Friday 23 June to Sunday 25 June 2023
Saturday 24 June at 12 midday: Lunchtime concert Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa
Haydn: Missa Sancti Nicolai, and pieces by Pitoni, Campion, King Henry VIII, Morley, Lauridsen and Mathias
Sunday 25 June at 10.30am: Morning service at Coventry Cathedral
During communion: Agnus dei from Haydn: Missa Sancti NicolaiFarrant: Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake
In the last weekend of June over 40 of us boarded a coach to go to leafy Warwickshire – my homeland! The journey there should have been nice but was marred by traffic jams on the M25 and, on a very hot day, the aircon on the coach wasn’t working! However, we arrived at our hotel 15 minutes walk out of the centre of Leamington in time to have a leisurely walk around the spa town. On the Saturday we sang a lunchtime concert at Holy Trinity Church to a small but appreciative audience. Then onto a different coach for an afternoon trip to Stratford upon Avon.
The centrepiece of our tour was singing in the Sunday morning service at Coventry Cathedral. The Cathedral Choir sang most of the service and we sang during Communion accompanied by our own Andrew Wilson on the Norwegian Organ – a little one-manual chamber organ. We sang the Agnus dei from Haydn: Missa Sancti Nicolai and Farrant’s lovely anthem Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake, both confidently and well, and were much appreciated by the congregation. I was a boy chorister at Coventry myself so I know the cathedral very well, but for the majority of our group, the experience was truly awesome. It’s a dramatic and unique building and we were thrilled to sing there.
The weekend was rounded off with a meal in Bistrot Pierre in the centre of Coventry and then back home.
This was one of the best of our bi-annual trips, and it was great to get together and socialise. I now know everyone’s name – let’s hope I can retain them to come September.
Nick
