Weighton Waytes Pilgrimage to Holy Island
For almost ten years now, Waytes members under the leadership of Musical Director, Carole Readman, have journeyed North to the idyllic Holy Island – also known as “Lindisfarne” – off the coast of Northumberland. The island is special in many ways to many people across the world. Firstly, Holy Island is considered as a pivotal place in Western European history as the cradle of Christian conversion with a Priory being founded there in AD 635 by St Aidan. From these beginnings, it became a base for Christian evangelising in the North of England as well as a centre for art and culture. All this in addition to being the site of the dawn of the Viking Age in Great Britain.
For the Weighton Waytes, it is also special and is a place of peace and reflection and an opportunity to sing in a sacred, holy and historic location. Many of us find ourselves remembering those friends who were members of the Waytes and who sang there and have gone on to meet their Maker.
The Waytes were invited to sing in the Sunday Morning Eucharist Service in The Church of St Mary the Virgin. It was striking to learn that there has been a Christian Service held in this ancient Church EVERY DAY since AD 665! For this service, Musical Director, Carole Readman had composed a choral work for the sung parts of the service and which was well received.
In addition, the choir lead and performed at two free concerts in St Mary’s Church. The concert programmes as usual were varied and interesting with music from both sacred and secular repertoires, Items ranged from “Ave Maria” through to “Let there be peace on Earth” and “You’ll never walk alone”, where the congregation were invited to join the choir in singing. Because of the Waytes previous visits, many audience members were regular listeners. They were supplemented by visitors to the Island on the day. As the Church remained open to the public during the concerts, many people came and stayed for a while before leaving to continue their exploration of the area.
Once again the Weighton Waytes were privileged to have with them Lucy Bates as guest soloist. Lucy is a great friend of the choir and performed solos in both concerts as well as a duet with our own Rachael Atha in Mondays concert. Amongst the items Lucy’s selected to sing were two wonderful pieces from the film “Sense and Sensibility” composed by Patrick Doyle.
Because of ill health our regular accompanist Andrew Watt was unable to travel to Holy Island this year and so this onerous task was most successfully undertaken by Musical Director Carole Readman. As a result, Rachael Atha stepped up to lead and conduct the choir, a task she accomplished with considerable confidence and expertise. Alison Walker played recorder for several items as well as acting as page turner for Carole, whilst Peter Warner added a drum beat where appropriate.
The short videos included here are from our Holy Island concerts: “Ave Maria” Caccini “Weep no more sad fountains”- Patrick Doyle ( Sense and Sensibility); “You’ll never walk alone” – Rodgers and Hammerstein.