Featured Singer: JULIE BALCHIN - The Maidstone Singers

JULIE BALCHIN

Julie was born in Hertfordshire, and at the tender age of 6 weeks was flying to live in Malaysia. This set the tone for much of her childhood variously living in Malaysia, Norwich, Hounslow, and Margate, and inevitably experiencing a few different schools. She was happiest at Brentford Girls School where her natural love of music was nurtured. Music was not a priority at her next school in Margate, but undaunted Julie entertained OAPS singing and playing the guitar and formed her first band – the Inbetweenies – not a great success! She dabbled in amateur dramatics and it was in Margate that Julie first came into contact with choral singing and Jeffrey. Her experience as a schoolgirl singing the soprano line in Carmina Burana was important and enjoyable in determining some of her later decisions about artistic involvement.

Julie left school at 16, and when her parents moved to Reigate, Julie moved to the Gravesend Rochester area. She spent 6 months as a trainee dental nurse before joining the Police Cadets, a move that was to prove to be critical. Academic underperformance at school was replaced with high achievement at Police College, where she proved to be a top student, joining as a regular in 1978.

In 1979 Julie married, and had two children Simon and Emma, and resigned from the Force to bring up her children. During this period Julie became a landlady working for Whitbreads and over a 4 year period helped manage pubs throughout Kent. She also spent time as a store detective. She divorced in 1996 and rejoined the Police Force in 1999.

As a serving police officer she faced many risks on behalf of the public and in 2001 was attacked while attending a violent assault. She received back injuries which have been the cause of long term problems. These problems were seriously aggravated when tail ended in a car accident in 2005, and have resulted in fibromyalgia. As a result, she has reluctantly decided to retire early. Julie leaves the Police Force in May, and although she will miss her work as a detective in CID, she has ambitious plans. She will build on her love of and skill in cake making and decorating to start a small business. If that wasn’t enough of a challenge Julie is studying hard to become a qualified driving instructor so that she can set up her own independent driving school.

In her early 20’s, Julie was faced with a choice of drama or singing with MCU. She chose singing, but her experiences with MCU were not without drama. Like many others Julie has loved the tours organised by Jeffrey – she has been on every MCU and TMS trip since Prague. On two tours her police and store detective training have proved invaluable. In Prague she recovered a wallet from a pickpocket, and faced down a knife wielding would be mugger in Lisbon – drama indeed!

Julie is a founding member of the Maidstone Singers and while she loves the repertoire, her musical tastes are wider. Between 2000 -2005 Julie sang with local rock bands “At the Edge” whose repertoire were heavily influenced by Muse. The rock scene is perhaps more in tune with her love of motorcycles. She owns a Kawasaki Super Sprint 600 – a beast, and now with deteriorating back problems too heavy and powerful. While for most of us downsizing is all about houses, for Julie it is about finding a more suitable road bike!

2005 was a year of mixed blessing for Julie. It started with a road accident and ended with a sweeter collision, when she met up with John who she married in 2011. Between them John and Julie have 4 grown up children and 7 grandchildren. Arts and crafts, music, motorbikes and family are at the centre of Julie’s life, and she sees her early retirement as an opportunity to expand her horizons and face more and new challenges.

Photo Gallery

Here are a few more photos of Julie with The Maidstone Singers:

Singing in Beauvais in 2013:

Julie Beauvais8