St Cuthbert's
Evensong Plan your visit
A grey stone church with a square tower standing on a lawn among trees.

Sung evening prayer, every weekday

Evensong at 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday. Thirty-five minutes of psalms, two readings and one anthem, sung by people who work in the offices around the corner.

What happens at evensong
An open book of printed music with notes and words lit by warm light.
A choir singing by candlelight in an ornate church, seen over the heads of the people listening.

The choir

Twenty-two voices, none of them paid

The evensong choir was started in 1987 by a solicitor and a bus driver who wanted to sing before going home. Today it has a teacher, two nurses, a man who runs a sandwich shop and eighteen others. Rehearsal is at 4.45 pm; anyone who can hold a tune is welcome to try.

You do not need to believe anything to sit and listen. Many of the people in the pews come for the music and the half hour of not being reachable.

Sung this week

  1. A tall stained glass window behind the altar of a vaulted stone church.
    Monday 13 October · 5.30 pm

    Evensong, Stanford in C

    Details
  2. Rows of wooden chairs leading down a church aisle to the altar.
    Wednesday 15 October · 5.30 pm

    Said evening prayer and organ

    Details
  3. A tall pointed arch window in a bare grey stone wall.
    Friday 17 October · 5.30 pm

    Evensong for St Luke's day

    Details

The order of service

Thirty-five minutes, start to end

Everything you need is printed on one card at the door. Here is what happens, and roughly when.

The responses

The stone tower of a large church seen across a sunny garden with willows.

5.30 pm. The choir walks in, the officiant sings a line, the choir sings it back. You can stay seated.

Psalm, readings and the two canticles

Three bells hanging in the arches of a pale stone bell gable under a cross.

5.38 pm. One psalm, a reading from each testament, and the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis between them.

The anthem and the blessing

A conductor leading musicians and singers in a richly decorated church.

5.58 pm. The choir sings one longer piece, then the prayers and a blessing. Out by five past six.

People sitting in the pews of a bright white church with arched ceilings and flowers by the altar.

Why people come

"I walk past on my way to the station. Now I stop. It is the only half hour of the day when nobody wants anything from me."

Priya, accountant

"I joined the altos in my sixties. I still cannot read music very well. Nobody has noticed, or they are too kind to say."

Moira, choir member

"My daughter fell asleep in the second psalm. The verger brought her a cushion."

Tom, father of two

Two bells in the open arches of an old brick bell tower against a blue sky.

Before your first evensong

Sit anywhere
The front pews fill last. Bags can go under the seat; there is a coat rack by the font.
Stand when the choir stands
Or don't. Nobody is checking, and the card tells you when if you want to follow.
You do not have to sing
The choir sings almost everything. The Lord's Prayer is said, and you can say it or not.
Leave when you need to
The north door by the bookstall is always unlocked. People slip out for trains every evening.