Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

The St Bride’s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 22nd December at 5:30pm is a wonderful opportunity to hear the full range of readings in the now famous service devised for King’s College, Cambridge in 1918 by Eric Milner-White.

The congregation sings Christmas hymns ranging from Once In Royal David’s City to O Come, All Ye Faithful and we also have the opportunity to hear a number of contrasting pieces from the wide repertoire of Advent and Christmas music which St Bride’s Choir sings.

Admission

The service is open to all, ticketless and free to attend. Doors open at 5pm and the service lasts approximately 1 hour.

Reservations for early admission are now closed.

125 places are available at the door for those who arrive on the day without registration.

If you need assistance with this, please contact the office on 020 7427 0133 or email stb@stbrides.com.

Music

Choir repertoire for our Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols will also be a mixture of the new and the old.

This year we will be revisiting two items which have not been heard at St Bride’s for a while, David Cooper’s Dormi Jesu and Malcolm Sargent’s Hawaiian Lullaby.

We will also be introducing two pieces new to us. Both are settings of poems from the Victorian era – Alan Smith’s Tryste Noel, with words by Louise Guiney, and Percy Fletcher’s joyful elaboration of Tennyson’s Ring out, wild bells.

Support St Bride’s

There will be a retiring collection at the end of the service to support the work, ministry and music-making of St Bride’s and help maintain our magnificent Wren church.

St Bride’s is wholly reliant on and deeply grateful for the generous support of our visitors and congregation.

Donations can be made by cash or contactless at church or via JustGiving. A donation can also be made in advance via EventBrite if you choose to register for early admission to the service.

Do please Gift Aid your donation if you are eligible which generates an extra 25p in every £1 donated.

Additional Information

Directions to St Bride’s Church and information about accessibility are available on our Visit Us page.

If you register for early admission please arrive 30 minutes before the service. Your place may need to be released to others queuing if you arrive later than this.