September 2026
The first Beer & Byrd evening turned out to be everything I’d hoped for. We had singers coming from as far away as Oxford, alongside plenty of people from closer to home. ACOV did a particularly fine job of beefing up the ranks, with others from the Wychert Singers, Thame Chamber Choir and the village itself.
That was actually one of my favourite bits of the evening. A lot of us had never met before, and getting to know and sing with a completely new group of people was at least as much fun as the music.
I’d also wondered whether the whole no-conductor idea would actually work once we started singing. It did. A note, a nod, occasionally a bit of negotiation over tempo, and off we went.
And the standard of singing was remarkable. Tallis’s If ye love me was clearly too easy, so we moved swiftly on. Byrd’s Ave verum corpus came together beautifully. Tomkins’ When David Heard was… a little more challenging. But having a roomful of people who had only just met attempt something like that was rather the point.
I’ve spent years looking through the Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems at pieces I’ve wanted to sing but never actually had the opportunity to try. The two Farrants on our list were prime examples. They didn’t disappoint.
And doing all this in the corner of a pub, with pints on the tables and an oddly good acoustic.
We shouldn’t forget the beer given it makes up half the name of the event. The pub has Hawkstone on tap, which is fast becoming my favourite pint, although I noticed a few of the drivers sensibly drinking Proper Job 0.5% IPA. Despite sharing a name with the ale on tap, it’s a very different drink, and much better in my opinion! At least three gin and tonics could be spotted on various tables, and I even spied a pint of Hooky, a proper Oxfordshire favourite.
The landlord was very happy with the turnout, so we are going to be allowed back for session two in October.
For the last piece we abandoned our sections altogether, stood up and mixed ourselves around the room. Perhaps it was the extra pint, perhaps it was having the voices mixed together, or perhaps we’d just warmed up by then, but it produced some of the finest singing of the night.
Not a bad way to finish our first Beer & Byrd.
Tallis
If ye love me
Batten
O praise the Lord
Tallis
O nata lux
Farrant
Call to remembrance
Byrd
Miserere mei
Gibbons
Almighty and everlasting God
Tomkins
When David heard
Byrd
Ave verum corpus
Farrant/Hilton
Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake