At the celebration service for small churches service held in the Cathedral last May, a number of singers expressed a wish to be able to sing together more often. Mark and Linda Blackwell from Fladbury (Nr Evesham) felt called to use their experience to try to set up a choir made up from singers from the small churches across the Diocese to sing at occasional services at Worcester and other cathedrals.
Mark has been playing the organ and conducting choirs for well over 40 years and has previously run a choir that visited cathedrals to cover when the cathedral choir were on holiday. Mark would like to establish a choir for the benefit of the congregations and singers in the smaller churches as well as for the Diocese as a whole.
The terms of reference for the choir will be:
Objective
- Bring singers together to learn and perform music that singers in smaller church choirs would not normally have the capacity to do.
- Give singers in small churches the opportunity to take part in choral services in cathedrals (Worcester and beyond)
- As a result, there would be a choir that could provide the music for evensongs back to small churches on request
- The above may also create an interest in churches to try and re-establish a choir.
Scope
- This would be open to small churches and, by invitation, singers from larger churches who may not have a four-part choir.
How it would work
- 6 * 1.5-hour rehearsals on the 6 preceding weeks prior to a cathedral visit;
- The choir members would be required to attend at least four out of the six rehearsals with the last rehearsal being compulsory
- As the choirs would be drawn from across the diocese, we would alternate the rehearsal locations between Evesham and Kidderminster
- The visits to the cathedrals would generally be over the weekend during the school holidays on the following basis
- Mark and Linda would organise the music and rehearsals and arrangements with the cathedral and provide an organist.
- Choir members would be required to organise their own travel and accommodation to suit their needs and budget
- There may be a requirement for a small fee of £10 or so to cover the costs of hiring the church and some of the music.
First visit
- Worcester Cathedral have booked the choir for the weekend of the 18 and 19 April 2026.
- The rehearsals would be as follows and will all run from 3:00 to 4:30pm. We have deliberately avoided Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday as appreciate these will be busy times for churches and families. The venues will be given once fixed with the churches
- 22 February
- 1 March
- 8 March
- 15 March
- 22 March
- 12 April
If you are interested in participating, please email Mark at markblackwell96@gmail.com or on 07768 146879. Please let Mark know by the 31 December if you are interested in joining the choir for Worcester. If you can not join us for Worcester but would like to be kept informed re future services please email and let Mark know.
