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St Mary the Virgin
Parish Church
Banbury

St Marys Church Music has a long and proud tradition reaching back to the early sixteenth century, well before the construction of the current church building in 1797, when William Crotch was organist and choirmaster. The names of Groggy Palmer and Alfie Batts, long-serving choirmasters and organists of the early and mid-twentieth century, still live on in the memories and tales of former choristers that have become part of the choirs folklore.

In October (2005), former choristers joined with current singers to remember with thanks the life of Norman Hopcraft, who died this autumn. Norman had sung in the choir for 62 years, man and boy. A Banbury Guardian photograph taken a few years ago, of Norman with former choir colleague Allan Olds, took pride of place among memorabilia displayed at the service. It celebrated Normans 60th year with the choir and Allans 50th.

Todays music making at St Marys seeks to retain all that is best in the choral tradition of the Royal School of Church Music while adding to the breadth of the churchs repertoire by developing another old European tradition, that of the church band.

To establish the separate but joint identities of the two traditions and give them a 21st century renewal, St Marys Choir is adopting the pseudonym Pepperpot Singers and St Marys Band the Pepperpot Players. Both choir and band currently boast around twenty members with an age range from almost nine to almost ninety! Our musicians and singers have performed in recent years in a range of local venues, including Peoples Park, the Reindeer Inn, the Whately, Church House and Castle Quay Shopping Centre, as well as in other town and local village churches.

Regular weekly practices are on Fridays in St Marys Church. The Pepperpot Players meet from 6.30 to 7.15pm and the young choristers (9-15+) from 7.15 to 8.15 (followed by Club), with adult singers joining in from 7.45 and continuing till 8.45pm. The choir leads Sunday worship weekly at 9.30am and monthly at 6pm to the accompaniment of the Players once a month and to traditional organ accompaniment on all other Sundays.

On the last Saturday in October (2005), 16 singers attended the national John Rutter Singing Day organised by the YMCA in London and conducted by that current master of English Church Music.

New recruits are most welcome to join us. For further details, please contact Musical Director, Fred Riches on Banbury 270371.

More on singing in Church Choirs can be found on the pages of the:

Organ Recitals in Britain are listed on OrganRecitals.com

Our thanks to the Banbury Cake for permission to use the photograph on this page.