Commonwealth Children's Choir

St Winefride's are proud to be the founding members of the Commonwealth Children's Choir. When it was set up in March 2011 all of the original children in the choir were from St Winefride's. The choir has since grown to include children from many other schools but we continue to be prominent members of the choir. It was originally part of the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and many of us still refer to it as the CYO! Below you will see news and information about the choir, which we hope you will find interesting.

Commonwealth Day - Memorial Gates

On Monday 9th March 2026, Mrs Brosnan and Mr Savin took nine children from the Commonwealth Children's Choir to represent the school at the Commonwealth Memorial Day Service, held at the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill. There were many dignitaries from around the Commonwealth and also Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons. We were also lucky enough to meet Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter, the Vice-Chairman at the Memorial Gates and he admitted he'd rather have his photo taken with the children than some of the 'Big-wigs'! Please take the time to read more about Sir Evelyn on the Memorial Gates website, he is truly an inspirational man.

We are always delighted, and honoured to attend this event every year as part of the Commonwealth Children’s Choir. It is always an emotional and inspiring event, where the children hear different stories about the bravery of members of the commonwealth and how they helped and served during wars and conflict. This year they heard about Noor Inayat Khan (1914–1944) who was a pioneering British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent and the first female wireless operator sent into Nazi-occupied France during WWII. Codename "Madeleine," she operated in Paris, maintaining critical links with London, before being captured, tortured, and executed at Dachau concentration camp. She was born in Moscow to an Indian Sufi father and an American mother, and she was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan. She was raised in London and Paris, later joining the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1940. Shrabani Basu read an emotional account of Noor’s life and laid a wreath in her honour.