In just over a week’s time, a diverse selection of choirs from different areas of Oxford will be gathering at the Town Hall for a choral shindig — and there will be opportunities for the audience to join in with favourites such as Zadok the Priest and the Halleluia chorus from Messiah.

The event is Marie-Jane Barnett’s final fling as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, and when I met up with her recently, I found her bubbling with enthusiasm over the project.

“I wanted, in my High Sheriff year, to have a musical theme,” she told me. “I love singing and I love music — I particularly love jazz, blues and choral music right at the other end of the spectrum. Music makes you feel good, it cheers you up, and it’s a marvellous thing.

“So this will be my final hurrah as High Sheriff. I’ll be going out with a bang — hopefully the right sort of bang!”

Marie-Jane’s passion for music began in her childhood, when she would often be “wheeled out”, as she puts it, to entertain guests.

“I didn’t need much encouragement!” she admits. “I’ve always just loved singing. When we moved to Towersey somebody said they had a traditional jazz band, and their singer had just gone, so I rang them up, and ended up singing with them for the next ten years. It was marvellous fun.”

There won’t be a jazz choir at next week’s concert, but there is just about everything else — a rock choir and a gospel choir, right through to standard choral choirs. There is also an emphasis on bringing in choirs who are rarely heard in the centre of the city.

“I wanted to try and get into all the areas of Oxford, not just the obvious areas,” said Marie-Jane. “So we’ve got choirs coming from all over Oxford — choirs who wouldn’t normally be heard except in their own communities.”

The concert is being presented by Oxford Philomusica, who will be providing some of the accompaniment on the night, and who felt it fitted in well with their own mission to reach out to as much of the community as possible.

“It’s exactly the field we’re in,” said Simon Payne, the orchestra’s development manager. “We do so much with the County Music Service, the university and the community, so it seemed a great idea to team up. It’s going to be quite exciting on the day to see what everyone sounds like.”

Generously, Marie-Jane attributes much of the credit for getting the project off the ground to Simon and one of the Philomusica’s directors and trustees, David Haenlein.

“They’re the driving force behind this really — I was just pseudo-head!” she laughed.

“I think a choral evening will be really fun, and we’re hoping to fill the Town Hall. Tickets are only a tenner, so not too expensive even in these difficult times. I want to pack the Town Hall to the rafters!”

The High Sheriff’s Community Choirs Concert is at Oxford Town Hall on Sunday, April 10, at 3pm; conductor John Lubbock. Ticket proceeds will go to the Oxfordshire Community Foundation. Box office: 01865 252351 or oxfordtownhall.co.uk