The Larks of Dean Quire

http://www.larksofdean.co.uk/ 

Photo: At the old rehearsal room, Laurel Play Centre, Tottington

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"Up in the Forest of Rossendale, between Deerplay Moor and the wild hill called Swinshaw, there is a little lone valley, a green cup in the mountains, called Dean. 

The inhabitants of this valley are so notable for their love of music that they are known all through the vales of Rossendale as Th` Deighn Layrocks, or

The Larks of Dean."

Those are the words of Lancashire author, Edwin Waugh, on the subject of the composers, singers, and instrumentalists whose activities spanned the years between the 1740s and the 1860s. 

Theirs was the music of ordinary people - weavers, spinners, farm-hands, who used the strong harmonies and counterpoint that tended to be ignored by the trained choirs of the high church.

Anyone familiar with Thomas Hardy`s Under The Greenwood Tree will know of his loving account of the Mellstock Quire, a band of singers and musicians, including his own father and grandfather. Their robust melody-making issued forth from the west gallery of Stinsford Church in pre-Victorian days, as did similar music in similar galleries all over the country, giving rise to the term West Gallery Music, by which this style of singing has become known in recent years.

For a more detailed history, you can go here to read Jean Seymour's article about The Larks Of Dean. 

Today's Larks of Dean Quire 

...continue this tradition, though our rendering of hymns, psalms, anthems, and carols, are mostly performed unaccompanied. Most of our music is written in four parts - soprano, alto, tenor and bass, with the "tune" in the tenor, and is quite lively and fun to sing!

We now meet on the 2nd Sunday of each month from 3 - 6pm at Blackford Bridge United Reform Church, Manchester Road, Bury BT9 9TQ.   

We are always looking for new members, as we would like the Larks music to be more widely known, so if you would like to sing with us you would be most welcome - we don't audition. It helps if you can sing in tune, and have a fairly good ear. Some of us can actually sight-read!

If you would like us to perform at your event, church, concert, folk-festival etc, do please get in touch.

Contact: Jean Seymour 0161 7611544 or Neil Chadwick 07921 450901