2026 Honours: Oxford music teacher who nearly died honoured

Upon receiving the award she said: “I’m very honoured to be even thought of.”

Fourteen years ago the Sunningwell-based music teacher nearly died after suffering a brain aneurysm and now counts herself lucky not only to be alive, but not to have suffered any long-term effects.

The East Oxford Community Choir has since performed a wide range of music, from medieval pieces to modern commissions and regularly supports charities through its concerts.

Across Oxfordshire she has has founded two choirs, an orchestra and a youth theatre group, as well as becoming one of the driving forces behind the Oxford-Grenoble Twinning Association, which is nearly 40 years old.

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Mel Houldershaw in Germany for a choir event with East Oxford Community Choir and choir Interlude (from Grenoble) (Image: Mel Houldershaw)

Speaking to the Oxford Mail in 2014 she said: “The international language of music makes it so that you can go anywhere and you’re still singing the same music.”

In 1991, Mel formed the East Oxford Youth Choir with some of her pupils, and realised that many of the parents seemed keen to get involved.

This led to the formation of the East Oxford Community Choir, and this has been hugely successful, exploring a wide repertoire from medieval music to modern commissions and tackling major choral works such as Mendelssohn’s St Paul.

But the East Oxford Community Choir’s biggest success story has been the links it has established with Oxford’s twin towns of Bonn, Leiden and Grenoble, which has resulted in a number of exchange visits and joint concerts with the towns’ choirs and orchestras.

In 2006, she became chair of the Oxford-Grenoble Twinning Association, helping to revitalise the group and deepen its cultural ties.

Ms Houldershaw grew up immersed in music, taking piano, recorder, and violin lessons as a child before moving to Anglesey in her teens, where she played in the North Wales Youth Orchestra.

She later studied at Oxford Polytechnic and became involved with the choral society there.

After earning a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, she began teaching at Peers School (now Oxford Academy) in Littlemore, where her involvement in school productions set her on the path to forming the East Oxford Community Choir.

Anna Proudfoot, the chair of Oxford Padova Link and secretary of Oxford International Links, said: “I sing in a smaller group (Byrd Chorus) with her, we were both founder members.

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Mel Houldershaw in Germany for a choir event with East Oxford Community Choir and choir Interlude (from Grenoble) (Image: Mel Houldershaw)

“I’m Chair of the Oxford Padova Link (twinned since 2019) so when a choir from Padova asked if they could come and do a concert in Oxford (2023 along with Man Choir and Oxford Youth Choirs) the first person I turned to for help was Mel.

“I’d never organised a concert in my life. So I spent my time worrying about ticket sales, sound and light team, breaking even.

“Mel’s response was always ‘it will be fine’. We did another two Oxford-Padova concerts.. and it was fine.”