However, anyone who is a member of one of the country’s 25,000 or more choirs, estimated at over half a million people, already knows what participation in a choir really means. It is sometimes hard work, but this is more than offset by the camaraderie within a choir and the opportunity to improve one’s musical ability and sing some glorious music.

Although Fernhurst Choral Society cannot claim to have had the exposure of Only Men Aloud!, Revelation or Ysgol Glanaethwy, the finalists in the BBC’s show, it too is looking forward to its new season. It follows a hugely successful 2007/8 season in which the Society participated in three memorable concerts, culminating in May in a performance of Handel’s Messiah at St. Mary’s Petworth, with four soloists, an 18-piece orchestra and its largest-ever number of chorale singers.

Fernhurst Choral Society’s new season begins on Monday, September 8 in Fernhurst Village Hall with a workshop led by the choir’s energetic Musical Director Giles White.

The choir has three concerts planned for 2008/9, which will include Handel’s oratorio Saul during the Petersfield Musical Festival in March 2009. There are also preparations for a choir exchange with Germany in 2010.

For more information on Fernhurst Choral Society, contact the secretary, Tina Litchfield on 01730 816542 or the publicity officer, Rob Walker, on 01428 642332.

New members are always welcome – there are no auditions but some ability to read music is an advantage.

The choir meets most Mondays at 8pm in Fernhurst Village Hall, West Sussex.

Meanwhile, Petersfield Youth and Junior Choir rehearsals recommence on Monday, September 15 at 5pm for the Junior Choir and 6pm for the Youth Choir in Petersfield Community Centre, Love Lane.

Leader of the choirs, Elizabeth Gotto, said: “With older members of the Youth Choir moving on to university there is now room for more members in both choirs.

“The age range is five to 10 for the Junior and 11 to 18 for the Youth Choir. Students learn to sing a wide variety of music from unison to three or four part works. They are taught to sight read and musicianship is an important part of these sessions.

“The Choirs have been in existence since 1994, first as Infant and Junior, and then adding the Youth Choir as students wished to continue singing.

“They have taken part in many concerts of their own and linked into performances with Froxfield Choir and the Finchley Children’s Music Group with works such as St. Nicholas by Britten and the Faure Requiem.

“They have performed Britten’s Noyes Fludde and Lets Make an Opera in conjunction with Jubilee Opera, Aldeburgh with their Director Jenni Wake-Walker and also The Happy Prince by Matthew Arnold.

“Other works include the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi and The Ceremony of Carols by Britten which they performed before Christmas in St. Laurence’s Church, Petersfield.