Sopranos
Caitlin Mayall is a choral conductor, singer and qualified Kodály music teacher. She gained a Double First Class degree in Music from Leeds University, and received scholarships from Sing for Pleasure and the British Kodály Academy. A classicallytrained soprano, Caitlin founded North8, now northsong, in 2018 to create a space for young professionals to develop their solo and ensemble singing skills. She directed Leeds Vocal Movement between 2017 and 2023 and now runs Music at Heart alongside raising her two young children.
Paige Miller started singing at a young age and was a member of many successful children’s choirs and female choirs, winning internationally renowned competitions, including the BBC Radio 2 Choir of the Year and the Llangollen International Eisteddfod. Paige studied Music at the University of Huddersfield where she sang in the University Chamber Choir. She is now the founding head of music in a brand new school which has just become the first school in Barnsley to ever be rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted.
Jennifer Webb has been a singer since childhood and had an early love of jazz. She read English at Merton College, Oxford, where she was awarded one of the first choral scholarships in the college’s new choral foundation. Now a mum of three, Jennifer is a teacher and Executive Director of English and Literacy for a Multi-Academy Trust in West Yorkshire. She has authored several best-selling books for teachers and leads a national network for literacy leaders. She sings in choirs and as a soloist as often as she can: recent solo work includes Mozart Requiem and Rutter Magnificat.
Altos
Debbie Bury studied singing at a very young age and was a member of Tees Valley Youth Choir and Orchestra, performing with them both on annual European tours and in National choral competitions, coming second in the BBC Choir of the Year competition. Whilst studying medicine at the University of Leeds, she enjoyed singing with the Leeds University Chamber Choir. Debbie comes from a musical family, and was taught piano by her grandmother from the age of 3, gaining her LCM performance diploma. She is a founding member of northsong and loves singing with such a talented and enthusiastic group of singers. When not singing, Debbie can be found working as a consultant in emergency medicine to keep busy.
Ed Jones is a musician of various guises. He started singing at university, after playing ‘cello in a performance of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and latterly asking questions about the logistics of the counter-tenor voice. He is also an organist and choir director, having had various posts in the cathedrals of the UK. He continues to work with a range of ensembles around the area from choral societies to chamber groups. He also composes from time to time since finishing his PhD, most recently finishing a tasteless arrangement of “Little Donkey” celebrating profoundly liturgically inaccurate lyrics. When not making music, he is a Financial Adviser by day, helping his clients with a range of money related concerns, from pensions, investments, tax efficiencies and holistic planning. When not doing any of the above, he can usually be found having a curry, driving a ridiculously small car without a roof, or with beer in hand.
Tenors
David Tomlinson was born to a musical family in West Yorkshire. He trained as an oboist at the RNCM, performing in a range of ensembles from wind quintets to symphony orchestras. His love of singing began here; performing with the Hallé choir under Sir Mark Elder and James Burton. David trained to teach in York and enjoys singing with various groups. He made his film debut in 2025’s The Choral by Alan Bennett. In his spare time, he enjoys amateur dramatics and spending time in the great outdoors.
Jeremy Thackray began singing as a chorister at Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire, in 1999. He has since performed with the Durham Cathedral Consort of Singers, the New Cambridge Singers, Leicester’s Coro Nostro, and Wharfedale’s Pinsuti. He works in grant funding, financing new tree planting across Yorkshire, and when not singing might be found cycling through the Dales or writing fiction.
Basses
Robert Webb is a conductor, composer, trumpet player, singer and teacher from Leeds. He read Music at Merton College, Oxford, and was one of the first choral scholars in the new choral foundation under the direction of Peter Phillips (Tallis Scholars) and Ben Nicholas. Robert currently conducts Skipton Choral Society and Pinsuti Chamber Choir (Ilkley), as well as teaching singing and trumpet and directing the Senior Chamber Choir at The Grammar School at Leeds. He is also the bass lay clerk and section lead in Bradford Cathedral Choir, where his eldest son is a chorister. He plays trumpet and flugelhorn with the Brazilian fusion band Tempo Feliz.
Richard Cressall started singing as a boy in his local village church and has been singing ever since. He was a Choral Bursar in the choir of Exeter College, Oxford University and subsequently was a Lay Clerk at Leeds Parish Church (now Leeds Minster) during his postgraduate studies whilst studying singing with Paul Wade. Richard’s career as a lawyer then took him to London, where he diverted his attention from the law by spending weekends in various cathedrals around the country and doing solo work. Having returned to Leeds, Richard performs with various choirs and as a soloist, whilst attempting to teach his son Arthur not to make disparaging comments about Daddy’s singing.
Andrew Thornton grew up in a musical family in North Wales and took a keen interest in his local marching band and his church’s music group. Upon attending university, he focused more on singing, becoming a member of the University of Bath Chamber Choir and Barbershop Quartet Societies. More recently, Andrew has joined the Leeds Guild of Singers and has performed with them across Leeds and West Yorkshire. Outside of singing, Andrew works as a civil engineer in a Leeds based design consultancy. When he is not working, Andrew enjoys knitting and crocheting, getting lost in a wholesome bit of fiction and exploring the many restaurants that Leeds has to offer with his beloved wife, Ivy.
Northsong 