The pilgrimage started in St Thomas’s Winchelsea with music from the Spanish royal court. Greg Tassell the tenor of the group told me a little of his involvement with Victoria Consort.
“It has been going for about ten years: Ben was the person who got singers together in the Canterbury and Ramsgate area. Ben is an international quality bass, and he sings with various international groups in Japan and many other countries. He knows a lot about the liturgy and he and Ken, our reader of the poem by Leo Bevan, both worship regularly in the Catholic church and have a deep knowledge of Catholic liturgy and music. A basilica in Spain has released a great deal of church music online.
“Ben has re-notated it for modern manuscripts. The mass you heard tonight had not been performed for over 400 years, so tonight was a world exclusive. I joined the group three years ago. We do this sort of music because we love it, and we like to work locally and share new things within church music. We are building our reputation for performing these special masses.”
After the concert a large group of over fifty people walked from Winchelsea to Rye and like many pilgrimages, friendships were forged along the way.
Sarah Hardy chatted to me after the concert, and I asked her why she was doing the pilgrimage. “I have never been to Winchelsea before, and I haven’t seen this church and I love the music. Also, I am a great walker, and I haven’t done the walk before. So, I enjoyed the thought of the combination of beautiful music and a lovely walk, thankfully on a lovely day.” Catherine Jones told me that she had done the pilgrimage last year and had so loved it that she was back for more.
Image Credits: Kt Bruce .