| Music News - April 2025 | | The SMMA aims to bring both sacred and secular music to St Mary’s Church. Our popular Spring Coffee Concert series will, by the time you read this newsletter, have taken place from the end of February and throughout March.
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| Music News - March 2025 | | Early in January, the Junior Choir enjoyed a trip to Ely Cathedral, excellently organised by Alison Lawrence, to see the fabulous stained glass museum and to attend Choral Evensong. They funded this by running a successful cake stall, providing the double
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| Music News February 2025 | | Before we turn to 2025, there is much to record and celebrate in December, starting with the Advent Carol service at the beginning of the month, then Christingles for children on 8th December, the traditional
Service of Nine Lessons and Carols
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| Music News - December 2024 | | One of the many highlights of the past month was the opportunity to lead a service of Choral Evensong in Norwich Cathedral. Some of us went on a fascinating free tour of the Cathedral before rehearsals in the Song School, whose motto is appropriately ..
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| Music News - November 2024 | | Due to the (very few) hot days at the end of the summer break, choir rehearsals were initially held in church, rather than the Parish Rooms. These were enhanced by the bats flitting overhead as we sang. Sadly their donations to the choir stalls, which..
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| Choral Evensong at Norwich Cathedral 19 October 2024 | | The choir visited Norwich Cathedral on Saturday 19 October 2024 to sing choral evensong. They consisted of 22 adults, 5 choral scholars, 8 Juniors, our organ scholar, organist and Director of Music. Listen to the recording plus a few photos.
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| Music News October 2024 | | The summer break ended convivially with lunch kindly hosted by Noel and Judith Starr. This followed a hastily and briefly rehearsed service on 1 September, and reminded us how much fun as well as musical skills we all gain from belonging to the choir.
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| From the Archives! | | In the Bleak Midwinter by Darke from the late 1990s. The Choir of St Mary's Church Saffron Walden recorded by the BBC in the late 90s as part of their Advent series.
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| St Mary's Music News July 2024 | | The younger members of the choir were much in evidence at Choral Evensong on 12 May. 3 members of the Junior Choir received their surplices and Harry was commissioned as a Choral Scholar.
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| Jonathan Scott Organ Trumpet Fanfare | | In case you missed last Saturday's excellent Organ Recital by Jonathan Scott, here is a chance to listen to his solo organ arrangement of Fanfare pour précéder "La Péri" by Paul Dukas on the organ of St Mary's Church, Saffron Walden on 1st June 2024...
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| St Mary's Music News June 2024 | | At Choral Evensong on 14 April, James and William were formally commissioned as Choral Scholars. Congratulations to them both. At the next Choral Evensong on 12 May the choir will (or will have, by the time you read this newsletter) reprise .....
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| St Mary's Music News May 2024 | | Much of the music you hear in church is familiar, though of course the choir and organists are always learning new pieces. Rarely, however, are the motets experimental. Kerry Andrew’s “O nata lux” was a striking exception.
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| St Mary's Music News April 2024 | | Life as a Choral Scholar There is never a dull moment in the music-making of St Mary's Choir. Even once the busy Christmas and Epiphany period is over, there’s Easter to be working towards
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| St Mary's Music News March 2024 | | The Epiphany Carol Service on 28 January started quietly with Moles’ O Tribus Miraculis and the lilting French version of Away in A Manger with a quintet including the Junior Choir’s Flo and Poppy.
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| St Mary’s Music News - February 2024 | | Read all about our choir and brass group involvement in our Christmas services - Advent Carol Service, Christingles, Service of Nine Lessons and Carols to name but a few, plus other choir member news.
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| St Mary's Music News December 2023 | | Autumn is always very busy for the church and for the choir. However, the SMMA managed to squeeze in 2 coffee (and delicious! cake) concerts, an organ concert by Oli King on 11 October, followed a week later by a chamber choir from SWCHS...
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| St Mary's Music News November 2023 | | One of the pleasures of the autumn term is what has become an annual scholar’s concert. This is usually led by the scholars who are leaving for university. This year however, as no one is leaving us, it was a celebration of present and past scholars.
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| St Marys Music News - October 2023 | | On 7 July we were delighted to welcome 4 new children to sing in the morning service, each wearing a smart new St Mary’s Junior Choir polo shirt. It is always impressive to see them adapting to their new “front of house” roles...
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| Organ Scholar Appointed | | St Mary’s Saffron Walden and St Mary’s Wendens Ambo have appointed the third Michael Swindlehurst Organ Scholar, Ziyi Wang, a year 11 pupil at Saffron Walden County High School
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| St Mary’s Music News - August/September 2023 | |
There were 2 very successful taster sessions on 9 June, one for Joyful Noise and one for the Junior Choir. There were 4 potential recruits at each session, with more children expressing an interest but not able to join in the singing and other activitie
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| St Mary’s Music News - July 2023 | |
Choral singing requirements calm down a little at this time of year, but to balance this out the SMMA’s Wednesday lunchtime concert season is in full swing. As always, refreshments are available from 12.30 pm, and the concerts start at 1.10pm...
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| St Mary’s Music News - June 2023 | | Music this month was book-ended by services combining the choir and the Brass Group. The Easter Sunday morning service started with a rousing rendition of The Heavens Are Telling from Haydn’s Creation by the Brass Group, and culminated with congregation .
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| St Mary’s Music News - May 2023 | | The Choir and the Brass Group, supported by the increasingly frail and temperamental organ, have been very busy participating in worship during Lent and through to Easter, not only on Sunday mornings, but also in the evenings in 4 services .....
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| St Mary’s Music News - April 2023 | | One very lively event has already taken place though – the annual outing for the Junior choir, organised by Alison Lawrence with a doughty band of responsible adults. This year they visited Ely, first stop the fascinating Stained Glass Museum ....
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| St Mary’s Music News - March 2023 | | A mixture of coughs, colds and exams left the choir somewhat depleted immediately after Christmas, but numbers are now returning to normal. On the second Sunday in Epiphany Ellie gamely held her own as the only alto among a sea of sopranos, tenors and ...
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| Junior Choir Cake Stall | | Members of our Junior Choir running their cake stall on Saturday 4th February 2023 to support their forthcoming trip to Ely.
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| Music News - February 2023 | | The traditional movement “from darkness into light” during the Advent Carol Service on 27 November was as ever an uplifting reminder that the night is far spent, and the day is at hand. The music matched this trajectory, modulating from ......
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| Music News November 2022 | | The evening of 9th September was full of contrasts. Practice started sombrely with a prayer for the late Queen Elizabeth II, and then a complete change for the Patronal Festival and Choral Evensong.
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| Music News October 2022 | | The end of the summer was properly celebrated with 2 very different musical events. The Organ Plus concert on 24 July, and somewhat less elevated was the mermaid and pirate themed musical party, complete with visiting octopus and jelly fish.
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| Music News - August - September 2022 | | Special musical activities in June started with a rousing Festal Evensong. While “rousing” is not usually a word associated with the calm, meditative nature of this most reflective of services, this was an exception, including Stamford’s Magnificat ..
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| Music News July 2022 | | There has been little reduction in pace for the choir, even after Easter. Rehearsals are already underway for Festal Evensong at 6.30 on Sunday 12 June, followed by Choral Eucharist for the Feast of Corpus Christi at 8pm on Thursday 16 June.
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| Music News - June 2022 | | Palm Sunday heralded the return not only of Junior and Senior Choirs singing together again, but also processing amid the congregation. The first time in over two years!
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| Music News - May 2022 | | 6th March was a big day for some of the newest members of the Junior Choir, as it was their first appearance at a regular morning service with the Senior Choir. The two groups have now started rehearsing together, and will be singing together ...
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| Music News - April 2022 | | The first part of February seemed indeed like the start of Ordinary Time, before the shocking events later in the month. Services in late February were very exciting for some of the newest members of the Junior Choir, as they made their first appearances
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| Fundraising for Ukraine | | Two recent events organised by St Mary's Church Saffron Walden to raise funds for the crisis in Ukraine. A concert featuring our choir and friends and our most junior choir Joyful Noise
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| Music News - March 2022 | | This year’s Epiphany Carol Service on Sunday 23 January was the first Rev’d Jeremy Trew had ever attended, and I hope it will form part of his traditional worship in future. The music opened with the fireworks of MacMillan’s O Radiant Dawn and ...
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| Choral Evensong - 13 February 2022 | | A chance to listen to a recording of this service. The conductor was Jeremy Allen, organist was Oli King, cantor was Eden Faith and soloist in the Bairstow was Alison Lawrence.
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| Music News - February 2022 | | It was a great pleasure that all the music took place with both choir and congregation, and indeed brass instrumentation, in contrast to the scaled back lockdown events of 2020.
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| Music News - December 2021 | | Choral Evensong, that calm spiritual traditional musical service as the light of the day fades. It’s always a joy to take part in and to listen to. In October the choir sang the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis ..
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| Opportunities for enthusiastic young singers | | Opportunities for enthusiastic young singers to join one of our two lively groups. Age ranges are 5½ to 7½ for Joyful Noise and 7½ to 13 years for the Junior Choir. If you think this is for you and would like more information, please contact Bron Ferland
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| Music News November 2021 | | From the beginning of September, the Adult and Choral scholar choir has been enjoying its first rehearsals in St Mary’s. All those lockdown Zoom practices have borne fruit, though Oli did seem a little pale after some of the efforts during the first week.
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| New Organ Scholar appointed | | The second Michael Swindlehurst Organ Scholar is Yechan Yun, a 16-year-old pupil in the sixth form at the Perse School. Yechan says, “I was motivated to start playing the organ 6 years ago ...
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| Music News August-September 2021 | | Friday 11 June was a joyful day. First the Junior Choir, and then the Adults held socially distanced outdoor but, crucially, in person rehearsals outside the West door, with Oli standing on the church steps with microphone at the ready, and Jeremy on ....
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| Music News - July 2021 | | Due to Covid restrictions adult choir rehearsals have remained on Zoom, though the Juniors have managed at least 1 indoor practice, and singing at Sunday services has been restricted to 6 members of the adult choir.
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| Music News - June 2021 | | On 30 April the SMMA held its first AGM with Rector Jeremy Trew as its new President. The AGM was attended by 26 devices (what a strange world we live in now!), equating to around 30 participants which was quite an increase on last year.
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| Updated Organ Leaflet | | There was apparently an organ in St Mary’s as early as 1451. The present organ is a descendant of one built in 1824 by John Vincent. Rebuilt in 1885 by T. C. Lewis and subsequent further rebuilds. Find out more in our recently updated Organ Leaflet..
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| Music News May 2021 | | The choir was delighted to welcome a new chorister for the first part of our weekly practice on 12 March. Jeremy Trew admitted to having enjoyed life as a treble a ‘few’ years ago, and joined in enthusiastically with the warm ups for both the Junior ....
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| Music News - April 2021 | | During February the choir has again been represented in Sunday services either by soloists or by small family groups, as well as by home recordings. We are very grateful to everyone who takes part in musical worship virtually or in real life.
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| Music News March 2021 | | The choir’s celebration of Epiphany has been very different from usual in lockdown 3. No Epiphany carol service, and there will be no February choral
evensong.
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| Music News February 2021 | | The choir has been very busy since the last newsletter which took us to the beginning of November. Importantly, members of the choir have sung for every service either live in groups of 2 to 6, or in larger numbers in recordings.
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| Music News December 2020 | | The choir in limited socially distanced form with 8 or so choristers has been singing in the regular Sunday morning services. Larger numbers provided the virtual music for Online Choral Evensong during the time of Covid at half term. This included .......
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| Music News November 2020 | | The first major choral act of worship of the new academic year was the Patronal Festival at St Mary’s on 13 September, where the choir’s first physical contribution to a service since lockdown ...
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| Online Choral Evensong - October 2020 | | We have put together an online Choral Evensong for October 2020 despite the extra challenges of doing this online during the Covid-19 restrictions. Thanks to members of our choir including soloists, organist, Director of Music Oli King and Marisa Baltrock
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| Music News October 2020 | | Back to school, back to the office, shops and cafes, but best of all, back to the choir! Zoom practices began again at the beginning of September with a lengthy programme of music, some familiar and some new.
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| Ave Maris Stella - Titelouze. | | Ave Maris Stella (Hail Star of the Sea) recorded live in St Mary's Church Saffron Walden for our Patronal Festival September 2020. The singer is Peter De Vile and Oli King is playing the organ.
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| Music News August-September 2020 | | During lockdown the SMAA reports have focused on parts of the church’s musical life which are less visible to the congregation. Last month starred the Junior Choir. This month we have contributions from our organist, Jeremy Allen, and from Peter De Vile.
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| Choir Resources | | This new page of resource material for our choir members can be accessed via a link on our Choirs page.
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| Locus iste | | Locus iste - Anton Bruckner - sung by the choir of St Mary's Church, Saffron Walden. This sacred motet was composed by Anton Bruckner in 1869. Often sung for the annual celebration of a church's dedication.
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| Music News July 2020 | | This month’s newsletter focuses on the Junior Choir, with many thanks to Bron Ferland and Karen Goddard for their contributions to this article, as well as to all the families who have encouraged and facilitated the juniors’ participation.
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| Organ and Choral Scholars during lockdown | | Music extracts from online worship - May 2020. St Mary's Church, Saffron Walden: Organ and Choral Scholars during lockdown.
God is Love:his the care, Come, my way, my truth, my life - Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Sing Hosanna.
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| 'The Lord ascended up on high' | | Sung by the the Under 18's of St Mary's Church Choir, Saffron Walden with music by Director of Music Oli King. Recorded individually online. 31st May 2020. Pentecost.
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| Music News June 2020 | | Our organ scholar, Elliott Randall, has been awarded a place to study the organ at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and James Razzell from the Junior Choir obtained a distinction in his Grade 3 piano exam.
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| The music plays on | | The adults and choral scholars of our nearly 70 strong choir are continuing weekly choir practices online by Zoom. All parts of the choir (adults, choral scholars and juniors) are also working towards various online recording projects.
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| The music plays on! | | During the COVI-19 pandemic the adults and choral scholars of our nearly 70 strong choir are continuing weekly choir practices online by Zoom.
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| Music News April 2020 | | Please be aware that this was written for the April edition of our Parish News before we knew of the cancellation of events due to Coronavirus.
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| Music News March 2020 | | On Sunday 26 January we celebrated the end of the Christmas season at St. Mary's with the Epiphany Carol Service. There was a goodly sized congregation with many holding lighted candles as the service began with the choir, conducted by Oliver King ....
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| Music News - February 2020 | | November is always the start of a very busy period for music at St Mary’s, which can be testing for the stamina and patience of all participants in the choir, organ loft and brass group.
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| Waiting here for you | | 'Waiting here for you' - sung by Alison Knights at our Family Service on 15 December 2019 accompanied by Oli King on piano.
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| Music News November 2019 | | On 29th September the brass group performed a stealth operation to surprise two former members by substituting for the expected organ voluntary at the end of the morning service.
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| Do you play a Brass instrument? | | St Mary’s Brass meets on Monday evenings 6.15–7.15pm during term time. The group plays at various events in the year including our Easter Service, Christmas Carol Service and Christmas Fair. New members of any age are always welcome.
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| Music News October 2019 | | This is always a difficult month to report on the music at St Mary’s as the choirs and the brass group all have the month of August off, but after the four week break the choirs met to rehearse for the first time this academic year on 30th August.
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| Music News Aug-Sept 2019 | | Despite being the end of term, the past month has certainly been a busy one!. The Junior Choir visited St. Botolph’s Church, Hadstock, to sing at the Holy Communion service on Sunday 7th July........
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| Music News - June 2019 | | I think that the best word to describe Easter at St Mary’s is ‘wow’. Our musicians really pulled out the stops this year. Easter week involved around 65 singers, 5 organists, 15 brass players, 1 viola player, 1 cellist, and 1 timpanist.
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| Music News - May 2019 | | As Easter is unusually late this year, the second half of March and the beginning of April have been full of Lenten music, some already performed, and some still in prospect at the date of writing.
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| Music News April 2019 | | ecently the Rector was able to present Alex with her surplice, Isobel, Patricia, Harry, James and Hayden with their light blue ribbons whilst Charlotte, Tabby, Eden and Peter received their red ribbons......
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| Music News - March 2019 | | The New Year has seen no let-up for the Choir. It is worth remembering that, along with the usual Sunday service music, the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Carol services all occur in a period of less than two months....
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| Music News February 2019 | | December 2nd saw the traditional Advent Carol Service. This is always a very special service, hugely atmospheric with the whole thing beginning in darkness and then candles and light gradually being added as the service progresses.....
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| Music News – Dec 2018/Jan 2019 | | At the very start of November Oliver King gave the final organ recital in this year’s occasional series, entitled ‘Music for the start of Remembrance Week’.....
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| Music News – November 2018 | | The choir certainly hit the ground running after the August break with seven services in September including the Patronal Festival, Ordination and, of course, the wedding of the much-loved Rev’d Tim Hardingham and fellow choir member Nell Bacon.
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| Music News – October 2018 | | August is usually a quiet month for the St Mary’s music groups while everyone takes a well earned summer break. As a final flourish at the end of the academic year, Oli King and Martin Huggett gave a superb concert of piano duets ....
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| Music News – July 2018 | | The Junior Choir and the children from Joyful Noise together took part in an informal concert for family and friends on Sunday 20th May....
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