Welcome to St Mary's Church

For the latest news on the choir, visit their website here.

Welcome to St Mary's Choir! St Mary's has an excellent choir and maintains a rich choral tradition which has been lost in many churches. The present choir maintains high standards and sings at all major services, including a monthly "Choral Evensong", perhaps the Jewel in the Crown of English cathedral music and so rarely heard in parish churches these days. The Organist and Choirmaster is Philip Aspden BA FRCO PGCE, who has been in post since September 2000.

We currently have about 35 members, including a mixed Junior Choir of 15 boys and girls, aged between 5-18yrs! The junior choir is vibrant and exciting, and welcomes children from all backgrounds. We are actively recruiting and welcome all enquiries.

The choir is fortunate to have a balanced and capable adult section and sings a wide range of repertoire spanning several centuries. Our tenors and basses are particularly strong and provide an impressive backbone for the rest of the choir. Again, we welcome all enquiries from potential new members.

New junior choristers begin with an informal, introductory period of about 6 weeks, during which they get to know the other choristers and begin to learn the basics of vocal technique, elementary music-reading, and singing as a team. After a few weeks of attending Thursday rehearsals, new choristers will be invited to join the choir on Sundays, where they will experience singing publicly as part of a service. If all goes well, full admission to the choir will take place several weeks later.

All choristers are given the opportunity to enjoy progressing through the RSCM Voice for Life scheme, and many of our choristers have already achieved highly in this regard. We are a friendly and motivated choir, enjoying generous support from St Mary's congregation and clergy. The recent purchase of a new organ console has enriched further the musical provision at St Mary's.

At Christmas, the choir sings a traditional "Nine Lessons and Carols" service, much akin to those seen on television.