The Society was formed in 1948 by Miss Elma Russell, who had conducted the village church choir during the war years and also conducted the Ingatestone Women's Institute Choir. She was keen to set up a local SATB Choral Society. Their first conductor was Mr. Arthur Davies from Chelmsford. He was quickly succeeded by Mrs. Dorothy Bayman, who rehearsed the Choir at her house, Tor Bryan, in Ingatestone. She also conducted Shenfield Choral Society and the two Choirs gave several combined concerts. The first performance of a complete work was of Merrie England in May 1949.In 1955 ill health obliged Mrs. Bayman to hand over the Choir to Mr. Alfred Witney, who continued their main annual activities - a carol concert and participation in the Essex Musical Association Festivals each May. There were competitions, as a result of which ICS found itself hovering in the promotion/relegation zone between Divisions 1 and 2 until competition gave way to co-operation in combined performances.
When Alf Witney's own health began to deteriorate in 1969 he handed over the baton to Bruce Pennick, who has guided the Choir through thick and thin ever since, apart from five years during which he joined the tenor section under the conductorship of Martyn Heald.
ICS continues its association with the annual EMA Festivals, usually held in Thaxted Parish Church on the first Saturday in May. ICS is also one of the Brentwood Choirs Festival choirs, holding concerts every other year in Brentwood Cathedral.
In the intervening years ICS has frequently co-operated with Billericay Choral Society on a 'home and away' basis. The Choir holds a Christmas Concert in Ingatestone village every December and usually a Spring Concert. In their 50th Anniversary year in 1998 this took the form of a revival of Merrie England. A booklet has been published commemorating the first fifty years of the Society, copies of which are still available.
