Choristers

 

 

New for 2025, a Christmas carol by Thomas Hewitt-Jones sung by our Choristers

 

New for 2024, a Christmas carol by Thomas Hewitt-Jones sung by our Choristers

 

WHY?
You receive a free musical education, guided by our experienced chorister tutor Caroline Lenton-Ward. This will help you learn how to read music, become more confident in everyday life, and give you the chance to make wonderful friends who also love singing – all in an incredibly beautiful church on College Road. And, to thank you for your efforts, we offer £1.50 pocket money per appearance.

WHEN?
Our young choristers play an important role during school term time at the 10 am Sunday service, with a warm-up at 9 am. You will also have opportunities to sing at Easter, Christmas and other occasions. We are flexible with attendance and fully understand that family and other considerations may sometimes take priority.

TUESDAY CHOIR PRACTICE
So that we can be thoroughly prepared for our Sunday services, we also have a weekly choir practice on Tuesdays from 6 pm to 7 pm. If you are enthusiastic about making music in a seriously fun way, this is all you need. We will teach you the rest!

TRY US OUT FIRST
We put on regular Come and Sing! and Bring a Friend! events to kickstart each term. It will be the perfect time to meet us, ask lots of questions, and get to know some of the most amazing music ever written for choirs.

FIND OUT MORE
Send an email for further information here.

Sponsor a Chorister

Why?
Our children’s choir is thriving – we currently have 36 children participating and regularly have new members joining. They meet to sing every Tuesday evening, and we have more than 15 singing at our Sunday services. We support our choristers with professional instruction, live and recorded performances, the music sheets, surplices, occasional refreshments and a small amount of pocket money. We also participate in the Voices for Life programme which enables individual choristers to gain personal qualifications through the Ribbon and Medal scheme as they complete modules testing both musical and Christian knowledge.
We are determined to ensure that every child in our neighbourhood should have this opportunity, regardless of their personal circumstances. Indeed, many of our choristers come from local state schools with little or no musical offerings. For this reason, we are committed to ensuring that participation in our children’s choir remains free. Nevertheless, this comprehensive, year-round programme of activity means that the average cost for us for each chorister is c.£200 per annum. Sponsorship will help us to fund and grow these activities, at a time when St Stephen’s as a whole is financially challenged.

What are we asking for?
We are asking people to make a donation towards the sponsorship of one or more choristers, either for this year or on a rolling basis (in addition to any regular giving to St Stephen’s). 100% of your contributions will go towards our funding of the children’s choir activities. Any donation is welcome, however small. Please complete and return the form overleaf.

What is planned for 2025?
We are excited about our programme for 2025, which will give our choristers lots of opportunities to showcase their talent, including starring roles at our major festivals, especially our services at Easter and Christmas. They will also lead our Choral Evensong once or twice a year, when we will be encouraging all our sponsors to attend and to meet the choristers and the rest of our music team.

Is it worth it?
The benefits of singing in choirs are now well recognised. To give one concrete example, Sir Alastair Cook, former England cricket captain has said that being a chorister “… instilled a lot of discipline in me. My five years at St Paul’s played a huge part in the person and the cricketer I have become. My dad reckons my time there is the only reason I have got so far in cricket.” More generally, music is proven to have significant benefits for children’s mental health and social skills.

In addition, all of our choristers receive religious and liturgical instruction, so they are set up to make a great contribution to future Anglican congregations.

Download a donation form here.