MEMBERS of the choir of St Thomas-on-the Bourne were invited to sing in Venice and Padua in Italy for the first time this summer during their annual tour.

With marvellous music and beautiful cities, singers had a whale of a time and drew in large crowds. One of the many highlights was said to be singing in St Mark’s Basilica.

Robert Lewis, director of music, said: “I have taken choirs to Venice before and sung in St Mark’s, but never before at the main Saturday Mass, before a large congregation.

“There are few greater honours that a choir can aspire to!”

Some of this joy was shared with the congregation in a packed post-tour concert at St Thomas-on-The Bourne at the beginning of September.

The chairman of Friends of Cathedral Music, Peter Allwood, commented on the “sheer exuberance and joy” in the choristers when he presented a cheque of £15,000 to the choir at the concert, to be used towards further training of choristers.

The choir was also recently recognised as being close to “cathedral standard” by Friends of Cathedral Music.

Mr Allwood further commented on the “brightness of both the choir’s tone and their eyes, reflecting their enjoyment of their music”.

This is the first time that the choral standards at St Thomas’ have been recognised in this way. The funds will be used to set up a choral scholarship scheme for young singers aged 16 to 25.

For those who recently watched ‘Mothers’ Day’, a new drama on BBC Two about the Warrington terrorist bombings in 1993, choristers from St Thomas’ provided the backing music for the scene where Tim Parry dies.

In another ‘first’, the Girls’ Quartet went on to give a lunchtime recital in Bath Abbey on Saturday, September 8, accompanied by organ scholar, Andrew Harrap. An ‘in-house’ recording of the perfomance is now available on CD.

John Morris, who has been the vicar of the parish for nearly a year, said: “One of the factors that made me want to come to St Thomas’ was its strong choral tradition. Now that I have been able to enjoy a full year here, including the tour to Venice, I realise how fortunate I am to serve at a church where the worship is enhanced by music of such high quality.”

As well as continuing its normal Sunday commitments and starting to prepare for Christmas, the choir has also been invited to sing in Westminster Cathedral and St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Any boys aged six to nine or girls aged eight to nine who are musical, keen to progress and interested in finding out what it is like to sing with a parish church choir should contact Robert Lewis by emailing [email protected].

Photographs and videos from the tour can be found at thebourne.org.uk, or on the ‘St Thomas on The Bourne Choirs’ Facebook page.