Christmas 2024…it was a dark and stormy night…
It was as if, for one day at least, Christmas was cancelled. There were no crowds of Christmas Market shoppers to fight through on our way to the Cathedral for our afternoon rehearsal. Instead we fought against the cold rain and strong winds of Storm Darragh as they whipped through the streets of Winchester and well beyond. And while we rehearsed through the afternoon in the sanctuary of the Cathedral the storm tore down trees, littered the ground with debris and caused chaos on road and rail.
At the end of the afternoon a number of us returning home suffered the misfortune of their bus crashing into a tree that the storm had chosen to fling across its path. At least one of us returned to a home without power; forced to don their black concert attire by candlelight. Others were constantly checking their phones for updates from friends and relatives who were travelling, in spite of the storm, to hear us perform.
However it would, of course, take more than a storm to de-rail the wonderful evening that we had been preparing for all term. The ferocious winds of Storm Darragh were simply no match for the glory of the Beethoven nor “the balm of Bach” (as beautifully described by A1 Lynda Beckwith, one of those who heroically made it back for the evening despite the bus crash). And we sang our classic Christmas carols along with a packed Cathedral nave - among which was our lovely tenor soloist Benjamin Hulett, who slipped in among the audience so that he could sing along too!
And how could the weather do anything to dampen the joy of singing our own Andy Lumsden’s magical arrangement of Silent Night, or our own Tim Cain’s prize-winning carol? It was a special moment indeed when as the audience enthusiastically applauded Let Us Now Go To Bethlehem, Tim stood surrounded by a happy host of proudly pointing fingers!
There were even chuckles to be had as Andy’s baton was lost and then found- waiting for him on the podium, to Andy’s obvious- comic -relief! (Side note that before the concert began, Andy had been trying in vain to find a Wayns gold kerchief for his jacket- but with a baton in his hand we all know he conjures up a gold accent and sparkle all his own!)
As the storm now subsides we can stand down and relax, safe in the knowledge that against all the meteorological odds the Waynflete Singers succeeded once more in bringing a truly beautiful Classical Christmas to the city of Winchester.
Merry Christmas!
See you in 2025!
Dusk in the Cathedral
Photo: Sarah McWhirter