The
About Us
Purbeck Village Quire is a group of singers and
instrumentalists who enjoy meeting together to perform ‘West Gallery’ and folk
music, much of which was composed by people who lived and worked in the Purbeck
villages. The Purbeck Village Quire was founded by Rollo Woods in 1989.
We are
delighted that Rollo Woods has been awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge. Gold Badges
are given for unique or outstanding contributions to folk music, dance or song
and Rollo’s award was announced on 21st August 2015.
Interview of Rollo Woods by BBC Radio
Solent
What do we sing?
A
large part of our repertoire consists of music written in celebration of the
main seasons of the year; i.e. Christmas and Harvest. In addition, we perform
music that would have been very popular in the villages; in Churches, Pubs and
Village Festivals around 1850, also drawing on the novels of Thomas Hardy. In
fact we frequently sing Church music that would have been very familiar to him,
many of the arrangements coming straight from the hand-written manuscript books
of his Father and Grandfather. We like to perform in costumes of the period to
give our presentation a more authentic feel.
Up
to about 1860, the singing in most English churches and chapels was led, not by
an organ, but by a small group of singers and a band, usually situated in a
gallery at the west end of the church. Thomas Hardy used the old spelling
‘Quire’ to describe this combination of band and singers, and we have adopted
his suggestion.
The
Quire is very pleased to present evenings of West Gallery Music for Charities
or other organisations. All fees paid to the Quire, and profits from CDs sold,
support the Quire’s Charitable Trust that seeks to promote the knowledge and
performance of music, especially amongst children and young people.
The
Quire has recorded two CDs ‘Round the Year with the Village Quire’ and
‘Christmas in Purbeck’; and filmed a DVD called ‘A Village Christmas from
Dorset Past’ to celebrate its 20th Birthday. They are all obtainable
by phoning John Pullen on 01929 423505, or by email on pullenswanage@gmail.com
The
PVQ has also appeared on BBC2 in a programme presented by Howard Goodall and
first broadcast on Christmas Day 2008 (and repeated in 2009 & 2010) entitled
‘The Truth about Christmas
Carols’, and have performed with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the
New Scorpion Band in a concert featuring English Traditional music in Poole
Lighthouse in December 2010 and again on 17th December 2011.
We
also have library containing source material on West Gallery Music, traditions
& costume.