The choir at Holy Trinity Church, Bothenhampton has found its voice again following an unholy row which triggered its disbandment.

Team rector the Rev Andrew Evans had said trouble over the church choir had been brewing for ‘a considerable time’ and last April he ordered a period of review.

The church fell silent after Lent and there were months of non-activity.

Former choir member Colin Sparkes, who had been in the choir for 30 years, said there had been personality clashes and a lack of consultation over the appointment of organist, the Rev Peter Aves.

Choir members sent a letter to the Rev Evans expressing their unhappiness before the choir was disbanded.

However, the choir has made a quiet renaissance under new organist and choirmaster Paul Cheater.

For the time being the singers will form an all-female choir, but Mr Cheater would like to see a return to a full four-part choir.

The Rev Evans said: “The choir has been on a journey this year and I am delighted that Paul is confident that it is time to fully re-establish the tradition of choral music at the church.

“I am excited by the prospect and am very much looking forward to their continuing involvement in the life of the church.”

The new choir’s first official appearance will be during Holy Trinity’s annual carol service, when they will be singing four choral items and enhancing the congregational carol singing.

Mr Cheater, who is also the organist and choirmaster of the recently-formed choir of St Mary’s Church, Litton Cheney, said: ‘I am delighted to have been appointed as the new choirmaster and I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, the Rev Peter Aves, who is a fine musician and who did much for the music of Holy Trinity during his tenure.

“I am looking forward to building on the foundations that he laid.”

Mr Cheater is an experienced organist and choirmaster, who has played in many of the churches and cathedrals in this country, Europe and the United States.

He is a qualified music teacher and was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the National College of Music and Arts, London, in 2004, for services to music.

Since 2008 he has been involved with the creation and development of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. In 2009 he was one of four finalists invited to audition to succeed the celebrity choirmaster, Gareth Malone.