Our team

The choir

Our 35+ singers of all ages from 20 years upwards form a friendly community with widely varying musical experience and lots of talent! Some members have extensive musical ability and knowledge, whiIe others are learning skills such as vocal production and sight-reading week by week.

Musical Director: Caroline Hallam

Caroline joined the choir as musical director in May 2019 and is a conductor, singer and Educator. Alongside conducting the Denby Dale Ladies, she is also musical director of Sheffield based, upper voice chamber choir Sonority and is Associate Conductor of Vivacity, a fabulous community choir in Hillsborough, Sheffield. She works as a lecturer at Leeds Conservatoire, specialising in Ensemble Singing and has her own singing practice in Sheffield. She is highly passionate about music education and works with teachers and students in primary and secondary schools to develop their musical offerings and help them to deliver quality singing in their settings.

In 2019 she had the amazing experience of working with the Foster Children’s Association Big Sing Choir, winning third place at the national competition. Caroline's love of singing has led her to perform as a soloist and with numerous vocal ensembles in many exciting venues such as festivals, caves, castles and on a canal boat! Originally trained as an actor, she still enjoys performing regular all over the country.

Accompanist: Sue Ogden

Sue started piano lessons at the age of eight. Her love of accompanying quickly became evident at high school where she played for the school choir and for soloists in concerts. She gained a BA (Hons) in Music at Huddersfield Polytechnic, studying piano with Martin Roscoe, as well as organ and harpsichord. She then completed a PGCE and holds an LTCL in Piano Performance. Sue has always worked in the Huddersfield area, teaching music from Primary through to FE level. After more than 20 years in the primary classroom as well as five years of teaching piano and keyboard for Kirklees Music School (#Musica), she now focusses on her private teaching practice and accompanying. She plays for classes at Holmfirth Musical Festival and for the Kirklees Primary Music Festival. Sue has accompanied a number of local choirs and amateur dramatic societies, performing a wide range of music from Bach to Buddy Holly. She has been The Huddersfield Singers’ regular accompanist since 2001 and was appointed to Denby Dale Ladies Choir in 2013.