A celebration of 50 years as a Chorister at St. Mary’s

John has been a dedicated member of the choir since 1972, initially being persuaded to join by the Revd Norman (Jim) Taylor. 

John said, “Jim was a great church and choral music enthusiast and had even built a pipe organ in the Vicarage.  The longer pipes went through a hole in his study ceiling and into the bedroom above! Perhaps this is why the choir had such a strong membership for a village church, with twelve boys, four ladies and seven men.  Girls joined the choir later in the 70’s” 

In addition to being a chorister, John has also fulfilled the role of Sacristan for many years and to celebrate this significant “Golden” event, decided to donate four new oil filled candles for use at Services.  It was fitting that these were dedicated by the Team Rector, the Revd Richard Curtis, when we celebrated “Candlemas” on Sunday 30th January.  John even went to the famous Chandlers, Charles Farris, to choose the appropriate candles for our brass holders.  It is helpful to have such a well-known Chandler based locally in Mere.   

Following the dedication John said, “After all that has happened recently, to still have a choir capable of singing hymns, psalms and anthems in four-part harmony, is testament to the dedication and enthusiasm of current members.”   

I’m sure that our regular congregation would endorse John’s comments and we look forward to hearing John for many more years to come, although probably not another 50!