Choir Week at Bury St Edmunds – July 2004

by John Boylan (and one or two other people)

It is already over a month since we finished our last Cathedral Week at Bury St Edmunds and the Choir having enjoyed a month off are ‘back in business’. So lest we forget, I would like to jot down some words and try and relive some of the experiences of Bury and of Culford School.

It was always going to be a special week and an emotional one. With Katharina and Kirsten due to leave for their new life immediately after Bury, emotions were always going to run high. In spite of this (or maybe because of this) the week was a huge success and has given us many happy memories.

As always, a Choir week serves a multitude of things. It is an opportunity to sing praises in a larger arena and to a different congregation. It is a chance for some concentrated practice – up to seven hours work each day (save for the dumb day). It is an opportunity for the Choir to ‘bond’ as a team with the older and more experienced hands sharing time with the new and junior members. It is also a time for meeting and singing again with old friends and former members of the Choir – each year our numbers are supplemented by ‘guest’ Choristers who have formerly sung in All Saints Choir and who still come back each year for this special week.

It is also a time for fun. We asked the junior Trebles to write a few words to describe the week. I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised when most of the replies cited the ‘Dumb Day’ trip to a theme park as the best part of the week!

“The day off was the best ever. We had so much fun and everyone enjoyed themselves, even the adults. To be honest I think they had more fun than us especially Jennifer and Hilary who seemed to enjoy looking after our bags while we went on the rides” Michelle

Staying in a boarding school was also interesting with the communal showers and two to a room cells, sorry dormitories. Still it was only for a week.