New singers boost North Walsham church choir 

A North Norfolk church is greatly encouraged that its choir is now well back on the path to being recognised and invited out to sing in the wider community. Ian Boughton reports.

We reported last year on the partnership between St Nicholas Church in North Walsham and St Giles-in-the-Fields in Covent Garden, by which the grant-giving London church would support the Norfolk choir in recruiting four ‘lay clerks’, experienced singers to take part in services while ‘shadowing’, mentoring and helping to further develop the choir’s volunteer choristers. Read about this here.
 
Rev David Warner of St Nicholas reports that the project is working well, “We got three out of the four lay clerks we were looking for.  This is great – they have come with very good and varied experience, they have bedded in well, and it has changed things in that we now have depth in choir resources – the St Nicholas choir is now in good form.
  
“The newcomers are Duncan, Alison and Ellie,” explains David Warner.  “Good people, local folk, but not ones who were worshippers with us before. Alison is a music teacher, but they are here to sing, not to ‘teach’. The aim of the recruitment was to encourage and enhance the existing volunteer singers, without ‘taking over’ the existing choir.
 
“What they have brought to our volunteer choir is the great reassurance of experience and versatility… last Sunday, we found at relatively short notice that the anthem required some solos, and it was noticeable that the experience of these singers was valuable in how to handle this.”
 
The effect on choristers and congregation has been clear to see, he says. The existing volunteer singers have been encouraged to see that people with proven ability want to join and work with them, and the congregation has certainly noticed.
 
“There have been many very positive comments, which we saw particularly from the larger congregations at Christmas.  I always joke that ‘a choir is not just for Christmas’, but the support and appreciation that we received was noticeable.  It is very easy to ignore a choir as if they are just part of the wallpaper, but this is now a choir you notice.
 
“Taking this into the wider world is a longer process.  This is a church choir which used to go on cathedral tours, and I now very much hope that this will happen again.”
 
Pictured above are the new lay clerks Ellie, Alison and Duncan on hand for the installation of the ‘Boy Bishop’ and attendant.  Revd David Warner is at right. Photo courtesy of St Nicholas church. 
Read our story from 2022 about the installation of Boy Bishops at St Nicholas here.
 

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