St John the Evangelist, Hollington, Thursday 7 December 2017

Treble Clefs started life as a WI Choir with just seven members – today, under their founder and conductor Keith Richardson, they number almost forty and make a remarkable impact not only musically but also in the funds raised for local charities.

On Thursday they sang at St John’s Hollington, to a comfortably full church, in aid of the roof restoration and on-going plans to develop the building, opening with Joy to the World and Starry Night. Alongside the many familiar items there was an impressive number of lesser known ones. Howard Davies The angels sang the story and Ray Steadman-Allen’s Long, long ago were delightful additions to the regular canon as was Laura Farnell’s Come to the Celebration written for a choral convention in the USA in 2015 and possibly being given its first performance here.

To add a little variety, Stephen Page gave two splendid jazz arrangements for piano and later Chestnuts roasting and Sleigh ride on the churches pipe organ, now released from its wrappings while the roof was repaired.

We were encouraged to join in with three carols plus the final enthusiastic renditions of Winter wonderland and White Christmas. It was a wonderful evening and could easily become a regular feature at St John’s.