The Chamber Choir was delighted to be invited to share in St Mary’s Church Great Bealings’s Service of Thanksgiving to commemorate the birth, 500 years ago, of Thomas Seckford, and to celebrate the completion of major building works to a Church which dates back well before Seckford. The weather outside might have been cold and grey, but inside all was light and warmth (in spirit if not entirely in the skin!). Full to the gills with parishioners, and full of song and speech, the Church looked marvellous – what a treasure it is, and, as we learnt, one of many hundred such jewels we are so lucky to have in Suffolk. Norman Porter and Charles Barrington spoke passionately about the history of the Church and of Thomas Seckford, the legacy bestowed, and the duty this generation bears to maintain and build upon the benefactions and work of so many generations; the Rev Celia Cook added her own thanks, and asked us to relish the opportunity for peaceful contemplation and the honouring of others that the Church, and so many like it, offer us in our increasingly frenetic, selfish, secular world. And to thank them for their performance of three pieces from the period of Sir Thomas’s birth, she also offered the Chamber Choir delightfully appropriate and unexpected gifts – very gratefully received!
The congregation, clergy and Choir shared a very special morning; our thanks to St Mary’s for such fine hospitality. May St Mary’s continue to thrive.
