Another (!) Special Evensong
30 July 2022
In October 2021 the choir resumed live singing with a service of
Choral Evensong for the Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire at All
Saints’ Church, in the heart of Northampton. We had two other Choral
Evensong services planned for the season, at Peterborough and St
Albans Cathedrals, but we had expected these two to be rather “run
of the mill” normal visits.
Abbot John's Final Resting Place
|
|
The choir enjoys the good weather
|
Well, in the end, our visit to Peterborough Cathedral turned out
to be very special, as it was hijacked by the Diocese of
Peterborough to install The Reverend Haydon Spenceley as the
Diocesan Director of Ordinands. This brought in a much larger
congregation than normal, relocated the service to the Nave,
introduced a Bishop and a Sermon into the equation, and was very
special for Revd Haydon’s mother, a long-standing and valued member
of the choir. It also transpired within just a week of this service
that Revd Haydon had been discussing our own Musical Director’s
faith with him for a number of years, and had prepared him for his
forthcoming move from music-making to vicaring!
Our visit to St Albans was also hijacked, this time by the
fifteenth century Abbot, John of Wheathampstead. Abbot John’s chapel
remained undiscovered for 480 years, until excavation work on the
new Welcome Centre at the Cathedral uncovered his burial site. And
so we were chosen to be the choir at which his remains were interred
within the cathedral alongside his royal compatriot Humphrey, Duke
of Gloucester.
The Ossuary is Lowered into its resting
place
|
|
The Ossuary is Carried in Procession
|
At both services we sang the glorious Magnificat and Nunc
dimittis in B flat by Henry Smart, the anthem Expectans
expectavi by Charles Wood, and our own Musical Director’s
Preces and Responses. At each cathedral we sang chants by local
composers - the Psalm at Peterborough was sung to a chant by Stanley
Vann, who had been Director of Music at Peterborough from 1953 until
1977, and the Psalm at St Albans was sung to a chant by Peter
Hurford, who had been Director of Music at St Albans from 1958 until
1978.
The large congregation gathers
|
|
|
We offer huge thanks to all our members who gave up their time
(and more) to take part in these visits, to our Director of Music
for his inspired arranging of the hymns for both services, and
especially to the staff at both cathedrals who were so generous in
their welcome, and forgiving of any processional mishaps we may or
may not have committed! Next season we are delighted to be
undertaking two more visits, to two London cathedrals - St Paul’s
(our third visit) and, for the first time, Southwark.
|
