St. Thomas' Church, Heigham, Norwich

You are on the St. Thomas' Church Music at St. Thomas' page

Music at St. Thomas'

A warm welcome awaits you at St. Thomas' for our Concert Series. Unless otherwise stated, concerts begin at 7.30pm in the Church and admission charges are £5 for Adults and £4 for Concessions. Tea and coffee will normally be served during an interval or at the end of the concert. Disabled Access is available by entering through the Vestry door via Edinburgh Road.

2011 Concert Series

Our last concert date for the year was held on Saturday 8th October.

2012 concert dates will be announced soon.

If you wish to participate in a future series of concerts, please e-mail Mathew Martin, the Director of Music.

Proceeds from our concerts will help young students to become organ or choral scholars at St. Thomas'. We have already seen the opportunities St. Thomas' has given to our first Organ Scholar, and in 2008 we were able to offer our very first choral scholarship.

Once again, thanks to Mr. Graeme Gates, Chairman of the MAG Group of Companies, for their continuing sponsorship and to Stevensons of Norwich, who have kindly increased their sponsorship of our 2011 Concert Series.

7th December 2011: Atmospheres Of Holiness

On Sunday 20th November 2011, St Thomas’s Church choir gave the premier performance of a new work ‘Atmospheres of Holiness’, composed for their Director of Music Mathew R Martin and his choir.

Mathew organising the choir photo line up.

The work began when its composer David Berwick listened to the Dean of Norwich Graham Smith preach a sermon that mentioned the words to which the piece is titled and how the great spaces around our Cathedral created great atmospheres for worship. The first performance was given during choral evensong and the Dean was in attendance at the service.

Our fine parish church choir, following the premier performance of Atmospheres of Holiness.

The piece was well received by the congregation and the choir. We pass on our thanks to David Berwick for his time and efforts in composing this anthem for us and to Anne May and John Simmons who were the soloists. The piece was conducted by the Director of Music and the Composer accompanied the anthem.

Friends of St. Thomas' Music

Rev Philip Young, Vicar of St Thomas', and Mathew R Martin, Director of Music, have formed a new group called Friends of St. Thomas' Music. The purpose is to raise awareness of the musical life of this fine parish church. Read more...

St. Thomas' Choir and Music Group

St. Thomas' Church has superb acoustics and music plays a large part in the life of the church. We have an active choir and a music group.

Recordings of the St. Thomas' Church Organ

"Exhilarations and Reflections", the new CD (left).

The St. Thomas' Church organ was recorded in mid May 2010 and a CD, entitled "Exhilarations and Reflections" has been released on the Priory label.

The new CD was launched at the first concert of our 2011 Concert Series on Saturday 26th February 2011, an Organ Recital by James Parsons.

View photos of the organ recording taking place.

22 September 2011: New Choral and Organ Scholarships

In recent months we have said goodbye to two choral scholars and an organ scholar whose time in Norwich finished following their studies at the UEA. We have been very fortunate to have had them with us and we would like to build on our reputation as a friendly and musical church.

So we are now welcoming applications for Choral and Organ Scholarships.

Click here for more details (Adobe PDF file, 100kB).

St. Thomas' Church Organ

The organ is used not only for worship at two choral services each Sunday, but also for teaching and educational purposes. It features prominently in our annual Concert Series.

The original church organ, built in 1890, was destroyed when the church was bombed in 1942. After this a piano was used for services in the Church Hall, then in 1948 a replacement organ was purchased from Beeston Regis church. This was replaced by the current church organ, built in 1892, which was acquired in 1956 from St. Mary's Castlegate church in York.

By 1976 the church organ was nearly unplayable, so a programme of restoration was started. This work was carried out by the local firm Bower and Company of Weston Longville.

Read more about the church organ, its history, reconstruction and technical specification*.

Come to St. Thomas' and hear this magnificent instrument.

* This is an Adobe Acrobat file. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader software on your PC you can download it here. A leaflet on the organ, price 50p, is also available in the church.