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St Johns |
St John's - Icthus St John’s Choir were sad when, in April 2007, Olive Hart, who had been Choir Mistress for 40 years, died. She had been instrumental in training the Choir to sing many modern anthems and religious musicals as well as trusted favourites over the years. Helen Stuart became the Conductor of the Choir in January 2007 and in September 2007 when Alison O’Brien, the pianist and leader of Laos moved to Derbyshire the choir was delighted when Laos agreed to join them. Laos had been part of the Church Family for twenty five years and during that period took part in services within the Circuit and had sung at various meetings and groups Our first joint performances were at the Christmas Services 2007 when we sang at both morning and evening services. Our choice of music was very well received by members of the congregation and we looked forward to preparing for the next time! However, we felt that we wanted to cement our new unity, and so it was decided to officially disband the Church Choir, with their funds going into the Church account. The new singing group was then called ‘Icthus’ and will be funded directly from Church Funds if or when new music is needed. We have plans to continue the Laos tradition of going out into the community and singing for ‘anyone who asks us’. As we are a ‘new’ group we need to rehearse for a while to increase our repertoire whilst preparing for various services during the year, but look forward to spreading our wings. A group of 20 or so we rehearse in Church on Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm. usually for an hour and a half. We welcome anyone who enjoys singing (in tune) especially men. The idea is to sing music which enhances Worship, stretches us musically but also to have fun!!!! We are fortunate that June Howard-Norman plays the piano for us, but we would feel very fortunate if there was someone able to stand in for June on occasion. Extra accompaniment is provided by Rod Lea and Ben Hodgkinson (on occasion) with their Guitars, which is a real bonus. |