The People

Polly started singing in the folk clubs in her hometown of Leamington Spa in the 1960s. In 1968 she went to university at Swansea and studied Zoology. In her final year she began singing with London -based acoustic, iconic folk rock group, Dando Shaft. On graduating in 1971 Polly toured and recorded several albums with Dando before quitting the band in 1972. During this time, Polly developed her ability to use vocal ornamentation and is recognised as one of the country’s leading exponents of the decorative style of folk singing.
Polly moved to Shropshire in 1982 and started a nursery garden centre which she ran until 1997.
During the 1980s Polly toured and recorded with John Shepherd and Steve Dunachie and performed with the folk rock band, The Albion Band. She was also a part time youth worker in Ludlow and taught in the learning support department at Bridgnorth college of Further Education.
In 1998 Polly began teaching singing workshops and started her community choir, Ludlow Larks. She built a workshop centre on her small holding where she has run courses on singing for over 12 years, teaching songs from around the world including folk, jazz, gospel and Celtic voice ornamentation. Polly writes and arranges songs for her choir and is co-Musical Director of Ludlow’s Youth Choir, Ludlow New Voices. Polly is a member of the Centre for Performance Research and the Natural Voice Practitioners’ Network, which encourages everyone to sing with others.

Ros Crouch has sung in choirs from the age of eight, including the highly-regarded Corydon Singers with whom she recorded over 35 CDs, and the BBC Symphony Chorus, performing with them many times in the BBC Proms. She studied music at the University of Liverpool (as a trumpeter and singer) and is now a teacher of singing, privately and for Shropshire Music Service.

Ros was choirmaster of the children's choir at the Church of King Charles the Martyr, Tunbridge Wells for many years. During that time she put on performances of Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, involving all the children in the church. Whilst living in Dubai, she was conductor of the Dubai Singers and founder and director of Manus Cantorum, a small group of eight singers. Ros came to live in Shropshire in August 2009 and in 2010 founded the Corvedale Choir, a mixed-voice group of about 35 singers, who are gradually establishing a reputation in the area.

Pauline Oram (Choir Co-ordinator)

Singing has always been part of Pauline’s life and she can hardly remember a time when she wasn't in a choir - through schooldays, as a student teacher, when working as an English language assistant in Germany and throughout her teaching career in secondary and primary schools.

In her time she’s sung with the Harrow Choral Society, Birmingham University Choir, the Hampton Singers and, for the last two years, Ludlow Choral Society and gained a wealth of musical and personal memories from all of them. She feels it's a real privilege to be in at the start of Ludlow New Voices and to share our members' discovery of the magic of singing in harmony.