St Catharine’s is delighted to host a local school choir for a special Chapel service, as part of a longstanding partnership through the Diocese of Ely School Singing Project. A group of 8–10-year-old pupils from Elm Road Primary School in Wisbech will visit the College to perform in the Chapel at 6pm on 9 February 2023. The service will be livestreamed via the College's YouTube channel.
Dr Edward Wickham (2003), Director of Music at St Catharine’s, explained:
“We are delighted that our musical partnership with Elm Road Primary School goes from strength to strength. The College offers weekly singing sessions each term so that the school pupils can benefit from working alongside our own talented choristers and organ scholars, who in turn get an opportunity to experience delivering outreach activities. Ordinarily this culminates in the Elm Road choir and St Catharine’s choir singing in a joint service at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Wisbech, so it is with great pleasure that this joint service will be at St Catharine’s for the first time – a highlight of our programme with the school this year!”
Elm Road Primary School choir attend a Zoom rehearsal
Susan Barnes, who teaches at Elm Road Primary School and has overseen the expansion of the school choir, said:
“Through taking part in the partnership with St Catharine’s, we are able to develop not just our own school choir but also a love of music among our children. What’s more, preparing for our concerts has taught our children the discipline of attending weekly rehearsals and has developed the skills of listening, concentration, teamwork and gaining confidence. This week’s visit to St Catharine’s is a great example of how our work together is creating something special in our local community and in the arts.”
The Incumbent of St Peter & St Paul Revd Canon Matthew Bradbury added:
"Our partnership has been going since 2019 to offer children from a Wisbech primary school the opportunity to sing with some of East Anglia's finest adult choristers, under the kindly baton of Dr Wickham. Over the past four years, several cohorts of children have had the significant privilege and unforgettable opportunity of learning how to sing as members of a choir and of experiencing the beauties of Anglican music at first hand. Our forthcoming trip to Cambridge, to sing Evensong with the choristers of St Catharine’s, is 'the icing on the cake'."
Elm Road Primary School choir sing during a service at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Wisbech, with Dr Wickham and members of the St Catharine's College Choir
