backing tracks on a karaoke machine, march around the church singing The Grand Old Duke of York, and sing songs using words printed on the back of worksheets, which were spares from her day job as a nursery teacher. Back at its inception, the songs of the Carpenters and ABBA featured heavily. In some ways, things haven’t changed much, with Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia still part of our repertoire today!


Fun and friendship have always been key to the choir’s journey, and all the members I spoke to relish these aspects. It was from Pam, a founder member of Saints' Singers - who has always sung in choirs because she finds it so cheering and positive, that I learned the choir once attempted a flash mob at the church for the Queen’s Jubilee, performing Dancing Queen! Who would have thought?! Later local events sounded just as fun, especially the choir's first Christmas concert at The George Hogg, the same pub where Lucinda and I were drinking coffee and eating cake. It featured The Christmas Pudding Song, sung to the tune of Funiculì Funiculà. Around this time the choir was also singing outside at the traditional Winterton Christmas Tree Event, featuring carol singing, a festive market and the switching on of the Christmas lights.


Pam explained that these events always brought a smile to everyone’s faces, which is also what the choir is all about. She says,“The choir has gone from strength to strength, and I enjoy the companionship of the ladies so much. I always look forward to my Monday evenings.” That sense of joy and camaraderie that the choir brings is also one that Kathy, another founding member, values deeply. Kathy recalls, “I for one was very grateful to Lucinda and her ‘baby!’ I had just started working from home and didn’t get the usual social contact with colleagues, so the start-up of the choir filled a gap. It was great singing along to Abba on Lucinda’s CD player and letting our hair down!”

It very quickly became clear that the choir was really taking shape and membership grew from a handful of members to double figures. Whilst Lucinda had enjoyed transferring some of her teaching skills to impromptu choir leadership she was happy when, after a little while, musician Helen Occleshaw introduced new songs and a wider repertoire. It was Helen who introduced the choir to Hallelujah, which remains one of our firm favourites.

A Permanent Musical Director

So where does our wonderful musical director Elisabeth enter the equation? Well, after Helen unfortunately had to leave due to other commitments, Elisabeth stepped in to the role. Having come home from university in Autumn 2015, she started leading Saints' Singers rehearsals every other week in Spring 2016 and by May 2017, she was working with the choir every week. With her warmth and musical background, she was the perfect choice to take the helm. I think Kathy sums up everyone’s gratitude to Elisabeth when she says:
“Now, of course, we have gone from strength to strength, and we have so many lovely songbirds making an even louder sound – and, yes, we can still let our hair down!”. A very fitting quote, especially as Songbird is a favourite piece of so many choir members.

Spotlight on Jean

We all know every great musical director needs an equally great accompanist and Elisabeth knew just the person for the task! I asked Jean if she’d share a few lines about her own musical journey. Here is her piece in full.

My Saints’ Singers Journey - Jean Leong

“I first met Elisabeth when I started playing for the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Training Choir in 2016. After a while she asked me if I was busy on a Monday evening. I knew she was Musical Director for Saints’ and so I had an inclination as to what she was then going to ask me. My first unvoiced reaction was “I can’t possibly play for another choir”, as I already had several other musical commitments, including accompanying two other choirs! Plus I didn’t really fancy travelling to Winterton every week, especially in the winter months. Even so, I went along to see the choir perform at Winterton Open Gardens and found they were such a joyous group of singers, led by an obviously extremely talented and professional conductor in Elisabeth, that I found myself changing my mind about joining them. We decided I should have a trial to see how it went and I knew straight away that I was going to commit!

My first concert accompanying the choir was at Winteringham later that same year. Since then, I have never looked back. I enjoy every rehearsal playing for the choir, seeing and hearing the choir doing their best for Elisabeth and enjoying singing. It has flourished in the years since I started, under Elisabeth’s expert direction, from a small group singing mostly unaccompanied songs in unison to performing more challenging pieces in three parts!

It is an absolute delight to work with Elisabeth. I have worked with several conductors over the years and she is one of the best! She also finds some great arrangements for songs so, consequently they are a pleasure to play, and with the added joy of being able to accompany on that lovely Bechstein piano, kindly donated by Caroline Clemmow. As far as the journey out to Winterton, which was one of my earliest concerns, it turns out it is actually no bother and I think I have only missed a couple of rehearsals due to bad weather in the winter.

I certainly hope that I shall be able to continue to play for the choir for the foreseeable future.”

The Here and Now

We definitely hope that Jean will continue with us, as it is clear that she and Elisabeth are a wonderful team, constantly working in harmony to develop the choir’s musicality and enhance its role in the local community. 

As a group we continue to evolve and grow and, despite not having Lucinda’s karaoke machine anymore (!), we continue to be tech savvy. The choir now has a superbly managed website, set up and maintained by Gill. Additionally, Kay’s weekly recordings of rehearsals help us really improve our sound. I’m not the only one who gets stared at while singing at the top of my voice to the teaching tracks in the car.

Saints' Singers is frequently in demand to perform around North Lincolnshire, over the years performing at Lindsey Lodge Hospice, The Hope and Anchor in South Ferriby, Burton in Bloom, Forest Pines Hotel and Winteringham Village Hall amongst other venues. Following a recruitment drive in 2022, we now have nearly 60 singers and have recently welcomed Ben Newton to the group as an additional accompanist. He isn’t the only male member to have been involved in Saints Singers; back in the early days, a few men sang with us, notably a lovely gentleman who, along with his ukulele, brought a refreshing change as an accompanist for the CD backing tracks Lucinda had faithfully brought along.

There’s lots for us to look forward to this Autumn too; alongside other local choirs, we are take part in a Singing Day with Joanna Forbes L’Estrange on 8th November and on 6^th December, we are excited to present our first ever Christmas concert, with guests Riverside Brass, at All Saints’ Church, Winterton. We’re also pleased to be asked to return to perform at the Scunthorpe Rotary Club Christmas Tree Festival on 13^th December, before rounding off the festive season with Carols at All Saints’ on 16th December!

Emma, who has been part of the choir from the very beginning, understands what real commitment to the choir means. She says: “Sometimes, after a full Monday at work, especially in winter, I really don’t want to drag myself out, but once there, I’m so pleased I made the effort. It definitely gets the serotonin flowing. It’s a real feel-good factor! We are all so proud of what we’ve become.”

The Next Chapter

Before researching this article, I realised I knew very little about our choir members or the community we are part of. The more I learn, the more I discover that each member carries their own story and unique connection to music, often rich enough to rival the guests who used to featured on This Is Your Life!

As we reflect on where we’ve come from and where we’re heading, it feels natural to return to the All Saints Forward group, which I mentioned at the start of this piece. It is especially important to recognise the remarkable contributions of Gwenifer, Lucinda, and the early singers, whose dedication laid the foundation for the Saints’ Singers, housed at All Saints’ Church in Winterton.

Gwenifer captures the spirit of the choir perfectly: “I’ve had a lot of feedback from choir members and have been touched by how valuable the choir, the church itself and the friendships that grow from music and comradeship are.”

It is this combination of music, community, and enduring friendship that continues to make the choir such a special part of village life.