St. Cecilia Festival Chorus 

St. John's is proud to be the current home of Eltham's own St. Cecilia Festival Chorus.

The next performance will take place on Good Friday 3 April 2026 at St. John's with rehearsals starting on Tuesday 24 Feb.  The programme will be:

Membership of the choir is open to all and does not require an audition.

For more information please contact administrator@elthamchurch.org.uk.

History

The origins of the St. Cecilia Festival Chorus date back to the early 1950’s.  At that time there was an annual tradition of performing Handel’s "Messiah" on the evening of Good Friday in Eltham Park Methodist Church. The choir consisted of singers from around the area and was accompanied by the organ.

In the early 1970’s, Jack Gray who was the conductor at the time, retired and moved to Wales.  Rather than let the tradition die, Francis Eastwood, the organist and choirmaster at Christ Church RC in Eltham, offered to take over the responsibility for the event. He had been singing in the annual “Messiah” performances since his teenage years. The first performance was of Fauré's Requiem and was held in Christ Church which for many years afterwards became the new venue.

In the mid 1990’s, Francis left Christ Church and the new organist, Michael Lobo, took over the mantle of conductor. The choir had no formal name during all these years, but under Michael’s direction became affectionately known as "The Good Friday Singers".  Michael continued to direct them until he also left Eltham due to work commitments. Francis was now the Director of Music at Eltham Parish Church (St. John the Baptist) and once again found himself waving the baton. The clergy at Christ Church were uncomfortable with having the concerts on Good Friday and so the whole thing changed venue again to Eltham Parish Church. 

The Vicar at the time, Rev. John Neal, suggested that the choir might consider performing a second concert each year on or near the feast of St. Cecilia (the patron saint of music and musicians) which falls on 22nd November.  This has now become a fixture in the local music scene, and the choir has become known as the St. Cecilia Festival Chorus, with concerts sometimes held in other churches such as the now closed Eltham URC and Holy Trinity in Southend Crescent.  

In recent years, the musical direction has been shared between Francis and Jack Day. There have been some very memorable performances often with orchestral accompaniment including Handel’s "Messiah", Requiems by Mozart, Duruflé, Fauré, Jenkins and Rutter, Masses by Schubert and Mozart – the list goes on and on!   All the choir come together for six rehearsals before each concert.  Membership is open to all and does not require an audition.

Traditionally the profits from these twice-yearly concerts have been donated to a local hospice.  For many years the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice benefitted from these donations but, in recent years, the Choir’s chosen charity has been Demelza Hospice Care for Children.

Previous concert programmes have included the following: