THE Birmingham Festival Choral Society is one of the oldest in the country. When it was formed it consisted of about seventy members, contingents from Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford, Nottingham, and London being engaged to complete the choir for the big Festivals. About 1855, Mr. Stimpson resigned the conductorship and the choir nearly disbanded. It decided, however, to carry on under its own management instead of that of the Festival Committee. The conductorship was offered to Mr. W. C. Stockley , who was associated with it for the next forty years. The Society has been responsible for first performances of many important choral works, notably Elgar's Dream of Gerontius.