Find church services with free choral music across Britain and Ireland.

 

 

For website users:

First of all, to find the nearest Choral Evensong service to you, type in the postcode/village/town/city you are searching for in the search box on the homepage. If you are searching for a specific weekday or date then you can also select these from the drop-down boxes, but otherwise leave them set to "Any". Click on the links if you need daily timetables for LondonCambridge and Oxford. If you cannot find a church, but you know it does Choral Evensong, or another form of sung evening service, and has a regular choir, then either contact us, or Register an account if you have a role with the church.

We definitely don't want you turning up to a non-existent Evensong, so do check the music list link, or, to be really sure, phone the church in advance.

Guide to Church Pages:

The ‘Music List’ column gives a link that will take you to the webpage where you can download/view the scheduled musical repertoire for a given service you hope to attend. Do check details of the service on the music list every time you are planning to attend because churches can unpredictably change the precise timings of their services week to week. NB: sometimes the link moves location on the church's website and it won't be obvious where the link has moved to, but do look thoroughly - it should be there somewhere!

Also worth bearing in mind is that different churches call their music lists by different name, such as 'Service Scheme'.  Some Oxford and Cambridge chapels refer to Term Cards, although not all term cards will show music details. Oxford academic terms are named Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity; Cambridge academic terms are named Michaelmas, Lent and Easter.  To find music details, please follow the link on the individual church's Church Page, and then be sure to examine the entire page, looking for features such as coloured text boxed or menus, or coloured words that are 'clickable'.  If you are still unable to find what you are looking for, then either contact the church direct (their contact details will be on their website), or get in touch with us.

The ‘Regular Services’ section gives the start time of Choral Evensong that day, and often says which choir should be singing. Not all churches on this database have Evensong every Sunday, and therefore something like ‘2nd Sunday of Month’ will appear for clarity, and will also be indicated on the calendar. In cases like this, it is always good to click the link to the music list for that church, or telephone the church in advance, so you don’t turn up on a Sunday when it is not happening. In terms of which choir is singing, this is also complex and changes week to week, so often good to check the music list first.

The ‘About this Church’ section is a brief summary of the church through the ages, and can refer to stories of saints, architecture or interesting quirks.

The ‘About the Choir’ section describes the type of choir, or choirs, the church has. These are typically Girls and Boys choirs with Men, or Mixed Choirs of adult men and women. It may also have information about how the singers are selected.

The ‘Contact Details’ section has a postcode that will hopefully be correct for the church, and for vehicles arriving by SatNav, but do check Google Maps as well, in case there is a discrepancy. The phone number is usually the main switchboard number for Cathedrals/Greater Churches/Colleges, or the Church/Parish Administrator for Parish Churches. Just ask your question on the phone, and you should be put through to the right person. Similarly, the email address is usually general for the relevant Church or Parish Office. Again, the office will forward your query to the appropriate person.

For churches:

If you are a church that would like to be listed on this website and you want to be able to update your entry whenever you want to, then please Register on our system and you will be given some login details so you can manage your account. Here you can change your contact details, music list weblink, church and choir blurbs, or add a photo of your church and information about irregular services, or edit the events on your evensong service calendar.

In order to add the basic details of your church and choir you will need to click “Edit a church page” and attach your church to your account. When prompted, please select from the drop-down menu what connection you have to the church, and then your request needs to be approved.

You can also edit the calendar section of your entry on the website, which allows you to input and display your service details, including music lists, to each evensong service. This in turn can also be subscribed to by users in Outlook, Apple or Google Calendars, Tweeted and shared to Facebook, and users can ask to be notified about your new musical church services, and reminded about forthcoming services. NB: when adding your Evensong services, please make clear what type of Evensong it is - i.e. Choral, Sung, Solemn, Festal - (if you are not sure, see explanation).

Another approach to edit your calendar section, but which has less features is go to to the “Edit a church page” option on your account page, and then click the “Edit service calendar” button (found next to the church you are associated with). To add a new Evensong service to the calendar that pops up, double-click on a blank day of the week, and click “Create a recurring service” or “one-off service”. To edit currently advertised Evensong services that are wrong, click on the entry in question and then either click “Edit this service only” or “Edit the recurring service”.

NB: If churches that do Evensong would like some ideas for simple introductory sentences to contextualise what is happening in the readings, particularly the less comprehensible Old Testament readings, then please click here for some guidance. This helpful guide to the Pillar Lectionary has been provided by Robert Grimley, former Dean of Bristol Cathedral..

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