Members of four choirs met together
mid afternoon on Advent Sunday to practice the items to be included in
the service. The Director was David Briggs, the Director of Music for
Aldeburgh Parish Church and Jon Gibbs was at the organ. David rehearsed
each item very thoroughly and ensured that each item was sung to a high
standard. By the end of the afternoon the combined choir had gelled
together and produced singing of a high standard. There followed a
break for tea.
The serviced opened with the choir at the west door of the church
singing the first verse of O come, O come, Emmanuel unaccompanied,
until the chorus when the organ thundered in with Rejoice, Rejoice!!
What a fantastic start this was and this set the tone for the rest of
the service. Included in the service were choir items like Boris Ord's
Adam lay y-bounden, a selection of the Great O Antiphons, The Truth
from Above to Ralph Vaughn William's music, Remember O Thou Man to
Thomas Ravenscroft music. The choir items concluded with the Dyson in F
setting of the Magnificat with Lynda Berry as the soloist. Interspersed
with the choir items were readings and congregational hymns.
All agreed that the service had been a marvellous intriduction to or preparation for Christmas.
Following the service all were invited into the church hall where a magnificent buffet supper had been laid on.
The Crucifixion by John Stainer
St Peter's Church, Thurston
Sunday 29 March 2009.
Over 70 singers gathered in the
lovely parish church at Thurston, to rehearse the Crucifixion by John
Stainer under the direction of Paul Narey, Director of Music at
Framlingham Church, with John Cooper playing the organ.
Paul worked us hard and by the end of the afternoon, the choir had attained a good standard.
We had a break for a cup of tea and biscuit in Cavendish Hall before the service at 6.30pm
It was good to see a good congregation who came along to hear the work
and were surprised to find themselves in a role reversal situation by
sitting in the choir stalls and the combined choirs sitting in the nave
of the church. Everyone enjoyed the service and came out of the church
to evening sunshine, the clocks having moved to British Summertime the
night before.
Meet, Eat and Sing and
Annual General Meeting 2009.
Revd. Graham Owen conducts the business part of the evening
This
years annual general meeting was held in All Hallows Church, Ipswich on
Wednesday 13th May 2009. The chair, the Revd. Graham Owen took us
through the business part of the meeting in a smooth and painless way.
Jan Payne introduces her role
At
the end of the meeting Graham introduced Jan Payne, the Regional
Co-ordinator for East Anglia and Lincolnshire for the RSCM. Jan gave us
a brief overview of her work with RSCM and set out what she she could
offer.
Graham Owen leads the singing of Captain Noah
After
the formal part of the evening, came the fun part! Graham Owen,
with John Cooper on the piano then took us through singing parts of
Captain Noah, all to work up an appetite for the sumptious buffet that
awaited us.