In the May 2000 Issue
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I
have just returned from a fabulous concert held in St. Mary’s Church to raise money for the Bell
Fund.
The concert was entitled ‘A Baroque Evening’ and was attended by over 80 people. The performers were Stephen Farr, who is Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral, and the Vivace Ensemble and they performed a programme of music of the highest quality, including works by Purcell, Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi. It had been touch and go whether the Church would be ready on time. As you have probably noticed the Church has recently been undergoing restoration work on the roof. The day before the concert occurred the organ was still swathed in plastic to protect it from the dust of the building work. But the roof was finished, the plastic removed and the organ tuned ready for the concert.
In addition to a most enjoyable concert, over £500 was raised for the Bell Fund. I am sure that a lot of you have heard a lot about the Bell Fund and the various money-raising events that have occurred over the last four years to raise money for the bells, and hopefully many of you have contributed to the fund as well. But you are probably wondering how much money has been raised and whether anything is ever going to be done with it. In fact, nearly £70,000 has been raised and it seems that things are starting to happen. New bells have been ordered and it is hoped that before too long the bells will be ringing out again. Not a moment too soon as far as I am concerned. Let us hope that the bats in the tower (am I alone in thinking of them as rats with wings?) do not delay the work too much.
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