To help keep spirits up during Covid lockdowns Revd Damon Draisey from Holy Trinity Church in Colden Common released a video of himself singing ‘Amarillo’ as he walked around the empty village. A few others added their own videos but from that came the idea of setting up a community choir.
Revd Damon said, “Without thinking about it, I said, who would be interested in a community rock choir when lockdown finishes? About 70 people said, if it’s the right day at the right time, we’d love to do it. I thought, ‘that was a silly thing to suggest, I’ve got no idea how to go about it’. I put out feelers, realising we needed someone professional to do it and a couple of people applied, one being Steph Amies, who’s incredible. We thought we’d give it a couple of weeks and see if anyone turns up and 4 years later, we have 50 or more people turning out every week just to get together.”
One of the organisers, Pam Glasspool added, “The choir has been a lifeline for me. I think everybody during COVID became quite lonely. We all went out and clapped our hands and shouted across to neighbours, but we didn’t actually mix. Even when the church first reopened, we weren’t allowed to sing, and we all sat six feet apart. So, Damon’s video just made everybody laugh but we really didn’t expect this response.
“It was a big step to say to Steph that we would take her on and pay her because we thought we would make a loss on it, but the number of people that turned up on the first night, we could not believe it.”
The ‘Trinity C4’ community choir grows week on week and meets each Tuesday at Holy Trinity Church in Colden Common. It attracts people from their 20s to their 80s.
Kate Blyth is one of the organisers and a parishioner at Holy Trinity. She said, “It’s a choir that’s enabled and organised by the church for the whole community. It’s a place where people come, have fun or relaxation or escape and lose themselves. It’s nice that people want to be here and just sing, and sometimes people come along and have a chat, have a cup of tea, and that’s actually what it’s about. It’s been a really positive initiative in the parish because it’s brought the church to people who wouldn’t normally do church. They don’t feel as if they’re having to go to a church service, but they’re still in church and using the space. That’s been really good in terms of making the church more accessible.”
One of the choir members is Linda Sims, who said, “I didn’t know if I could sing, I can’t read music, but I thought I’d join the choir. This is a year later, and I absolutely love it. It’s a fabulous community spirit and we keep an eye out for each other because things always happen in people’s lives, and this can lift their hearts a bit.”
Choir leader Steph Amies added, “Choirs in general are really good for you, for well-being, for joy, for community, for socialising. They do a lot of wonderful things for your body, your brain and lungs. It’s such an uplifting experience and you can feel the energy change session by session when people come into the church. During concerts and performances as well, you feel that electricity and excitement and I hope people take that away with them into the rest of their lives.”
The choir perform summer and winter concerts to a packed church, and it’s brought another blessing to the congregation. Money from choir subs and revenue from the concerts has helped towards the replacement of church lights and heating after the system broke down last autumn. £5,000 has been raised from the choir in the last 4 years.
They have been able to replace the old gas boiler with new energy efficient chandelier lighting and clean infrared heating plus under-pew heaters. It was part of the Eco team’s ‘Project Wish’ to make the Church more eco-friendly.
Pam Glasspool continued, “We sang and warmed ourselves up, huddled together and there were times when we were singing, we could see the breath coming out of us because we had no heating at all. Now we’ve got this wonderful new heating and lighting system. It’s now a building that’s got amenities for the 21st century. Before it was just being used for the odd wedding or funeral or baptism and on a Sunday morning for an hour. Now with the choir, we’ve got so many more people coming in and there’s just a lot more ‘go’ about the church.
“We’ve got to know an awful lot of people that we didn’t know before and they’ve got to know us. They’ve got to know the church and they don’t feel frightened of coming through the door anymore. The feeling on a Tuesday night makes the church so vibrant and it adds to my belief that God’s home is being used with a happy smile.”
The choir has also raised funds for charity. This year’s summer concert raised £1,100 for Mountbatten Hampshire, which provides care and support for people with life-limiting illnesses. The charity was nominated by choir members, with the cause being close to many of their hearts. A cheque was handed over this month.
Caitlin Sherry, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Mountbatten Hampshire, said, “This money will really help the people that we care for and their families around them. We are an independent charity, and we only get a third of our funding from the government, so we rely heavily on donations. We look after anybody with a life-limiting illness and try and be there as best as we can for them. We wouldn’t be able to deliver that care without our local community.”
For Pam, it’s a charity close to her heart. She said, “My husband’s been bedbound since early this year. He’s very poorly and we have the Mountbatten carers come three times a day. Every single one of them is my friend. They are wonderful and they’re there for us when we need them.”
The Christmas concert at Holy Trinity this year will raise funds for the church’s hamper scheme which provides around 80 to 100 hampers each year for families and individuals in need in the benefice at Christmas time.
Holy Trinity in Colden Common is part of the South Downs Gateway Churches. Another choir has now been started at St Andrews in Owslebury.
Revd Damon added, “The whole idea behind the choir was very much about mental health, the community coming together, somewhere to be, somewhere to belong and the fact that the church isn’t just always about trying to bring the gospel out but is actually trying to live the gospel out and say, you’ve got a place to come and belong. Hopefully if people come into the church, they feel they’re part of church, they feel they own the church, so we’ll be more comfortable when they need the church. It’s just been a real blessing.”
Read more about the choir via the Daily Echo website.
