By Rod Lee

There have been hard times of late for Wilfred and Janice Tremblay of Sutton and other members of the Westborough Community Chorus. But that does not diminish the enthusiasm they are feeling as the ageless troupe prepares for its big 50th-anniversary spring show.

  “COVID hit us hard,” Mr. Tremblay said recently. The most glaring example of this was elimination of the chorus’s annual fall yard sale, one of its most important and lucrative fundraisers.

  Nevertheless, the chorus under new director Andrew Milne is forging ahead with concerts planned for the evening of April 30 and the afternoon of May 1 at the Sarah Gibbons Middle School in Westborough. These will be followed by a formal celebration of the milestone at the Doubletree Hotel in September.

  Mr. Milne is a Westborough native and a former recipient of a WCC music scholarship. He earned a Masters in Music Education and Choral Direction from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music.

  Tickets for “A Golden Jubilee” are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and children. Tickets can be purchased through the nonprofit’s website, www.westborocommunitychorus.com, or by calling 508-485-4469.

  Deb Temple, a former director of the chorus for nearly two decades, will participate as director of a production of “Mississippi Mud.”

  For Mr. and Mrs. Tremblay and many others, the chorus is a family affair. Janice Tremblay’s sister and a niece belong. Will and Janice Tremblay have been part of the chorus for many years.

  Although Westborough-based, “75% of chorus members live outside of the town of Westborough,” Mr. Tremblay says. “We come from all over the place,” he said.

  Linda Duncan of Westborough is a founding member of the group and says the chorus actually began as “an anniversary chorus” for the town of Westborough’s 250th birthday in the 1970s. “We even made a record, a big 78 RPM,” Ms. Duncan said on March 8. “We tried to stay together but couldn’t. We got together at Jim Harvey’s house and decided to ask Faith Newark to become director of a new local chorus. She told us ‘I always wanted to do this but I didn’t think the town was big enough’” to support it.

  The Westborough Community Chorus is a non-auditioned singing group. The WCC welcomes all who want to become members and share in the enjoyment of entertaining area residents. The chorus typically puts on two shows a year. 

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Contact Rod Lee at rodlee.1963@g