Our History
Purple Cats was formed to provide a platform for natural voice community singing in Sheffield. Created by enthusiasts who all wanted this type of Choir but couldn’t find one in Sheffield, we started with a series of 6 workshops beginning in January 2001.The demand for these workshops was so great that we were soon full, with many people on a waiting list.
Another 4 workshops were arranged and the hunt for a new venue began. Our aim was to become a weekly Natural Voice choir combining regular community singing with exciting workshops on different themes.
We wanted a comfortable, accessible venue suitable for singing. We originally met at the Quaker Meeting House in the city centre. After Easter 2001 we moved to a superb new venue at St. Mary’s Church and Community Centre on Bramall Lane, and have been there ever since.
Where did the name come from?
It was thought up in an exercise conducted by the two founding members.
Apparently, they chose cats because cats 'sing' - howl at the moon, whatever - just for the pleasure of it, and they needed an adjective to go with it to make the name. Rodger did a visualisation exercise with Adam, got him to imagine the group as he hoped it would become, and then asked him questions to help conjure up and clarify what he saw. One of the questions was what colour was the choir in his mind's eye, and Adam answered purple. Apparently it was meant to be a bit of a silly name - distinctive, memorable and fun!
So there you go!
Another 4 workshops were arranged and the hunt for a new venue began. Our aim was to become a weekly Natural Voice choir combining regular community singing with exciting workshops on different themes.
We wanted a comfortable, accessible venue suitable for singing. We originally met at the Quaker Meeting House in the city centre. After Easter 2001 we moved to a superb new venue at St. Mary’s Church and Community Centre on Bramall Lane, and have been there ever since.
Where did the name come from?
It was thought up in an exercise conducted by the two founding members.
Apparently, they chose cats because cats 'sing' - howl at the moon, whatever - just for the pleasure of it, and they needed an adjective to go with it to make the name. Rodger did a visualisation exercise with Adam, got him to imagine the group as he hoped it would become, and then asked him questions to help conjure up and clarify what he saw. One of the questions was what colour was the choir in his mind's eye, and Adam answered purple. Apparently it was meant to be a bit of a silly name - distinctive, memorable and fun!
So there you go!