A concert and celebration lunch provided the culmination of events to mark the 25th anniversary of East Sussex Community Choir.

A chorus of almost a hundred, with musical director Nick Houghton at the helm, performed Haydn’s dramatic and exuberant Creation to an appreciative audience at Lewes Town Hall, featuring soloists Lucinda Houghton, Paul Austin-Kelly and Stephen Charlesworth.

The concert was followed by a celebration lunch at a sun-drenched Southover Grange, in Lewes, attended by choir members past and present.

Mr Houghton said: “The concert was a fantastic testimony to the power of music in bringing together a community and also to the musical talent we have here in East Sussex.

“The number of founder members still with the choir and its amazing growth, in a town with several choirs, is testament to the continuing popularity of singing the classical repertoire.

“The celebration lunch was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get together and to meet up with some old faces, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather.”

The choir has welcomed hundreds of members, and performed at venues across the UK and Europe since it was formed in the summer of 1988.

Anyone who is interested in joining the choir can obtain more information by calling 01273 336770 or on the choir website.