St Mary the Virgin's Church looked at its most beautiful after being decorated by volunteers for the Harvest Festival. Ecery corner of the church provided a display of produce and greenery relating to the harvest season. This provided a wonderful setting for the annual harvest service on Sunday.Donations of food and produce were sent to support the charity Age UK.
Burrough on the Hill was privileged to host a moving performance of traditional choral music sung by The Cutty Sark Singers in the Church of St Mary the Virgin. Performing ‘a cappella’ without any instrumental accompaniment, the 20 voices resonated throughout the church with anthems dating from the 16th century to the present day. Some of the highlights included a setting of The Lord’s Prayer by John Sheppard (1515-1558), three Shakespeare songs set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams and a beautiful contemporary piece by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley titled ‘Upon Your Heart’. The choir’s Director of Music, Roland Robertson, also took the opportunity to showcase the church’s very special organ, built in 1993 by Kenneth Tickell. Roland’s performance of two short pieces by J S Bach demonstrated the surprisingly wide range of this very intimate and unique instrument and held the audience spellbound. The choir then utilised the full power of the organ with a stirring rendition of Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’.Finally, the concert concluded with a moving rendition of John Rutter’s popular anthem ‘The Lord Bless You and Keep You’, which left many of the audience close to tears and earned the choir a standing ovation.On a lighter note, during the interval a ‘Rhubarb Raffle’ was held which caused much amusement with three rhubarb themed prizes, namely rhubarb sweets, rhubarb gin, and of course a bunch of real rhubarb.The evening raised a total of £726 towards the upkeep of Burrough Church. This type of fundraising is vital in paying the day-to-day costs of keeping an ancient building functioning and available for worship, for concerts, and for community use. These costs are solely met by donations and by fundraising and Burrough on the Hill is hugely grateful to The Cutty Sark Singers for generously giving their time and their skill free of charge in order to help keep alive buildings which have echoed to choral music over the centuries.
Burrough on the Hill was privileged to host an outstanding performance of Country, Folk, and Pop songs sung by The Athenrye Duo last Friday. The Church of St Mary the Virgin formed an atmospheric venue for local musicians Jackie Smith and Anton Mardel-Ferreira, who formed the Duo a year ago and are rapidly making a name for themselves. The fully live music had Jackie as lead singer with Anton on backing vocals whilst also accompanying on guitar and harmonica.On a warm summer’s evening the audience were treated to beautiful renditions of classic songs such as ‘Catch The Wind’ by Donovan, ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus, and of course ‘Fields of Athenry’ by The Dubliners. Rich sound floated through the acoustics of the stone church building, which was filled with glorious light from the setting sun as it shone through the colourful Victorian stained glass windows. At the end of the performance an encore was acknowledged by a standing ovation and the audience were reluctant to leave.Jackie and Anton generously gave their time and their skill for free, in order to raise money for The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT), a charity which holds particular significance for them: they have recently seen at first hand the help which CHECT has provided to a young girl called Mabel, who lives in a nearby Leicestershire village and is the grand daughter of friends of theirs. CHECT is dedicated to supporting children, families and adults affected by Retinoblastoma, which is a rare form of eye cancer that typically affects children under six, the impacts of which can last a lifetime. Anton spoke movingly inbetween numbers about how important this support had been for Mabel and her family, and how humbling it is to see young children bravely and even cheerfully coping with their condition.A proportion of donations and profits at the concert also went towards the upkeep of the historic venue, The Church of St Mary the Virgin. Annual running costs for an ancient building such as this are currently around £9,000 per annum, which has to be funded by local parishioners from donations and events. On top of this, the building urgently needs repair to the soft sandstone of the tower, which will cost in the region of £20,000, a huge sum which also has to be met through fundraising and grants.The generosity of the concert audience raised a total sum in excess of £800 which will be put to good use by the charity and will also help keep the church open both for worship and for community purposes such as this wonderful concert.
We are currently raising funds to repair the stonework to the church tower. This work has been highlighted as urgent in the recent five-year quinqennial review by a professional architect, and will cost in the region of £20,000. We are seeking grants to cover some of this sum but in reality much of it will need to be raised by the PCC through donations and fundraising events. The tower is constructed mainly from the soft local sandstone, which needs regular maintenance to the mortar joints to prevent rain and ice from eroding and cracking the stone. In the past year, we have seen two similarly built walls in the village collapse due to water ingress and it is imperative that this does not happen in the church tower, which is especially exposed to the elements.If you would like to help by making a donation, download the attached document at the top of this page (Sumup QR Code 3) and scan the QR code. This will lead you to the Sumup donation page.Alternatively, cut and paste the following link into your browser:https://pay.sumup.com/b2c/QZMG9XP7?utm_source=qr&utm_medium=digital&utm_campaign=imageWe would be hugely grateful for any contribution.
