As ever, the last twelve months have been busy ones for the choir, with the regular services at St John’s as well as occasional services across the Benefice.
The choir continues to have a good number of singers, though new members are always welcome, and we would particularly like more basses.
We continue to rehearse weekly, now up by the organ rather than with the piano, a change which we made during the pandemic, but which we all prefer. During the year we tackled a wide variety of music, both traditional and modern.
We sang Compline throughout Lent, and, in another lesson from lockdown, now sing in the crossing, under the tower, which gives us more space and has proved a much nicer spot to sing in.
The choir also sang Bob Chilcott’s lovely settings of hymns from his St John Passion during Sunday services in Lent, and during the year we have enjoyed working our way through a number of anthems in the ‘Flexible Anthem Book’, which accounts for the inevitable occasions when some parts might be missing.
At Christmas we sang for the carol service at Stowell and of course at St John’s, where we enjoyed preparing four carols.
I continue to be grateful to all the members of the choir for their dedication and time, not only each Sunday, but also for weekly rehearsals and the extra services both at St John’s and at other churches in the Benefice.
Rachel Willetts