Richard Latham speaks about his family:

The St Paul's Festival Choir was founded by my father in the mid-1930s specifically to perform Bach's St John Passion during Lent in the Parish Church of St Paul, Wilton Place Knightsbridge. The choir flourished, and by 1938 comprised one hundred boys and thirty men. After the war, my father re-launched the choir as a choral society of mixed voices, many of the sopranos and altos being students at the Royal College of Music. My mother was also closely connected with the choir, accompanying all the rehearsals and organising the smooth running of the choir in every way possible until she retired through ill health. When I took over the conductorship of the choir in 1980 I was indeed fortunate to have her support and wonderful keyboard ability at rehearsals. She took great pride in knowing every member of the choir by name and made sure my father and I did the same.

Many members of my family have either sung in the choir or played in our concerts. My children, sister, brother in law and various cousins have all joined the choral ranks at one time or another, and my youngest daughter is a present member. Ysobel, my wife, has played in the violin section for over twenty years and my father in law (for over 40 years principal viola in the BBC Symphony Orchestra) also played in many of our concerts. Nicholas Danks, the organist, is Ysobel's nephew.

Choir members meet on Thursday evenings to rehearse for three concerts a season; many have been with the choir for a number of years and travel long distances to participate. I am always struck by the loyalty of our singers and supporters, and their enthusiasm and sheer enjoyment of the music, making it all so rewarding for a conductor. We always have room for more singers of every voice, and are delighted to welcome new members into our ranks.