Christmas is usually a time for hallowed traditions, but our Lunchtime Literary Hour at 1pm on Wed 16th Dec in church is adventurous, freely linking Christmas themes with a wide range of songs and poems. So the name “Mary” reminds us of Charles Kingsley’s fine tragic poem “Oh Mary go and call the cattle home across the sands of Dee”; also of “Maria”, so we all sing along to Stephen Sondheim’s breathtaking song “I have just met a girl called Maria” from West Side Story.
“Baby” gives us the touching American lullaby “Hush little baby, don’t say a word.” Bethlehem” leads us to WB Yeats’s sombre poem that ends “slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.” From “No Room at the Inn” we leap into Hilaire Belloc’s poem “Do you remember an Inn, Miranda, do you remember an Inn?” and then into stuff about inns, pubs and boarding houses. Watch out for soloist Jenny Lupa hitting the high notes in “There is a Tavern in the Town” and for pianist/guitarist Jolyon’s Bohling’s reckless attempt to sing “Heartbreak Hotel” in the manner of Elvis Presley. He doesn’t get far – this is church, after all!
We end with the Wise Men and the Star, though for us the star is that of sparkling Irish ballad “The Star of the County Down.” Free but with a retiring collection.
Christmas again!
Stephen Clarke