Reaching out with St Martin ’s Singers

Over the past ten years or so, the royal blue jumpers of the St Martin’s Singers might have been spotted in a number of locations as diverse as a pub in Milton Keynes or the West pier at St Ives. It’s what the St Martin ’s Singers do – go out to different places and present the Christian message using our musical gifts to the best of our ability.

The group was formed in 1994 with the intention of bringing together those members of our church who enjoyed singing but were not musically trained or confident enough to join the church choir. Consequently we do not aspire to great artistic heights, nor indeed do we tackle intricate part-songs. Instead we sing Christian songs and a host of secular material such as songs from musicals with sincerity and (usually) considerable aplomb. Like most singing groups it is advantageous to extend the repertoire and we attempt to introduce new music on a regular basis.

Organisation is along the democratic lines of a society or club with the usual officers and committee who are elected at an AGM. As numbers are not too large ‘executive’ decisions can often be made by the whole group. Membership is also open to non-churchgoers and thus does offer a friendly introduction to the church fellowship.

Venues visited by the Singers include local chapels and residential homes where we are always made to feel extremely welcome. Singing out of doors presents some problems but we pay an annual visit to St Ives West pier each summer and have appeared at Morrab Gardens , Penzance and on the sea-front at Portreath. The Milton Keynes visit referred to earlier was a fund-raising exercise in 1996 at the invitation of Mike Kippax who was using a converted pub on a housing estate as a church. Local radio expressed an interest and broadcast some songs and interviews.

In addition to these outreach activities, the Singers augment the church choir for special services such as Christmas and Easter, occasional weddings and funerals and the annual RSPCA pet service. Practices are on Thursday evenings at 7.30pm and new members are always welcome. Enthusiasm is more important than ability and there is no audition.