The girls choir worked hard in 1998. At the start of the year we were given
an extra regular service each month - the evening Eucharist on the second Sunday.
We have also been asked to sing for an increasing number of other services,
so that the girls choir provided music for 43 services in total, including some
at St. Fremund's.
The attendance of many girls was excellent. Over half the seniors attended over 80% of practices and services and nine girls attended around 90%. Attendance was not so good in the junior choir and some girls were not terribly reliable, but three juniors, Jennifer Bojczuk, Emma Street and Susannah Matthews, deserve special mention for achieving over 90% attendance for the year and our two new probationers' attendance was 100% between September and Christmas! There is now an extended waiting list for places in the choir and it is necessary to restrict future admission to girls over the age of eight who attend one of our churches and pass a simple audition. Prospective girls and parents will need to make a commitment to be reliable.
Five girls took award exams set by the Diocese. All of them achieved over 90% of the marks available and one was mentioned as the best candidate the examiners had seen! Catherine Anderson and Katie Brazier passed the Dean's Award, Victoria Anderson, Aimée Brazier and Fiona Windsor passed the Bishop's Award. We lost Victoria in September as she went on to St. John's College, Cambridge to continue her studies, after excellent A level results (having taken the Bishop's Award right in the middle of her exams!) Fiona Windsor took over as the Decani Head Chorister.
Katie Brazier and Catherine Anderson also finished their Chorister Training to become Full Choristers, as did Emily Swain, Katie Oliver, Katharine Stark, Emma Rouse and Nicola Andrews. We now have 2 Bishop's Choristers (purple), 2 Dean's Choristers (green), five Choristers (red), 11 Senior Singers (dark blue), 13 Junior Singers (light blue) and 3 probationers, 36 altogether.
In the summer holidays the choir entertained a small audience at Downside Community Centre lunch club with a wide variety of pieces from music for Holy Communion to songs from the shows, plus some instrumental items of a very high standard. Eight girls represented the choir at the RSCM Harwich residential singing weekend. They all enjoyed themselves and the singing at the final service was excellent. Most of the seniors went to the Diocesan Festival at St. Alban's where our girls were presented with their awards. Many of the outside activities, including courses, training and singing festivals, were supported financially by the Winifred Guymer Fund, for which we are extremely grateful.
The year finished with the Advent Carol Service containing some new (to us) and difficult music, followed by the main Carol Service where the seniors sang in three parts 'This Little Babe' by Benjamin Britten stunningly well. They repeated the Britten in St. Alban's Abbey after Christmas as the anthem in a Choral Evensong led just by them, which led to many words of praise from people in high places! It has definitely been a busy year!