Christmas at St. Albans
Rebecca Evans telling the story of the birth of Jesus
Let it snow…
On Thursday evening the snow fell and provided the stereotypical ‘traditional Christmas setting’ for our Carol Service at St. Albans Church, Wickersley. Whilst the air outside was chilly, the packed Church was full of the warmth of the Christmas spirit, where the Rev. Peter Hughes gave the opening prayers and final blessing.
The Christmas story
During the service we heard the Y7 choir in fine voice. They opened the service with once in royal David’s city, joined by the congegration. This year, music teacher Christopher Taylor then led the year 7′s in their lovely rendition of Keep the flame burning. The carols, directed by David Dixon – Head of Music, were interspersed with readings from the Bible that told the story of the Birth of Jesus.
Along with the Year 7′s we had a massed band/orchestra and organ (Graeme Simpson) to accompany as well as our community choir. The community choir led by our new music teacher, Kate Roberts gave great performances of In the bleak mid winter and Graham Kendrick’s Thorn in the straw.
David Hudson, Head teacher who read the last reading said afterwards, “the acoustics in St. Albans church are, I think, amazing and the music department did the school proud. We love bringing our students to the church to sing as it provides a wonderful experience for our students”.
Wickersley Community Choir in fine fettle
The service was recorded, as we intend submitting one of the tracks to the BBC’S Today programme who are promoting community choirs, if we are successful it will be aired on New year’s Day. A CD of the service can be ordered from the school priced £5.
Have a preview listen here:
O little town of Bethlehem (Everybody)
Keep the Flame Burning (Year 7 Choir)
Seasons Greetings
This concert rounds off our musical celebrations for 2009. We will be back after the new year with a further series of concerts for you to attend. The Music Department would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students (and parents) for all their hard work this year especially during our busy Christmas celebrations and want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and an even better new year.
