Sunday in Bath

The choir has arrived at the historic city of Bath. Situated on the Avon River, Bath is widely known for its Roman baths. Nourished by natural hot springs, Bath spa offered the Romans a perfect place to set up camp in 43AD. Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone.

We were singing at the historic Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, or more well known as Bath Abbey. We will be singing evensong on Saturday and Sunday, as well as Sunday morning services. The Abbey, completed in 1132, has been left to ruin and rebuilt many times, with a major restoration in 1860 by Sir George Scott. It's walls are 80% windows, which give the Abbey a light, airy feel. The Abbey is built in a cruciform, which was not a common building style at the time, but being a cross formation, has been copied by many other churches since.

The choir did the choral matins in the morning and a mid-afternoon evensong. We filled the cathedral with Healey Willan's O How Glorious and ended the day with Rise Up My Love. We experienced the traditional choral matins which focused on the passage from Matthew 14 reading of the feeding of the 5000. The bishop of the Diocese of Bath and Wells offered a moving reflection inspired by Jesus's words "Let none of it be wasted."
The vicar theologian skillfully bridged the message and the prayer, inviting the congregation to meditate in silence when they believed times in their life which there was waste.

After the service we were free to go on our own to explore the city of Bath. Next we are off to Oxford for a few days to take in the sights, with a quick return to London on Tuesday.

Glen Warren
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Our First Evensong a Success!

It sure felt like a short night, but we all managed to get to breakfast, then get out to the bus with our robes and music by 8:45 am. After a short rehearsal on the lawn in front of the hotel, we boarded the bus and headed into Bath for a full day of sight-seeing and singing.

After we made a brief stop at Bath Abbey to park our robes in the choir vestry, David, our tour guide, started us out with a very informative walking tour, during which we learned a lot about the history, the architecture, and important people of Bath. We then had several hours to explore on our own, joining the huge throngs of other tourists enjoying narrow shop-lined streets, old limestone buildings, beautiful gardens, and sunny weather.

We gathered back at the cathedral around 3:30 to don our choir robes and rehearse for our first Evensong service. The abbey was filled with tourists during our public rehearsal. Many were exploring the beautiful building and taking pictures, but some sat and listened. It's a good thing we rehearsed the processional, because we lined up the wrong way the first time and all ended up on the wrong side of the choir loft -- kind of like driving on the wrong side of the street!

Our first Evensong service featured several works by Healey Willan, the Halley responses, and Psalm 11. These are all works that we have studied a lot and performed before, but what a different feeling to sing in such a lofty place! The stone walls and the spectacular, high vaulted ceilings reverberated with the sound of our voices.

After the service, many of us took a special tour to the top of the bell tower -- around 220 steps up a narrow, spiral staircase to see how the bells are rung, to see and hear them up close, and to look out over the city in all directions from the top of the roof and then from the top of the tower. At one point in the tour we were just above the vaulted ceiling, which is carved of stone only 7 cm thick. We could look down into the abbey through a little hole in the ceiling. The stone floor of the abbey looked very far down from there!

Laura Snyder





A few pictures taken from the tower ...

Arrival at last!

We're finally here! The United Voices of Edmonton have arrived in England!

After many people arrived from different locations (Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Denmark, and other parts of England) and one major group arrived from Edmonton to our meeting point at Heathrow airport, we met our kind, humourous, and knowledgeable "courier" David and our coach driver Lee. There was a fair bit of traffic getting to Bath, which allowed us more time to see the beautiful, picturesque countryside of some of the Cotswolds area. The fact that it was a bit drizzly and foggy added to the ambiance of the view from the bus window!

After some time to shake of a bit of jet lag and freshen up at the lovely Bailbrook House Hotel (photo above) we had a group dinner in Bath. There were oo's and ah's as we drove past gorgeous buildings, and arrived at the restaurant which was right in the shadow of Bath Abbey where we will sing tomorrow! The excitement (and perhaps a bit of overtiredness!) was obvious at dinner and we all look forward to a good sleep tonight. Tomorrow - walking tour and our first evensong. All our hard work will finally be realized!

Tammy-Jo Mortensen

Bon Voyage!

It's finally almost here!

Time to leave behind all the hard work that the United Voices of Edmonton have put in, and go on the journey that we've been planning for almost 2 years!

During this time of preparation, we've had a lot of extra rehearsals, sang at four evensong services around Edmonton, met and planned, had some "fun"draisers, and have gotten to know better our fellow choristers from our own choirs and the other choirs that have comprised the group (Robertson-Wesley, Knox-Metropolitan and the Willan Chorale) and perhaps even gotten to know ourselves better too.

It's been a wonderful time of great music-making, as well as researching and learning a lot of new Canadian music. We're truly thankful for the musicians across Canada who have shared their music with us, which we will now share with the congregations and audiences in England.

The tour takes place from July 29-August 15. Stay with us on this journey and share with us in the experience!

Photo: United Voices of Edmonton at Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Taken by Katharine Moore

Tammy-Jo Mortensen