Editing Dorking (section)

===Leith Hill Musical Festival===
The three-day [[Leith Hill Musical Festival]] for local, amateur [[choir|choral societies]], founded in 1905, takes place at the Dorking Halls each year. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the Festival Conductor until 1953, a post currently held by [[Jonathan Willcocks]].<ref name=LMHF_About>{{cite web |url=http://www.lhmf.org.uk/about/ |title=Leith Hill Music Festival: About us |access-date=27 January 2021 |archive-date=2 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102102115/http://www.lhmf.org.uk/about/ |publisher=Leith Hill Musical Festival |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Corke_2005_pp16-17>{{harvnb|Corke|2005|pp=16–17}}</ref>

[[File:Ralph Vaughan Williams in Dorking.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Statue of Ralph Vaughan Williams outside Dorking Halls, created by [[William Fawke]]]]

Each day features a different group (or division) of choirs, which compete against each other in the morning and then combine to give a concert in the evening. Following the tradition established by Vaughan Williams, the ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' by [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] and the ''[[St Matthew Passion|St Matthew]]'' and ''[[St John Passion]]s'' by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]] are frequently performed.<ref name=LMHF_About/><ref name=Corke_2005_pp53-56>{{harvnb|Corke|2005|pp=53–56}}</ref>

After the death of Vaughan Williams in 1958, the festival committee commissioned [[David McFall]] to design a [[bronze]] bas [[relief]] likeness of the composer: one cast was placed in St Martin's Church and another in the Dorking Halls.<ref name=McFall_bronze>{{cite web |url=http://davidmcfall.co.uk/page114.html |title=1961/1 Dr Ralph Vaughan Williams OM |publisher=David McFall |access-date=27 January 2021 |archive-date=13 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913045228/http://davidmcfall.co.uk/page114.html |url-status=live}}</ref>