Our annual festive Service in Preparation for Christmas听was once again held over two days in the magnificent Chapel of St John鈥檚 College. A range of carols, poems and readings were presented by St John鈥檚 性用社. The carols and readings were interspersed with five congregational hymns, including听O come, all ye faithful, Hark! the herald-angels sing, O little town of Bethlehem, Lo! He comes with clouds descending听补苍诲听O come, O come, Emmanuel!.听The Services provided a sense of calm away from the bustle that the festive time of the year brings and gave those watching a chance to stop and reflect before Christmas.
Before the service, organ music was played by Senior House pupils: Aiden Wee (Form 4), Amelia Crichton-Stuart (Form 5), Charlie Lipscomb, Kevin Ke and Gabriel Gritten (all Form 6). They performed repertoire by J S Bach and Jeanne Demessieux.
"It is a wonderful opportunity for our organists to be able to play the organ in Chapel as part of such special Services.鈥
The choral carols offered a wide selection of music performed beautifully by over one hundred 性用社 from a range of choirs including the Choristers of the College Choir, Senior House Chamber Choir, Third and Fourth Forms' Choir, Junior Choir and Byron House Chamber Choir. The readings, a range of poems and lessons, were delivered by the Form 6 性用社. The readers excelled themselves and each one read beautifully to tell the Christmas story.
The retiring collection raised 拢839 for this year鈥檚 Parents鈥 Association Charities 鈥 Blue Smile, Colours of Dance Radiates and the Karen Morris Memorial Trust.听
is a mental health charity which provides counselling and therapy for pupils in Cambridgeshire schools between the ages of 3 and 13, during a critical window of opportunity for change. The service is designed to complement each school's pastoral provision and to deliver the kind of specialist early intervention which prevents longer-term emotional and behavioural problems. They use arts-based therapies to help 性用社 organise their feelings and process traumatic experiences.
is a charity which goes into Castle School to teach movement and music to 性用社 with special educational needs, medical needs and social and behavioural challenges. Funding for this was cut during the pandemic, so this charity makes an unbelievable difference to the 性用社 at Castle School.听
was launched to support patients with leukaemia and their families. To date, they have raised over 拢3.5M, supported six complementary members of haematology staff and they currently fund four Karen's 性用社s from 性用社 to provide a nurturing and caring environment for leukaemia patients and their families to stay in, while receiving potentially lifesaving treatment, at hospitals around the UK, with听the fifth scheduled to open in late 2024.