Music in the Afternoon – May 2014

Christ Church was once again filled ‘With a Voice of Singing’ as the South Pennine Singers opened their ‘Music in the Afternoon for Christian Aid’ concert held on May 11th. This was a welcome return visit for the 18 strong chamber choir from East Lancs, who under the direction of Geoff Balson and co-director Sue Temperley, delighted the appreciative audience with their wide ranging and varied program of choral items in an afternoon of music for all tastes. Following a strong unison alternating with the joyful harmonies of Martin Shaw’s stirring opening anthem, the first half flowed with a variety of polyphonic styles spanning four centuries. These ranged from an expressive rendition of the Spiritual ‘My Lord, What a Morning’ and a well articulated Thomas Morley Madrigal, ‘Now is the Month of Maying’ ; through to Geoff’s skilful arrangement of Read more…

Moments of Meditation

Friday lunchtime in Longridge seems an unlikely time and place for a concert. Even so, an appreciative audience gathered at Christ Church on Berry Lane to hear a performance by two fine young musicians, both of whom are currently studying music at Manchester University. Chloe Knibbs is studying composition and singing, as well as being an accomplished pianist. In the future, she hopes to be involved in music in education. Jason McMahon also specialises in composition as well as being an outstanding performer on the clarinet. He recently has had a number of his compositions published. Together they presented a well-chosen programme full of contrasts and styles. They opened with a sonata for clarinet and piano by Stanford, full of pastoral warmth, demonstration a close togetherness and understanding in their playing which held throughout their full programme. Chloe has a Read more…

January Ramble – Condor Green Round

Finding a suitable walk this month proved to be a bit of a challenge because the endless heavy rain meant that the countryside was totally waterlogged and any walk that involved crossing a field was out of the question. Therefore, we decided to re­visit an old favourite that would give us a circuit of good dry paths, or so we thought! We started the walk from the car park at Condor Green and headed north on the old rail-bed of the Glasson branch line. This is a good pathway used by walkers and cyclists which takes you into Lancaster. However, we covered the first two miles, enjoying excellent views over the Lune estuary and the Lakeland hills and thankful for the excellent weather that the day provided. We now left the coastal path and started the steep climb up to Read more…