AFTER six months of preparations, more than 160 children came together to perform inside Winchester Cathedral for St David’s Day.
Since September, staff from The Pilgrims' School, Winchester Cathedral and Winchester College have been working on an outreach concert with six schools in Winchester to learn songs for St David's Day.
Children from St Faiths, St Bede, All Saints, Western, Twyford St Marys and Pilgrims’ performed in front of their families on Wednesday, March 1. And for some, it was their first time inside the cathedral.
As well as singing the pupils were given a brief tour around the cathedral before watching a demonstration of the organ by the sub-organist Joshua Stephens.
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Project lead and assistant director of music at Pilgrims’ School, Chris Burton, said: "It's so wonderful to bring everyone together in this amazing space, to sing the same songs and share this fantastic opportunity.”
Singing teacher, Anna Leyland, said: "It was very special today to see our local children joining together through music in their beautiful cathedral. Singing plays such an important role in children’s development, on many levels. It is essential that we keep promoting it and making it available to the next generation".
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Headteacher at Western CE Primary School, Peter Burbridge, was overjoyed with the event. He said: "The experience that you have provided for our young children is exceptional and the power of music in a collaborative performance cannot be underestimated. I am most grateful for the headteacher at Pilgrims' allowing you to undertake such outreach work and I want to say that we can visibly see the impact that this quality experience has on a significant number of our children".
Headteacher of All Saints CE Primary School, Jane Hall, added: "I just wanted to send my heartfelt thanks to the team for the beautiful concert. It was a truly special afternoon and such an amazing experience for our year four children and their families.
"We have had such positive feedback from our parents and carers who attended, we all floated back to school after such a wonderful afternoon.”
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