Church hosts concert

Oct 24 2008 Chester Chronicle

THE Friends of St Oswald’s Church in Malpas will be presenting a musical treat next month.

The Border Singers of Whitchurch and the Shropshire Sinfonietta will give a performance of Handel’s Messiah in the church on Saturday, November 22, directed by Simon Davies.

The performance will provide a musical link to the past – via the starving of London.

Thomas Coram, a sea captain and trader, was appalled by starving children in the capital left to die.

In 1739 he obtained a Royal Charter to establish the Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury ‘for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children’.

The hospital was opened in 1745 and among its patrons was the artist Francis Hayman.

The Foundling Hospital developed a strong musical tradition and among its patrons was Handel, who gave performances of Messiah in aid of the hospital’s funds.

It is Francis Hayman who provides the link between Saint Oswald’s Church in Malpas and Handel.

As patrons of the hospital, Handel and Hayman would have been colleagues.

Hayman’s Peter Denying Christ, his largest surviving religious painting hangs in St Oswald’s.

It was presented to the church by Penn Assheton Curzon MP, in 1778.

So, as the Hallelujah Chorus resounds through St Oswald’s on Saturday, November 22, it should create a historical echo.

Tickets are £12.50, under 16s free. For tickets or further information, ring 01948 861034 or 01948 861166.