Welcome to St Mary's choir blog

The church has both an adult and junior choir. We are affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music(RSCM). The junior choir are provided with tuition to enable them to gain their RSCM medals. The RSCM Singing Awards celebrate singers’ achievements and progress, through formal examinations at three levels; Bronze, Silver and Gold ( Bronze award is roughly equivalent to ABRSM grade 4. Similarly Silver roughly equates to grade 6 and Gold to grade 8).

The senior choir is a four part harmony choir with its main responsibility to sing at the 10am Sunday service, including an anthem.

Our choirs do not require any fees to belong to them or for any training. New members to both the senior and junior choir are always welcome whatever their standard. If you are interested in joining us please contact our Director of Music (Joanna) via the  Contact Us page.

Friday, 22 December 2023

Sunday 17th December 2024 Advent 3

Jubilate Deo in B flat  Charles Villiers Stanford

Taken from the Novello  Copy
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford has a perverse relationship with posterity.  Remembered today largely for his choral miniatures, this restless symphonist was the unwilling Janus of British music.  A significant presence on the European scene in his own lifetime, he was an outspoken critic of Wagner, Strauss and modernism in general. Nevertheless, as a formalist with flair and skill, his influence catalysed much of the great English music of the 20th century.  As fellow composer George Dyson said: "In a certain sense the very rebellion he fought was the most obvious fruit of his methods."

The Jubilate in B flat displays the composers trademark mastery of thematic structures.


 The Angel Gabriel from heaven came. Sabine Baring-Gould  Basque traditional arr. Edgar Pettman.


This is a Basque Christmas folk carol based on the annunciation of the Virgin Mary by Archangel Gabriel.  It was collected by Charles Bordes (1863 -1909) a french music teacher and composer and paraphrased into English by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) an Anglican priest and collector of folk songs. It is commonly sung to an arrangement by Edgar Pettman (1866-1943) English organist, choral conductor and music editor.

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