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.