Item added – 19th December 2014
St Aiden’s Parish Church, Leigh, was the venue for this Carol Service – and it was tinged with sadness because our favourite Mayor – Chris Walker, was laid up with flu and couldn’t be there, so our hearts went out to Janet and her family, who “carried on with the show”.
We sang Emmanuel, Joy to the World and the exquisite Away in a Manger in four parts which was absolutely beautiful. There were a lot of other carols, and the church choir did well. Solo performances enhanced the evening – first was George Tothill (Oboe) who performed the second movement of Vivaldi’s oboe concerto, accompanied by Janet who encouraged him to play the oboe at the age of seven! The second soloist was soprano Colleen Elvidge with Mozart’s Alleluia.
Jackie proved once again what an outstanding musician she is when she whipped her shoes off and made short shrift of the Church organ – giving out rich deep bass music with the pedals to underline her excellent playing on the keyboard.
Afterwards, we all made our way to the sixteenth century Porters Civic House and Mayor’s Parlor, (sometimes known as “Porters Grange”) where we were graciously received by Janet and the Mayor’s staff, accompanied by biscuits, cake and wine.
Mick Jacks was pleased to present Janet with a further choir donation of just over £2000 for the Mayor’s Charity Fund
We were then treated to an hour’s tour of the house by Adam Tregoning, The Mayoral Mace Bearer, which was absolutely fascinating.
It was really interesting to find out all the history of Southend wrapped up with this beautiful house and the Mayor’s that have served here since 1892
A few members (the previous webmaster included) weren’t even aware the house was here – and they’ve lived in the area for decades!