February has arrived and it’s a good time to reflect back on the year to date and indeed to look forward to what lies ahead until our AGM at the end of May.
Our first choir practice of the new year was on the 4th September and it announced the official start for our new management committee:
Chairperson: Deirdre Madden
Vice chairperson: Ruth McDonnell
Secretary: Ros Noel
Treasurer: Mary McCarthy
Librarian: Margaret Maher
Committee members: Denis O Mullane and Richard Rudkins ( Musical Director)
The first practice introduced the members to “ Fear not O Land” a challenging piece for SATB which composer Edward Elgar intended as a harvest anthem for parish choirs, it occupied our singing brains for a few weeks but it was very pleasing to finally perform it at one our 10:30 Sunday Masses.
Its lovely to report that this year brought two new additions to our ranks: Sheila and Barry added their voices to our soprano and bass lines respectively- great to have them on board!
Where would we be without our coffee mornings and the River Lee Hotel hosted our first of the year
The months of September, October and November included the annual harvest Mass, remberance Mass for parishioners who died during 2018/19 and the annual Mass for deceased members of our choir.
December is always a very busy month for the choir and this year was no exception:
Sunday December 8th: We sang a selection of Christmas Carols in the Wilton shopping Centre for just over an hour after singing at our regular 10:30am Mass in the Holy Spirit Church, it made for a very taxing but rewarding morning.
Sunday 15th at 5pm: We played a major part in the Parish Advent Carol Service and it was a very special day in the history of the choir as it was the first time we wore our new uniforms in full.
Christmas is always a very demanding time for the choir and for thirty minutes before the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass at 9pm the choir sang Carols which greatly added to this very special time of the year. Having a near packed church for the Vigil and the 10:30am morning Mass was something to behold and made it a spiritual Christmas to remember.
We had a welcome break from practice until January 8th but it was nice to be back and over the coming weeks to try our hand at another new piece, Charles Gounod ‘s Ave Verum, indeed this will be the third version of this beautiful Choral gem that the choir has added to their repertoire, having already performed the Mozart and Elgar compositions.
Our annual dinner took place on the 17 th January at the Model Farm restaurant and it was a very enjoyable evening.. well done to our committee and especially Margaret for making it such a successful and enjoyable occasion.
Calender for the remainder of the choir year:
Ash Wednesday………26th February
First Sunday Lent….. 1st March
St. Patrick’s Day………Tuesday 17th March
Easter Tridium
Holy Thursday..Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7:30pm ….9th April
Good Friday..Stations of the Cross ..12 noon.. service 3pm
Holy Saturday..Vigil .. 9pm
Easter Sunday..10:30 am Mass.
Choral Festival:
Exchange Sunday………26th April
Visiting choir Sunday…3rd May
Choir AGM.….Wednesday 24th May ( To be confirmed).
Next September/October we will have our biannual trip abroad to a destination yet to be decided… something to look forward to.
