Boys' Choir

Louth's great Parish Church of St James has a strong musical tradition, and the Choir sings a wide variety of music at the Sunday services. We are looking for boys who can sing, to come and join the Choir and help to keep the tradition going.

Boys that join us receive a good musical and vocal training, have a lot of fun and the chance to make new friends, and if your son is aged seven or above we should like to hear from you. As well as enjoying singing together, the boys are paid for it at the end of each term, they earn extra pocket money by singing at weddings, there are event such as the Christmas Party, and we take them away on a choir holiday after the end of the summer term (In recent years this has taken the form of a visit to a cathedral to sing the weekend's services, with leisure activities added in.).

Being a chorister is a worthwhile use of a boy's spare time, and gives him a skill that he can use for the rest of his life. As the boys progress in the choir, special medals, ribbons and extra pay show the standard that they have reached, and they can take the Royal School and Church Music examinations for Dean's and Bishop's Chorister. The growth of self-confidence brought by an activity of this kind can help a boy to do well in his schoolwork too. The choir has in recent years been highly praised for its singing at Lincoln, Wakefield and Sheffield cathedrals. For two years running (2001 and 2002) boys reached the finals of the 'Young Chorister of the Year' in London. During the last six years three choristers have won (as singers) the Intermediate section of the Louth Young Musician of the Year competition.

Choir Commitments

At present the boys attend weekly practices and services as follows:-

This is not all done absolutely every week: the girl's choir sings at quite a lot of the services, so that the boys sometimes attend only once on a Sunday and occasionally have a weekend off.

The Choir is needed for special times such as Christmas and Easter, and for the St James' Day Festival late in July, but the Choir has the month of August off, and usually has a weekend off after Christmas and after Easter. New recruits don't have to attend everything straight away: they begin by coming on Wednesdays at 4.15pm for a half-hour's singing-session, and join the choir fully when they are ready. If you are unsure whether your son might take to it, why not bring him along on Wednesdays?

If you would like to find out more, please contact the Parish Office.