Nottingham: New choirs at St Mary's church given £6,000 grant

Newly-formed children's choirs at a historical city church have been awarded a grant for £6,000.

The church of St Mary's in Nottingham's Lace Market received the grant from the Cathedral Music Trust (CMT) and the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) at a Christingle service.

The two organisations, which support the work of church and cathedral choirs around the country, made the award at a special presentation.

Vicar Tom Gillam said he was grateful.

He said: "We established our new children's choirs earlier this year to help more children in and around Nottingham to develop an appreciation of singing.

"The support from the Cathedral Music Trust has helped us achieve that goal and we have already attracted 50 children to sing in the choirs."

The church recently appointed a children's choir director, Lucy Haigh, to run and lead the choirs.

She said: "It has been exciting to establish and develop the new children's choirs at St Mary's and I've been really pleased by the initial response.

"We have already performed in the Harvest Festival and Remembrance Sunday services at the church."

She added the children were looking forward to the Christmas season.

The grant, known as the church choir award, is a collaborative venture by the CMT and RSCM to support church music around the country.

Five other churches have also received support.

Peter Allwood, chair of the CMT, said: "We are pleased to have awarded the first six church choir awards in recognition of excellence in liturgical music at a grassroots level."

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