Newham choir sings for Pope

A NEWHAM choir has been fine tuning its vocal chords in readiness for a once-in-a-lifetime performance in front of the Pope tomorrow.

The Newham Gospel Catholic Choir will sing two songs for Pope Benedict in Hyde Park during his historic four-day visit to the UK. It is the first papal visit to Britain since 1982.

Members of St Antony’s Church Youth Choir and sixth form choir from St Angela’s and St Bons make up the 29-strong Newham Gospel Catholic Choir. It is led by Edwin Fawcett, parish youth co-ordinator at St Antony’s Church in St Antony’s Road, Forest Gate.

Edwin told the Recorder that the church choir had taken part in an event at the Barbican last year and stayed in touch with them since.

The Barbican was contacted by Father Dominic who is part of the planning committee for the event being run in Hyde Park and asked for their thoughts on groups that could be involved.

Edwin said the organisers wanted to include the Newham choir “ to increase the level of participation across a wider range of ages. There will be an orchestra as well but they wanted to widen the spectrum of performances.”

The choir will be performing two songs on Saturday afternoon and have been busy rehearsing. They had a final rehearsal today to fine tune their performance.

Are you going to see the Pope? Email kay.atwal@newhamrecorder.co.uk with your experiences.