A Winchester Christmas on Classic FM
Sunday 18 December 2016
his moment of glory. Some wonderful
reading from Winchester College boys
between the carols, notably Hugh Chilcott’s
hilarious rendition of A Yorkshire Nativity
and Temiloluwa Bolodeoku’s From Cloth
to Cradle, made an incredibly professional
performance complete. No other school
could match a production like this. Lucky
Classic FM listeners!
Once again some of us were lucky enough
to be in Chapel for the recording of the
second year of ‘A Winchester Christmas’ for
Classic FM. The show was broadcast on
Sunday 18 December. Lucy Coward, Classic
FM’ s wonderfully upbeat and appreciative
presenter gave a quick history of the
Quirister tradition dating back to William
of Wykeham’s original intent for 16 boys to
sing to the dons at the end of each day to
make them feel spiritually comforted before
going to bed. I always feel that way after a
spell in Winchester College Chapel with the
Quiristers. The service was full of spirit and
the combination of the Chapel Choir, organ
and the Royal College of Music Orchestra
made a magical sound that would have
comforted anyone, opening with a roof-
raising Handel’s And the Glory of the Lord
from the Messiah. We all sang our favourite
carols with gusto starting with David
Willcocks’ timeless arrangement of O Come
All Ye Faithful. Other classics included Philip
Ledger’s lovely arrangement of the Sussex
Carol and John Gardner’s Tomorrow will
be my dancing day giving the percussionist
Bob Wigley, Q Parent (yr 8)
Recoding for Classic FM
The Quiristers sing for the RNLI Tara Scougall Lifeboat Fund
Stockbridge Parish Church
Saturday 11 February 2017
It’s not often that the Quiristers are preceded
by a fully uniformed Lifeboat Volunteer
(in yellow wellies to boot) at the start of a
concert, but on Saturday, 11 February, night
RNLI crew member, Will, enthused the
congregation in Stockbridge Parish Church
about the much needed work carried out by
the charity. Twenty-two people are rescued
every day and last year 350 lives, seriously
in danger, were saved. The charity receives
no government funding and is 100% reliant
on donations.
The feast of music began with the Quiristers
singing a range of choral music spanning
several centuries including Thomas
Campion, Henry Purcell, Charles Villiers
Stanford and Herbert Howells, with notable
solos by Hamish Rogers, Max Bassett,
Thomas Sharrock and Angus Benton.
As well as an outstanding solo violin
performance by Byron Adlam playing
from Bach’s B Minor Partita, the boys,
accompanied beautifully by Katie Salomon
15