THE Phoenix Choir is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

On April 21, 2009, the choir’s musical director, Robin Burnett, invited friends and former musical colleagues to the inaugural meeting, which resulted in the choir’s creation.

The Phoenix Choir is a mixed choir with its roots in Wootton Bridge, performing easy listening songs under the banner of 'From Pavarotti to Presley'.

The choir will be celebrating its tenth anniversary on April 21 this year, and of the 17 founder members, 10 are still singing with the Phoenix.

The first concert was performed in Wootton Bridge Methodist Church on April 10, 2010, at which time membership had grown from 17 to around 35.

Current membership stands at 65 and is restricted by concert venue capacities.

More than 50 performances have taken place in Island venues, supporting 40 local charities and good causes. Nearly £50,000 has been raised to date.

Choir members come from various parts of the Island with a wide range of backgrounds and varying levels of choral singing knowledge from beginners to experienced soloists.

Their musical director is Robin Burnett who was born and bred on the Island.

For more than 20 years, he played in local groups and bands and has co-written original musicals to help raise funds for the Bembridge Young Community Club. Subsequently, with the Wight Musical Society, he wrote the music for 'Mountainsong'.

With the Phoenix Choir, he writes all the song arrangements, records and plays the accompaniment, rehearses the choir and is the musical director at their concert performances.

The choir’s current repertoire spans more than 100 songs and is truly diverse.

Songs from films (My Heart Will Go On-Titanic), musicals (Phantom Of The Opera), traditional songs (The Battle Hymn Of The Republic), foreign songs (Pokarekare Ana/Hine E Hine-Maori), country and western, gospel songs and even the Nuns Chorus and the Lord’s Prayer feature.

The choir perform six times a year and their first performance in 2019 is at All Saints’ Church, Gurnard, in aid of The Friends Of Northwood Cemetery on April 27.

All of their concerts offer free admission with a retiring collection.

Details of this year’s concerts are on their website www.phoenixchoir.org.uk.