Tours and Concerts

On Thursday 1 October, the Chapel Choir joined forces with choirs from other Prep schools in the area, including Foremarke and Ranby at the Worksop College Prep Schools’ Choral Day. The annual event, run by the Director of Music at Worksop, Tim Uglow, brings together approximately 200 Prep school children who rehearse throughout the afternoon. The day climaxed in a wonderful service in Worksop’s idyllic chapel.

After a few fun warm-ups and a quick run-through of all the music with the full choir, it was time for lunch on one of the many grass areas with the College’s beautiful surroundings.

The first part of the afternoon was spent in the chapel, where the Prep School children were joined by Worksop’s Chapel Choir. The 38-strong contingent from S.Anselm’s were such a big group that Mr Uglow separated us into two sections as the choir sang hearty renditions of ‘Guide me O Thou Great Redeemer’ and ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’.

Most of the afternoon was spent in smaller rehearsals as the massed choir was split into 4 smaller groups, with lucky Group 1 having Mr Weller as their director. It was an opportunity to sort out some of the finer details of some very challenging music.

We all congregated in the chapel again for a final rehearsal before heading off for High Tea. This consisted of sausages, sausage roll or macaroni cheeses, and chips and beans. Much to the disappointment of one S. Anselmian, there was no hot chocolate, and much to the disappointment of Mr Weller and Mrs Pryor, there was no dessert!

The service itself saw the music learnt through the day interspersed with bible readings on the topic of doing things for others, and what God does for us. We were encouraged to thank God for the food he provides us with by singing ‘Thou Visitest the Earth’ by the English composer, Maurice Green; to thank God for looking after us by singing Howard Goodall’s ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ (aka The Vicar of Dibley theme tune), and the choir tried to battle their way through Stanford’s Te Deum Laudamus – a very challenging piece.

All in all, the day was a huge success and we must thank Mr Uglow and the staff at Worksop for, once again, making us so welcome.