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.

Christmas Eve @ 8:30 pm….. short Carol Service.

Carols:

O Come all ye faithful

O Come, O Come Emmanuel 

O little town of Bethlehem 

Once in Royal David’s city

Away in a manger

The First Noel

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Mass @ 9pm

Ent: Adeste Fideles … arr  V. Novello

Gloria: Vivaldi

Ps: “Today a Saviour has been born”.. P.Killeen

Alleluia…. R.Rudkins

Off: Silent Night…Mohr/ Gruber

Holy, Holy…..Schubert

MemorialAccl/ Amen/Agnus Dei…DHS Mass.. P.Killeen

Com: 1. In the Bleak Mid- Winter… Harold Drake

2. All bells in Paradise… J. Rutter

Rec: Hark the Herald Angels Sing… F.Mendelsson ..arr  D. Willcocks

The Choir will also sing at the 10:30am Mass Christmas morning

On Sunday the 26th May our choir will officially finish singing at the 10:30am Mass at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Dennehy’s Cross, but all is not lost as we’ll continue a tradition  we started some years ago whereby we go on singing “unofficially ( without our weekly Wednesday night practice) at the 10:30 am Mass. This year we also invite people who’d like to be part of a church choir (more…)

Dennehy’s Cross Choir is in existence for over forty years and during that period  many people have given their time and talent to make the choir the success that it is today; sadly some of these members are gone to their eternal reward, and in this month of the Holy Souls we gratefully remember the following:

Maureen Golden     Mrs Waldron        Belle O Neill             Mella Cunningham

Eithne Dwyer          Barbara Harris      Ray Dwyer               Jim Butler

George Healy         Jack Sheedy            Maura Canty            Edith Lyall

Sr. Helen Wynne    Phyllis Ryan           Brendan Linehan   Mary B O Shea

Eileen O Leary        John Noonan         Joe Nesdale             Helena O Mahoney

Louis O Halloran   Phil Madden          Frank Gilligan          Harry O Donovan

we are resuming rehearsals on the 5th September at 8pm in the crypt of Holy Spirit Church Dennehy’s Cross. We’d love to have your company to share our love of singing, so why not try something new and exciting in your life and join our faithful group of singers, if you need further information or indeed would like to join our choir you can contact us on our Website message form.