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The group will begin their journey at
Chichester Cathedral |
Thirty-two pilgrims leave on Tuesday, July 16 for England where St. John the Divine, Houston, choristers will sing in the International Children's Choir Festival at Canterbury Cathedral. The Rt. Rev. Jeff Fisher and wife Susan will accompany them as fellow pilgrims and spiritual leaders, and they will be joined in England by Annie Dale, long-time SJD parishioner, children's choir nanny and prayer ministry leader, who now resides back in England.
This is the children's choir's fourth such journey, following pilgrimages in 2001, 2003 and 2007. They will be in England for 12 days, beginning at Chichester Cathedral and culminating at Canterbury Cathedral where choristers will participate in the International Children's Choir Festival. There, they will sing an Evensong service in the Cathedral in addition to a Festival Concert. They will benefit from intensive choral workshops with David Flood, Master of the Choristers at Canterbury Cathedral, and with Henry Leck, highly-regarded Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Children's Choir.
Along the journey, choristers will sing in the medieval village of West Hoathly at the patronal service of St. Margaret of Antioch that will be celebrating their church's 923rd birthday. After church, they will be guests of the Dowager Countess of Limerick, at her manor house Chiddinglye, for Sunday luncheon and traditional lawn games.
Choristers will sing a Taize service at Burrswood Christian Hospital, a remarkable place of holiness and Christian healing. Their service project will be to hand-make and then distribute 'Feelie Hearts' to the patient and staff attendees following the Taize service.
As they wend their way from Chichester to Canterbury, they will stop off at the Hundred Acre Wood to play Poohsticks at the rebuilt Poohsticks Bridge and send home mail postmarked from Pooh Corner, attend a jousting tournament at Hever Castle, the stately family home of former Queen Anne Boleyn, and explore Bodiam Castle.
While in Canterbury, they will enjoy touring the Cathedral, the Cathedral's Library archives, its stained glass restoration workshop, the stone mason's work yard and the Children's Resource Room.
You are invited to follow the choristers on their Canterbury Tales blog. They will be posting pictures and blog posts of activities and adventures!