The Choir at St Clement’s is an adult mixed voice four-part Choir of between 18 and 22 singers. It sings at the regular Sunday morning Eucharist service as well as other special services through the year and rehearses on Friday nights between 7:15 and 8:30pm. It has the benefit of new superb rehearsal facilities within the church.
The choir’s repertoire varies enormously, with an emphasis being placed upon providing traditional music during the communion ranging from Plainsong and Tudor polyphony through to more modern music as well as contemporary compositions.
The choir particularly enjoys singing at special events during the church year, particularly the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas, during Holy Week and in the season of Advent as well as Civic events within our town. At Remembrance the choir sings a setting of the Requiem Mass, particularly those by Fauré and Rutter or contributes to an evening sequence of words and music for this poignant time of year. They sing regularly at weddings and occasionally at funerals and memorial services. The choir contributes to the civic events in this Cinque Port Town of Sandwich.
The choir has had the privilege of singing at various cathedrals including those at Southwark (2008 and 2017) Bury St Edmunds (2009) Winchester (2010) Chichester and Guildford (2013) and St Paul’s, London (2018). Since 2012 it has now sung Choral Evensong on five occasions at Westminster Abbey, most recently in 2022.
It has sung weekend services as choir in residence at the cathedrals in Norwich (2011) Peterborough (2013) and at St Albans (2015) returned September 2023. The choir is looking forward to it’s visit to sing Choral Evensong at St George’s Chapel Windsor in July 2024. It continues to sing regularly at Canterbury Cathedral when the cathedral choir is on leave.
These invitations reflect the high standard that the choir maintains and supports the regular Sunday worship at St Clement’s Church and, on occasions, at our neighbouring parish church at Worth.
A warm welcome is extended to all new members and those interested should contact initially the Director of Music: Julian Sampson on 01227 721697 or by email via the Parish Office, with Robert Tapsfield as Assistant Organist.
Below: St Clement’s Church Choir at St Alban’s Cathedral on 10th September 2023
