Sunday 6 March at 6pm, this Choral Evensong & Benediction falls right in the middle of Lent and will feature music suitable to the Season. The Canticles will be the Short Service (Dorian Mode) by Thomas Tallis, and the Anthem, the short but intense, “Hear my prayer, O Lord” by Henry Purcell.

Responses by Byrd, Office Hymn 248 and Psalm 30.

Thanks to Fr Christopher Durrant, singing Evensong and leading Benediction for the first time.

Singers who enjoy a good Choral Evensong are welcome to join us at 4.45pm to rehearse the music for this service.

N.B. This day also marks the 50th Anniversary of the sad demise of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, closed under the Beeching Axe.  Running from Burnham-on-sea and Bath Green Park via Evercreech Junction to Blandford Forum and Broadstone, it served the business, agricultural and passenger needs of the two counties for a century.  The prestigious “Pines Express” ran from Manchester to the holiday resort of Bournemouth.  The opening scene of the film “The Titfield Thunderbolt” was filmed at Midford Viaduct.  Other memorable names include Midsomer Norton, Edington Burtle, Shepton Mallet, Templecombe, and Sturminster Newton.