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In 1961, Eric Winch, the Warden of Lymington Community Centre, had the idea of forming a choral group which eventually became Lymington Choral Society. The choir started as an adult education class under Dennis Gilbert, Head of Music at Brockenhurst Grammar School. The group’s first performance was Handel’s Messiah.

Since then, Musical Directors have included Roy Heartfield who was also Director of Music at Brockenhurst. Under his successor Noel Clarke, the choir extended its activities with an overseas trip to Vitré, France. Vitré afterwards became one of Lymington’s twin towns. Following Noel’s move to King’s School, Canterbury, the choir was directed by the Head of Music at Walhampton School, Rory Boyle, who composed several works for the choir including The Second Revelation to Thomas The Doubter. Other well-known composers such as Judith Bingham and Douglas Coombes have also written for the Society. Rory was succeeded for three seasons by Valerie Nunns and then by Peter Davies for fifteen. In 1991 Peter was the first to engage a professional orchestra and young professional singers, including four Kathleen Ferrier Award winners, who achieved international celebrity status. Membership increased to well over a hundred, there were annual choral days and three BT Voices for Hospices concerts, raising over £20,000 for Oakhaven Hospice. Peter’s final concert was the first in the Society’s history to be sold out.

Michael Goldthorpe was Musical Director of Lymington Choral Society from 2006 to April, 2020.  He was granted Honorary Life Membership of the choir in October, 2020.  He built on the firm foundations of his predecessors with two concert tours in Normandy and Brittany, performances in New Milton, Basingstoke and Boldre, the latter in collaboration with Lymington Town Band. Ambitious concerts with full orchestra and excellent soloists have continued to be the main performances in St.Thomas’ church and the choir has also performed for Lymington and Pennington Town Council for their Arts Festival, for open-air carols in the High Street and for The Blessing of the Crib ceremony. For the Society’s Golden Jubilee a new work, Loved and Unloved, based on local nineteenth century poems ‘Songs of Lymington’, was commissioned from Christopher de Souza. A small group has sung live on BBC Radio Solent and there have been Choral Days, which have attracted new members.

The aim continues to be to explore both regular and lesser-known repertoire, to collaborate with and employ local musicians wherever possible together with talented young soloists from London and to perform to a high standard.