LAURA HOFTON, BSc (Hons), PGCE, MA (Ed)

Laura’s love of singing began aged 7 when she joined the choir of St. Andrew’s Church, Steyning. Here, she became Head Chorister under Charles Macdonald and Carol Mitchell, and later, Brian Sawyer, all three of whom she is hugely grateful to for the love of church music and choral discipline they instilled in her. She has earned the Dean’s, Bishop’s and St Cecilia awards from the Royal School of Church Music.

Laura joined various school and university choirs, and as a young adult sang with the cathedral choir Schola Aquae Sulis where she was the soloist in their professional recording of Michael Head’s ‘Little Road to Bethlehem’.  With this group she has sung in York Minster and St George’s Chapel, Windsor and in cathedrals including St Paul’s, Norwich, Exeter, Hereford, Salisbury and Chester, amongst others. Over a span of 25 years with the choir Poscimur, she regularly deputised for St Paul’s Cathedral and Southwark Cathedral choirs, and was soloist in the title track on their CD ‘By the waters’, under M. Cathie Shore.

For 18 years, Laura was a regular member of the BBC Symphony Chorus directed by Stephen Jackson, and has sung in numerous televised broadcasts of both the First and Last Nights of the Proms. For a time, London’s Barbican became her ‘second home’, with regular concerts there throughout the year! With the BBC, she has recorded a plethora of CDs and DVDs, and live sessions at the Maida Vale studios. She has had the huge privilege of rehearsing and performing with soloists including Sir Roderick Williams and Dame Sarah Connolly, conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Jirí Belohlavec and Marin Alsop, and of course the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra.

By day, Laura is Head of English at a local special school, and has spent the past 12 years teaching pupils with behavioural needs and specific medical and educational diagnoses. She initially trained as a primary school teacher and for 11 years was a primary music, French and IT specialist.

Laura is delighted to have been appointed Choir Director of The North Singers, and has loved working with the choir since taking up the post in January 2025.

Anita Pinnock, B. Ed. Music

Anita is an accomplished accompanist who started working with the Choir in September 2022. She teaches Piano, English and Maths at Pennthorpe School as well as being a leading light in the Barns Green Players. In her “spare” time she composes her own music and performs at the Choir Concerts.