By Margaret Carey
“DATE ERROR PRINTED: In the printed magazine the date of this event was incorrect. Saturday 20th November 2021 IS the actual date of ‘S’Wonderful Gershwin’ show.”
When the West Gallery was constructed in Holy Trinity Church to provide additional seating space above the new gathering area, it very soon emerged as a great space for music, with its position high up in the building with the resonance of the roof rafters making the sound mellow and warm. There’s a long tradition of ‘west gallery music’ in churches, going back centuries, with local groups writing and performing songs relating to their own towns and villages.
So, here we were, with a great space for all sorts of music, and a community building which needs to be shared with everyone, whether or not they are Sunday churchgoers. An initial evening to try it out and see whether there would be an audience proved very popular, so, off we went with early evening music and song, up in the gallery – accompanied, of course, by a glass of wine or two. With gaps for the summer holidays and Hurst Festival, the West Gallery Evenings continued throughout the year, but were forced to stop during lockdown.
And now we are particularly delighted to be starting up again, with a programme from October to May all confirmed. The events are nearly always on the third Saturday of each month starting at 6pm and ending at 7.30pm with a drinks interval. The church is licensed, as the hundreds of people who attended Festival events know well, so a glass of wine in the interval is assured!
You can turn up and pay your £5 on the door, but it does help us to put out the approximately right number of chairs if you can email in advance - but don’t worry if you can’t, just come!
Saturday 20th November brings us Alan Leith and Marcus Martin with their ‘S’Wonderful Gershwin’ show. The title says it all really!