Music at St Boniface and St Martin's

St Boniface Church Music group

The Bonny Faces group is formed from young musicians and singers of all ages. They  play at family services on the 1st Sunday (at St Boniface Church) and 3rd Sunday (at St Martin's Church) and and also at special services.

The Bonny Faces need new singers and musicians. If you enjoy music and singing, play a musical instrument to Grade II standard and would like to join a lively music group then come and join the 'Bonny Faces'. We would love you to join the group and to bring a friend. We practice once or twice a month on a Saturday at 4.30 pm for 1 hour.  
Contact Jo  8090 5347 or Duncan 8026 7746 or the Parish office or email: joannaprice2001@yahoo.co.uk or  duncan.mckellar@hharchitects.co.uk

St Boniface Church Choir

The choir at St Boniface Church is about 25 strong, with sopranos, contraltos, tenors and basses. Suitable additional singers are welcome in all departments, and more junior members would be welcomed. 

We sing at the weekly 10am Eucharist, at Evensong, and at weddings and some other occasional services, including the Advent and Christmas carol services. We aim for high standards in the singing of hymns, simple Communion settings, psalms, and anthems, because music is such an important part of the worship here.

There are also social occasions.

Contact the organist via the Parish Office for more details.

Hugh Benham, organist at St Boniface Church, has written a book on the early Tudor composer, John Taverner, which has just been published by Ashgate. It follows up research that Hugh did previously (for his PhD etc.). Taverner was the last major English composer to write all his church music to Latin texts, before the Reformation. His music, for unaccompanied choir (often in five or six parts), is very beautiful, but rhythmically complex and difficult to sing, and won't fit in our services! There are, however, several CDs of Taverner's music, including some recorded by The Sixteen on the Helios label.
The full title of Hugh's book is John Taverner: his life and music. Published by Ashgate, it is proced £52.20.

St Martin in the Wood Church Choir

St Martin's choir have voices shared between four parts. At present we have lots of good Sopranos but, ideally, we could do with a few more in the Alto, Tenor and Bass Sections. We are always keen to have junior members in the choir and, although we have had a period without any, we are now very pleased to have some young people joining in. Unlike the adults, they do get paid, according to attendance! We are always interested to hear from any budding choristers, young or old.

Our services are at 9.15am on Sunday mornings, when we lead the hymn singing and sing simple communion settings. On special occasions, we include anthems in the services. We occasionally sing at weddings, and some members have joined in a special choirs festival at Winchester Cathedral. The biggest event in our calendar is the "Carols by Candlelight" service - usually the last Sunday evening before Christmas.

We are a friendly bunch, and often meet for restaurant meals or house parties. In the past we have organised special events for the children, such as visits to the pantomime, bowling or a summer barbecue, and we hope to be able to do this again when we have enough junior members. Also, in Advent some of the choir members join an informal choir to go carol-singing in pubs and restaurants, raising funds for charity.

We meet on Thursdays for practices so, if you think you would be interested in joining in, please contact the organist via the Parish Office.

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