Powick Community Choir

THE PEOPLE

The People

Tom Wells

... is the choir's Musical Director: he was born and brought up locally. As a boy, he won a choral scholarship to sing in Worcester Cathedral Choir and to study at King’s School, Worcester. At the age of just sixteen he was church organist and choir master at St Mary’s Church in Malvern.

Following university, he was appointed Director of Music at Hillstone School, Malvern. Under his inspirational leadership the school quickly attracted an enviable reputation for its music. In 1990 the school reached the finals of the Barclays Youth Musical Awards and performed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank, London. The following year the school won the BBC Television ‘Song for Christmas’ competition.

In 1992, Tom left Hillstone School to set up his own successful music teaching business, ‘Young Music Makers’.

Tom has written two musicals, ‘Children of the Night’ and ‘City Kids’. The latter performed at Malvern Theatre in 2008. He continues to write and Powick Community Choir regularly showcases his compositions. Tom was one of the founder members of Powick Community Choir and has been its Director of Music since it was established in 2010.

Charles Pavey

... has been one of Powick Community Choir’s regular accompanists since 2012, Charles studied at Trinity College of Music in London and Homerton College, Cambridge. He first lived in Malvern in the late eighties when he taught at Dyson Perrins C.E. High School and was organist at the Church of the Ascension.

After teaching for seven years in Plymouth he returned to Malvern where he remains. He now teaches piano, organ and keyboard in the area and is organist and choirmaster at Holy Trinity Church in Malvern. He conducts Malvern Male Voice Choir, previously conducted Malvern Light Opera Society and was founder conductor of the St. Richard’s Hospice Singers.

Charles is an accompanist for Worcester Gilbert & Sullivan Society, having also conducted the society’s production of Ruddigore in 2013. Beyond music, Charles’ other passions are rail travel, reading, good weather and time to enjoy his garden.

Ruth Melhuish

... is a pianist, flautist and singer who studied at the Royal College of Music and Bristol University.

She trained as a music therapist at the Roehampton Institute in London in 1991 and works as a music therapy clinician and researcher, specialising in adult mental health and dementia.

Ruth is an experienced piano accompanist and chamber musician who has worked with community choirs in Worcestershire and London, and sings with the Malvern-based chamber choir Severn Voices.