William Byrd Festival – St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey 7 -15 May 2011

Members of the congregation at St Peter & St Paul Church in Stondon Massey are looking forward to a ‘William Byrd Festival’. A series of events will be held over two weekends in May in aid of church funds, and to bring to public attention the great Elizabethan composer who lived in Stondon for the last 30 years of his life. Money raised will go towards the creation of a new Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard (which will cost over £5000).

Leading the list of artists will be Richard Turbet, an internationally recognised expert on the life and work of William Byrd, and the Stondon Singers, a local Choir who since their formation in 1968 have specialised in the music of the renaissance composer and his contemporaries. Richard has chosen as his theme ‘William Byrd: His Essex Years’. The event will be given twice on Saturday 7 May: a matinee at 4.00pm and evening performance at 7.30pm.

Then on Saturday 14 May at 7.30pm, the Writtle Singers conducted by Christine Gwynn will give a concert entitled ‘William Byrd: Loyal Heart or Traitor?’ which explores in words and music Byrd’s connection with Queen Elizabeth I and his dangerous life as a Catholic at a time when that faith was outlawed in Britain.

Tickets for both events, priced £12.50 (children under 16, £6), are available from the William Byrd Festival, c/o The Church Office, The Vicarage, Church Street, Blackmore, Ingatestone, Essex. CM4 0RN. (Cheques payable to “Stondon Massey PCC”. Please enclose SAE). The office is usually open from 9.30am to 3.30pm on Wednesdays and Fridays.

On the two Sundays, church services will also be on a Byrd theme. On 8 May at 9.00am Stondon Church will have a Book of Common Prayer Morning Service featuring live and recorded music by Byrd, with singing supported by the church music group, Jubilate. Richard Turbet will give the address. Then on 15 May, again at 9.00am (repeated at 11.00am at the Priory Church of St Laurence Blackmore), there will be a Service of the Top 10 Favourite Hymns, as voted by the people of our two parishes and beyond. Why? Because Byrd said that “Since singing is such a good thing, I wish every man would learne to sing”.