Morland Camp has just celebrated its 50th anniversary at last, and after the worries and restrictions of the past two years, it was wonderful that a group of Alumni and Friends made their way to Morland and helped make the celebrations incredibly special. After rehearsals at Newby End, led by past Musical Director of Camp, Catherine Beddison, the alumni joined with the main choir from Camp to sing Festal Evensong in Carlisle Cathedral conducted by Don Gillthorpe with organist Benjamin Cunningham. The highlights were Noble’s Evening Service in B minor, Parry’s I Was Glad and to conclude, the magnificent Te Deum by Stanford followed by Bach’s organ voluntary, Prelude in E flat,
‘St Anne’.
The cathedral was packed, and we were supported by distinguished invited guests who included the Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, the High Sheriff of Cumbria and the Mayor of Carlisle who joined us for tea beforehand in the beautifully restored Fratry Hall. The Dean, the Revd Mark Boyling, who has been Chair of the Trustees for many years, is retiring, and so the service also marked our fond farewell to him. He will be much missed for his wise involvement and leadership, combined with his love of church music.
On the Saturday before the main concert in Penrith, the alumni, further strengthened by friends and family, sang Choral Evensong in Morland Church with Daniel Cook as organist and Catherine conducting. We sang, of course, The Graham Ellis Responses and Vaughan Williams’s rousing anthem Let All the World. Having the support of so many friends and family was a reward in itself.
The Alumni certainly seemed to enjoy re-living the Morland experience, being entertained in Morland House and adding to the volume of the extended Choir!
Don Gillthorpe was so impressed with the quality of the singing, that he has asked the Alumni to re-group in four years’ time, ie. 2026, to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Camp! He need not have feared about rusty voices…..so please make a note of that date in your forward planners.
More immediately, the next Friends of Morland Choral Evensong is on Saturday 5th November in Morland Church, and you are all most welcome. Meet at 1.30pm in Morland Church for sign-in. More details in due course.
Lastly, we ask for your support in two ways. Thank you so much to those who have donated already, but if you, or any of your family/friends, are able to donate to the Appeal in any way, that would be much appreciated. The simplest way is via the ‘Donate’ button on this website which leads you to our Stewardship fundraising page.
The other vital way of supporting Camp is to think of choirs/children who might like to come. Many of the newest ‘recruits’ come via personal recommendation as the Morland experience is not easy to translate into straight forward marketing.
The updated brochure is available here. Hard copies are available for distribution by emailing admin@morland.org.uk.
Thank you so much for your support.