Choral Concert - Australian Voices

The Australian Voices is an internationally renowned and award winning choral group comprised of singers from all over Australia. A small ensemble from The Australian Voices are currently touring the UK, including the Edinburgh Festival performing some of the most beautiful works of the last 300 years including pieces by Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Rachmaninov and more. The tour repertoire also includes Australian compositions by Steven Leek, Gordon Hamilton and didjeridoo player, William Barton. 

They will be performing at :

Christ Church, Cricklade Street, Swindon on Friday 19th October 
Concert 7:30pm (Free workshop starts at 6:30pm)

Students: £6 
Concession: £12
Adults: £15
Group of 10: £135
Under school age free

 
Those attending the concert are encouraged to come along an hour before the concert to participate in a fun, easy workshop experience with TAV. Here, participants can learn a piece of music and the singing techniques employed by The Australian Voices. Participants of the workshop are also invited to sing with the choir during the concert. All ages and abilities welcome! Those wishing to participate in the workshop should be fully dressed in black clothing. 

To register for the workshop or book tickets:

Visit  http://www.theaustralianvoices.com/ or phone 020 3286 6786.

You are also welcome to purchase tickets at the door.

Join in the Wiltshire Ride & Stride

It's Ride and Stride time again. Put Saturday 8th September 2012 in your diary and get all the family out on their bikes to visit as many historic Wiltshire churches as you can between 10.00am and 18.00.

The video below explains what happens - you can get more details, entry forms and church lists from Caroline Pitt: carolinempitt@googlemail.com  
or Tel 521732.

There is a £500 prize and the Brooke Cup for the best parish effort (based on the numbers of participants x the amount raised). There are also cash prizes for under 15, Under 18's and over 65's for the most money raised.

Last year Christ Church raised £1,200 in sponsorship (£610 came back to us - the rest went to the Historic Churches Trust). We came third in the Brooke Cup. Will Penfold and Rachel White won prizes in the under -15's for raising the most money.

This is a great way to get to know your local area and continues a family tradition at Christ Church going back many years. There is usually a great welcome and often refreshments available at the churches
you visit. Download a poster.

Get some inspiration for that "perfect" route here.

Over £1.3 million was raised last year to help maintain historic churches and chapels - a vital part of our architectural, spiritual and cultural heritage. All this plus - it's a great day out with the family. Find out more and get entry forms from our parish co-ordinator - Caroline Pitt carolinempitt@googlemail.com
or Telephone her on  521732.

Parish Boundary Walk 2012

Our annual parish boundary walk continues a tradition going back to Anglo Saxon times where Beating the Bounds was conducted during Rogation tide and had a specific religious purpose. The practice originated the term Rogation, the accompanying clergy being supposed to beseech (rogare) the divine blessing upon the parish lands for the ensuing harvest. Later it was performed to reconfirm the boundaries of the parish although modern mapping and surveying of course made this unnecessary.

We just do it now because it's a fun way of keeping fit, meeting friends and seeing our town in a safe and organised group.

We start at Christ Church at 12.00 noon. 

Bring a packed lunch to eat at St Mary's, Commonweal Road - 1-1.45pm

We then plan to cross the new footbridge over the M4 at Wichelstowe - for the first time in 5 years!  

Check Inn 2.30-3.15pm Sun Inn 4.30-5.15pm 

Total distance 11 miles, but several shorter options available. 

Wear wellies or trainers, and bring waterproofs and warm clothing.  Return to Christ Church at 6.15 pm, in time for Evensong.  Contact Daniel Pitt (Tel 521732)

Can it be as wet as last year?  Probably!

Summer Concerts in Christ Church - June

Jubilee Choral Concert - 20th June at 7.30pm

Joint choirs from the Old Town Partnership of Churches proudly present The Choral Jubilee Concert at Christ Church on Wednesday 20th June. Concert starts at 7.30pm and a licensed bar will be available. Tickets are £5 available on the door or in advance from the Old Town Festival ticket line tel: Jenny 0790 3246955 or parish office 01793 522832 or online from the church website www.christchurchswindon.co.uk

Paul Turner - June 21st at 1pm

The Celebrated international pianist Paul Turner will be in concert at Christ Church on Thursday 21^st June 2012 as part of the Old Town Festival. Concert starts at 1pm and tea/coffee and refreshments will be available from 12 noon. Tickets are £5 available on the door or in advance from the Old Town Festival ticket line tel: Jenny 0790 3246955 or parish office 01793 522832 or online from the church website

Upcoming events

We try to keep you informed about all the exciting events we have planned for the year but sometimes the information is a bit difficult to find so we have made some improvments to the website.

You can always find out what is going on by clicking one of the calendar buttons at the top of the page.





But now you can also see more details of upcoming events, book tickets online, contact those selling tickets and find out more on our new Upcoming Events page - this can be found by following the link at the top of the Social Events page.

You can also click the link from our Latest news page to get to the same place. 

So, wherever you are, you are never more than a click or two away from knowing what's going on at Christ Church and the Old Town area.




Remember finally, if you would like to receive a regular update on whats going on you can either:

1. Sign up for our weekly family newsletter which gives you the latest news and the week's parish newsheet.

2. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook

3. Check our website for regular updates.

What is 160km for 160?

In Olympic year, we thought it was a good idea to encourage everyone to go the extra mile to get fit. In this case actually 99.419 miles or 160km. All you have to do is commit to doing 160km worth of exercise by the end of the year.

It's free to sign up for the challenge - there are lots of ideas for local walks, runs, cycle rides on our website. You can join our rambles, walk to the shops, do the school run - its up to you. You can record your progress on our website and see how you are doing alongside everyone else.

We are fund raising this year ( our 160th year at the heart of the community) so if you need some extra motivation to complete the challenge then we have lots of suggestions for how you might get sponsors to help us build our new community hall.

The most important thing though is to take part - join in and get fit.

More information here
Sign up for free here
Check out some of the upcoming events or suggested activities
Find out why we are raising funds.