Quidenham

Thanks Kelly, the concert was just the ticket.

We sang with the East Harling choir at the Quidenham Carmelite Monastery last night for Advent. Some really tricky Latin choral pieces & some other gorgeous songs.
It's always an absolute privilege to go there. It's a closed order & the nuns don't get to see many visitors. They sing in a seperate part that's away from the congregation, so the audience can only hear this ethereal music coming from around a corner of the chapel. The choir however does get to see them. This is where they sing from....
Afterwards we get to meet up with them in another smaller room and sing Christmas carols with them. There is a low bench that still divides them from us. Richard says when he used to sing there with East Harling choir in the 70's there was a metal grill that divided you, just in case you wanted to kidnap one away.

This is looking from their choir stalls back toward the High altar...
It was an amazing scene to be a part of, with us all robed up in our red outfits and the nuns all in their unassuming brown with sandals & socks. To be surrounded by such music is a healing experience & quite a few times looking around at us all singing so earnestly I had to just mouth the words or they would have come out as sobs.

(I've put in a few pics from their website as it's too hard to take photos at the time. They're not great quality)
http://www.carmelite.org.uk/Quidenham.html