Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 18th Dec 4pm

 Traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

at

St. Katharine’s Church, Southbourne
on

Sunday 18th. December 4 pm 

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was a really good start to the Christmas celebrations. The church looked beautiful as candles flickered in the windows and the aisles. The choir processed in to improvisations on the organ followed by the solo first verse of, 'Once in Royal David's City', sung to a packed church. The large choir processed down the aisle, filling the church with sounds of Advent and Christmas. A young treble sang Mary's verse in, 'The Angel Gabriel', three choirmen each sang a different king's verse in, 'We Three Kings', one of them also singing the introduction to, 'Past Three O'Clock' as another solo. The combined choirs of St Katharine's Church and Cantamus blended together, singing as one choir, joining together to produce a memorable carol service. 

The choirs were directed by Malcolm Wood, who also accompanied the Congregational Carols on the organ


Before the service we took a photo of the choir:

The Parish of St. Katharine with St. Nicholas, Southbourne

A FESTIVAL OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS

Sunday 18th. December 2011, 4 pm

Processional Hymn 1 Once in Royal David’s city 


(Choir only verses 1 and 2) Descant Willcocks


Bidding Prayer and Lord’s Prayer


Choir The Lord at first did Adam make arr. Willcocks

First Lesson Genesis 3: 8-15


God announces in the Garden of Eden that the seed of woman shall bruise the serpent’s head


Choir Adam lay ybounden Boris Ord


Hymn 2 O come O come Emmanuel


Second Lesson Genesis 22: 15-18


God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed


Choir Ding, dong merrily on high


Third Lesson Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7


Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold by Isaiah


Hymn 3 O come all ye faithful (vv 1, 2, 6)


Descant Malcolm Wood


Choir In dulci jubilo arr. Pearsall

Fourth Lesson Micah 5: 2-4


The prophet Micah foretells the glory of little Bethlehem


Hymn 4 O little town of Bethlehem


Choir A virgin most pure Malcolm Wood


Fifth Lesson St. Luke 1:26-38


The Angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary


Choir The Angel Gabriel


Sixth Lesson St. Matthew 1: 18-23


St. Matthew tells of the birth of Jesus


Choir Lullay my liking Gustav Holst


Hymn 5 Away in a manger (Choir verse 1)


Seventh Lesson St. Luke 2: 8-16


The shepherds go to the manger


Hymn 6 While shepherd’s watched their flocks


Choir The angels and the shepherds Bohemian arr. Trevor


Eighth Lesson St. Matthew 2: 1-11


The wise men are led by the star to Jesus


Hymn 7 We three kings


(Choir sing verses congregation sing Chorus)


Choir Past three o’clock English traditional 

Ninth Lesson ALL STAND


St. John 1: 1-14


St. John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation


BLESSING


Recessional Hymn 8 Hark the Herald Angels sing Descant Willcocks


After the service there was a lovely atmosphere in the hall as the choir and congregation shared together in drinking  mulled wine and eating mince pies.

Christmas Carol events with Cantamus Choir December 2011:

We  very much enjoyed the following events:

Sunday 11th. December Evening Carol Concert 

at 

St. Mary’s Church, West Moors 7pm, 

admission free, 

retiring collection in aid of church funds.

This was a fundraising concert and Christmas celebration for St Mary's Church, West Moors.

The programme included many traditional carols for everyone to join in. The carols were chosen to appeal to all ages and we were very pleased to see a wide age range enjoying the evening at St Mary's Church.

When the choir was ready, we sat in the choirstalls to wait until it was time to start.

When the choir was ready, we sat in the choirstalls to wait until it was time to start.

The programme was as follows:

St. Mary the Virgin, West Moors

A Christmas Carol Concert

Given by

ALL Once in Royal David’s City (Choir only verse 1)

CHOIR 

People look East arr. Stainer 

There is no rose of such virtue John Joubert 

Adam lay ybounden Boris Ord 

ALL O come, all ye faithful

CHOIR

O little one sweet (harmonised by J.S. Bach) 

Ding, dong merrily on high 16th. Century French arr. Charles Wood 

I saw a maiden Basque traditional 

ALL Away in a manger (Choir only verse 2)

CHOIR 

Sing lullaby Old Basque carol 

In dulci jubilo arr. Pearsall 

ALL O little town of Bethlehem

CHOIR Cradle song John Rutter 

ALL While shepherds watched their flocks

CHOIR

The angels and the shepherds Bohemian trad. Arr. Trevor 

Past 3 o’clock English trad. Arr. Charles Wood 

We wish you a merry Christmas

After the concert the church provided mince pies and mulled wine. Very many people stayed to chat, making the refreshments a lovely end to a most enjoyable evening. Cantamus really appreciated the many compliments regarding the sound of the choir and are looking forward to returning to sing in the not too distant future!

On Monday 12th. December 

at 

7.30 pm 

Cantamus sang a programme of Christmas Carols at a block of warden assisted flats in Parkstone. We sang a varied programme of carols enabling residents to join with us in singing many well know carols.

Once again we were served hot mulled wine and mince pies after singing. This enabled the choir to socialise together and to talk to those who had taken part in singing together with us.

Christmas Carols Westbourne Arcade 3rd December 2011

On Saturday 3rd. December Cantamus choir sang carols in Westbourne Arcade from 2pm to 4pm.  It was a lovely sunny day, despite all the predictions of wind and rain. Many people stopped to listen to the choir as they shopped in Westbourne, and made very appreciative comments. It was particularly good to see so many children listening to the carols with their parents.

We had a break half way through and enjoyed the delicious hot drinks in the cafe, where we were served by very friendly staff who even moved their furniture around so that we could sit together and chat.

We will again be making a donation to Michaels as a result of our singing. They are a very good cause, as they are local and support people who would otherwise be homeless.