Adult Choir
The adult choir consists of 7 singers, and we aim to provide mjsic and an anthem for all the usual musical services. During the last year, we sang an anthem at Eucharist every Sunday that we were able to sing, and at any additional services (especially around Lent and Easter): we also sang an Advent service of light and the usual Carol service at Christmas with both the adult and junior choirs performing.
We have also continued the monthly choral evensong, except for two months over the summer holiday and again around Christmas. Although the congregations have been small, we still believe it is worthwhile continuing with the service.
COVID restrictions have been completely lifted and we are now back to singing as we did before the pandemic started. We still have one Sunday a month off while FreeSpirit lead the whole Eucharist service.
As always, we need new singers for the choir – we particularly need male singers (bass and tenor) – so please think about whether you could be part of that Ministry. It is not necessary to be an expert musician, just to enjoy singing. It involves a choir practice for about an hour (max) on a Wednesday evening, one service every Sunday morning, evensong about 8 times a year and occasional extra services at major seasons
Chris Buck – Organist and Choirmaster
Junior Choir
It has been quite a quiet year for the Junior Choir after a bit of a hiatus due to secondary school places being accepted and children moving on and growing up, not to mention COVID…
The choir, on a good day, sits at around 10 members though this is inconsistent. There is work to be done in convincing the responsible adults about the need for regular rehearsals and there has been some discussion around a minimal payment for attendance (as is traditional for Church of England choristers) but we have not really moved forward with this possibility. A couple of the stalwart members have expressed an interest in commencing the Voice for Life Scheme of work.
At our 9 Lessons and Carols service, the Choir performed the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City by themselves, joining with the robed choir for the second verse. The children then had the opportunity to perform their own carol – Sleep Little Child (from Glad Tiding! – a complete carol service by Tom Kirkham, Niki Davies and Matthew Crossey).
The children also performed on Mother’s Day – singing ‘My Mum is the Best’ accompanied by props.
We have liaised closely with the Sunday school to keep the Junior choir going and hope to continue the good work into the 2023 – 2024 season.
Fiona Izzard – Junior choir leader