Our members come from a wide area centred on Chippenham, in north Wiltshire. With excellent proximity to the M4 motorway and the A350 trunk road - both important 'corridors' - a radius of, say, 30 minutes driving from our rehearsal venue encompasses a huge region.
We are very proud of our reputation as a friendly, welcoming orchestra. In the past, the WCO has never stipulated a particular minimum grade for its members, and for now we will continue to follow this policy. However, in reality, the aspirations of the current membership and the complexity of the works tabled for the coming seasons dictate that players should be of a reasonable standard if they are to get the most from their membership. As a very rough guide, candidates for membership who currently play at a standard equivalent to about Grade 5 or above should not have trouble with the majority of our repertoire, would be able to make the sort of positive contribution we would want and would, in turn, most enjoy playing with us.
This policy has been formalised in Appendix 1 to the WCO Constitution 2005.
An offer of membership is dependant on the existence of a suitable vacancy.
In the interests of establishing and maintaining ensemble and a sense of musical identity, players are expected to commit to regular rehearsals. Although it is fully understood that people have many draws on their free time, all players are expected to attend at least 75% of the scheduled rehearsals.
The lead-in time to concerts is usually about 15 rehearsals. Reasonable sight-reading skills are desirable but not essential, as music may be taken away between rehearsals for home study and practice.
The only hard and fast criteria are that all players must be able to play in tune, with a good tone and a reasonable sense of ensemble.
We levy an annual subscription of £45, payable three weeks after joining.