Patronal Festival Report - St Mary's, Holme-next-the-Sea

St Mary's Church, Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Patron Saint: St Mary the Virgin
Festival Date: 16 August 2026

Our Choral Evensong took place at St Mary’s Holme-next-the-Sea at 5 pm on Sunday 16 August, the closest Sunday to our Patron Saint’s Day – St Mary the Virgin. The choir was specially formed for the occasion with singers formerly trained with Kings College Choir. Calling themselves The Rex Henricus Singers the choir comprised:
Felix Blake (Alto)
Matthew Supramaniam (Tenor)
Tom Pickard (Baritone)
Mike Tuft (Bass)
Paul Greally (Bass and Organ)

The service was led by The Venerable Jenny Rowley, a retired member of the clergy who lives in our benefice, and the lessons and prayers were read by members of the PCC. The service followed the Book of Common Prayer and the elements sung by The Rex Henricus Singers were as follows:

Introit:  Assumpta est Maria in Caelum (Mantua)
Responses: Tallis 
Psalm 132 (sung by choir) plainsong (accompanied by Paul Greally on organ)
Magnificat: Tallis ‘Dorian Service’
Nunc Dimittis: Tallis ‘Dorian Service’
Creed (sung in Latin by choir)
Responses: (Tallis), Lord’s Prayer (Farmer), Collects
Anthem:   Alma Redemptoris Mater (Victoria)
Recessional/Pre Voluntary: Ave Maris Stella plainsong sung in procession.  Leading into …
Voluntary: Prelude in E flat BWV552i (Bach)
The congregation joined in singing three hymns with the choir.

We normally have an average attendance of 19 for our twice monthly regular services. We were delighted to welcome over 100 people to this service. It came at a particularly good time when we have been fundraising for some months for our Tower Restoration Project. We invited those who have donated but also issued an open invitation to our community. One villager who came wrote: “I know we don’t attend church, but we do really appreciate that the building is a beautiful feature of the village and feel joyful every time we arrive back to Holme after being away and seeing the church tower in the distance.” Unfortunately, we could not ring bells because our tower restoration project has begun.

The post-Evensong reception was held in Holme's Arts and Crafts Village Hall where we served wine, soft drinks and some nibbles and canapes. Most people came on to the reception and a great time was had by all, including an unexpected a capella rendition of Swing Low Sweet Chariot given by the choir. It gave our guests a chance to give a hearty round of applause to our singers, which of course they did not do during the act of worship. Space for parking was very helpfully provided by the neighbours to the Village Hall in their field.  This was a wonderful opportunity to welcome a wider congregation into our church, where our worship continues despite us working through a vacancy for three years. We also took the opportunity for a leaving collection to contribute to our Tower Restoration appeal. This raised over £1,000 which is very welcome as we are just £16,000 short of our half a million-pound target.

On behalf of Holme PCC I would like to thank the Choral Evensong Trust for their Patronal Festival grant which enabled this to happen. We are also indebted to Hamish Forsyth who was our sponsor.

Rachel Sinfield