Writtle Singers visits Cambridge

9.30 in Writtle on a lovely sunny Saturday morning and it's all aboard the coach. Truthfully is raining a bit by the time we get to Cambridge but that does not dampen the enthusiasm to get to Gonville and Caius College for our rehearsal



It seems everyone is in Cambridge, all going in the opposite direction and for most it's graduation day!


The chapel is a peaceful haven from the bustle outside


Once the rehearsal is over, the onset of showers does not dampen our day, rather with the offer of "Free and Dry" our concert in the chapel has an extra selling point.


Whether it was that or super advanced publicity but more and more people kept streaming through the doors of the chapel until all the seats were taken.





The concert of excerpts of Vaughan Willams and Byrd masses with folk song arrangements and the beautiful Holst partsongs was greeted by an enthusiastic audience and they were treated to Christine Gwynn's arrangement of the Overture to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. http://www.cagmus.org.uk/

The generous audience gave over £320 to the Romsey Mill Charity http://bit.ly/4gadIi who we were supporting, thank you very much.


After the concert the sun was shining again and there was more time to take in Cambridge before meeting up again for our evening meal









Fully replete it's back on the coach and returning exhausted to Writtle






Verdict? An altogether brilliant day!

If you missed the concert and would like to hear some of the music that we performed plus some that we didn't then the concert is on 11th July. http://www.writtlesingers.org/

You can buy tickets for Writtle Singers concerts online!

Writtle Singers have joined up with OClassical to enable you to buy tickets for the Summer Concert on July 11th online. Save £2 on tickets bought this way (or from members of Writtle Singers in advance of the day). This is going to be a great concert and if you haven't seen the Singers on their new staging this will be a good opportunity.

New staging for Writtle Singers

Writtle Singers are thrilled to announce that they have been awarded Lottery funding to purchase new staging. This versatile, easy to errect staging is proving very popular both with the singers and other local groups who can borrow it free of charge.

FREE concert in Cambridge

Writtle Singers will be travelling to Cambridge on 27th June to sing in Gonville and Caius College Chapel. The FREE concert entitied "Music for a summer's afternoon" will be performed at 3.15. There will be a retiring collection in aid of the local charity Romsey Mill.

If you are in Cambridge on that day we would love to see you.

More details on the programme here soon

Vaughan Willams and Byrd feature in concert on July 11th

Writtle Singers are now preparing for their summer concert on July 11th. This will be Ralph Vaughan Williams' wonderful G minor Mass and the William Byrd 5 part Mass. Both composers have local connections, Vaughan Williams collected his first folk song Bushes and Briars in Ingrave in Essex, not that far from Writtle, and this piece will also be incuded in the ptrogramme on 11th July. William Byrd lived in Stondon Massey and spent some time in Ingatestone Hall where this 5 part mass was almost certainly performed.

Check back here for more details on this concert soon.

Christmas 2006

On 10th December Writtle Singers once again performed their Christmas Double Bill . The church was full of children for the first concert, with Writtle Junior School Choir, under the direction of Sophie Richards, performing beautifully. The Singers performed Rutter's Brother Henirich with Trisha Stephens creating a wonderful atmosphere with the narration, despite only standing in at the last minute!

On 12th December the Singers entertained at Hylands House in Chelmsford, performing Christmas carols for a delightful reception. The members of the choir quite reasonably thought that this was their last event of the year but I thought differently!

At lunchtime on Thursday 21st December a chance visit home meant that I picked up an email plea from BBC Essex asking if we could perform at 8.20 the following morning. A few emails and frantic phone calls discovered that no one had much in their diary for 8am on the Friday before Christmas! 18 members turned up on that cold foggy morning and sung 4 carols between 8.20 and 9am.