The School’s musicians rounded off a busy term with a number of public performances alongside QE’s traditional celebrations.
The Barbershop Group made the short journey to Abbey Ravenscroft Park Nursing Home to sing carols. “The residents thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Rebecca Lancelot of the Music Department. “Many of them joined in with the singing.” They had also been entertained the week before by the Staff Choir.
“Two large groups of boys, including The Chamber Choir, have played in The Spires Shopping Centre to raise money for Cherry Lodge Cancer Care, once with saxophones and then with the brass,” she added.
The Christmas Concert held in the Shearly Hall featured its characteristic mix of seasonal classics and modern songs, with the audience joining in wholeheartedly with the traditional carols.
“The Service of Nine Lessons & Carols at the Parish Church was also highly successful, the boys and staff reading and singing with great aplomb,” Miss Lancelot added. Alongside well-known carols such as Once in Royal David’s City and O Little Town of Bethlehem sung by the congregation, there was also music from the School Choir – And the Glory of the Lord, from Handel’s Messiah, and John Joubert’s Torches – and from the Chamber Choir – a German carol entitled Still, Still, Still and John Rutter’s Shepherd’s Pipe Carol.
The events mark the QE swansong for Miss Lancelot, who leaves the School at the end of term.