There will be a live Festival of Music within the Liturgy in Edington Priory Church this year, to run from Compline on the evening of Thursday 26 August until Eucharist on Sunday morning 29 August.

Due to the strong possibility of ongoing government restrictions, Director Richard Pinel, in consultation with the church and community, has taken the decision to limit both the number of participants and the duration of the festival in order to create the safest possible environment for all involved.

“It is a truly joyous thing that we can come together for a celebration of music and worship in August. However, for this year only, we feel it would be responsible to invite fewer singers than usual, and therefore to shorten it.  We will therefore regretfully be without our Nave Choir trebles, and so our liturgy will be adorned by two choirs this year – the Schola and the Consort.

The mini festival will follow our traditional framework of three or four services a day, but we will be limiting the congregation inside the church for each service.  Because this will inevitably mean that a large number of people will not be able to enjoy the services from inside the church, we will be live streaming every service through our website, and will also be able to accommodate a controlled number of people outside in the churchyard.  How we achieve this is currently under discussion, and we aim to make the process of allocation as open, transparent and fair as possible. Therefore we ask that you don’t travel to Edington especially for the festival this year, but rather take up the opportunity to enjoy the live-streamed services from the comfort of your own home. This will mean that the locals from Edington and the surrounding area will feel confident that there is as little chance as possible of the coronavirus being brought into the area.”

Regular updates will be posted here and information about attending will be communicated using every possible means.