Esther Flearry- Griffiths, Choir Director

Esther believes ‘Music is a therapeutic tool, that has the ability to calm mind uplift the individual and for that reason she have grown to love appreciate its benefits on those who listen to it. She appreciates all forms of music from classical to contemporary sounds. Music plays an intricate part her life and no day passes without humming a tune or listening to it’.

She began singing seriously to large audiences at the age of 18 in a Gospel group called Remnant for about four years; where they toured Europe and the UK. Her enrich experience within the group led her to join the alto section of the Handsworth Youth chorale for approximately 10 years. In that time they toured the UK and Europe and the Caribbean. Here is where she believes her rudiments of choral singing, choral management, and choral performance have been gained.

Gemma cudjoe, Music Director

Gemma has a love and passion for music that started since her childhood. She has always been involved in church music activities and is a trained pianist. Her musical experience is an asset to the Reading Community Gospel Choir. Gemma is also a long standing member of the London Adventist Chorale which has featured in several television programmes including Songs of Praise.She shares the role of conducting the choir with Colin Anderson.

Colin Anderson, Principal Choir Conductor

At a very young age Colin Anderson trained as a classical pianist. Colin began singing in established choirs in the 1970s and his first choir appointment as a conductor of a local London church youth choir was in 1981. In those early years Colin sang with many and varied choirs, including The All London Male Voice Praise and the renowned 1995 Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year - The London Adventist Chorale.

In 2007 further extending his passion to bring gospel singing to more diverse communities, Colin teamed-up with his wife Celia Wickham Anderson operating under the name of their music company Ethno Vox to deliver a 6-month project in the London Borough of Camden. Ethno Vox played a key role in promoting the London-wide drive to get the Capital singing in “Sing London” with Colin as the main feature in the launch video and also interviews with prominent individuals such as David Lammy MP.

As conductor and director of music, Colin has specialised in bringing together choristers and choirs for various services, conventions and projects across the UK and until 2004 he was Music Director for a large church and conductor for the choir at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Balham, South London. Colin’s initial partnership with the Reading Community Gospel Choir came about as a result of delivering a Gospel Singing weekend seminar in Reading in 2007 and a series of choir workshops in 2008.