Park Road Methodist Church, 11 December 2012

Julius Weeks led the Come and Sing Carols evening and delightful it was. One never quite knows what one is in for when Julius is in charge and this evening was no different. Along with a goodly range of familiar carols, we also sang White Christmas and Julius played We’re walking in the air alongside Bach’s Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.

Carols ranged from A great and mighty wonder to O come all ye faithful, and of course included the Sussex Carol. Park Road Methodist have acquired the organ from Battle Methodist Church on long term loan while their own church is being rebuilt. It sounded very good, dare one say almost better than it did in Battle! Hopefully it will encourage the congregation at Park Road to find an organ at least as good as this when it returns to Battle to its new home.

But the most interesting feature of the evening was the readings Julius had found. There was a distinctly subversive version of The night before Christmas and an equally diverting The night after Christmas. He had also found the background to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which proved illuminating. The story was written in under three months and at the author’s insistence was reasonably priced to enable all readers’ access to it. Though he made virtually no profit from the story it greatly enhanced his reputation and as a result he became the authorial figure we still revere today. When so many readings and film versions fill our schedules at this time of year it was a valuable reminder of its history. BH

The next meeting is on Tuesday 8 January at Hastings Unitarian Church, when members are invited to provided discs or DVDs of their favourite organ music – Desert Island Organs.