Carol Singing in Hunshelf Parish
Although known as Green Moor Carol Singers, the singers are part of the Hunshelf Parish Council. Hunshelf is a small rural parish on the western edge of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley. The tradition of singing Local Carols in the Green Moor area goes back over 100 years. Many people will know the titles of our carols and even the words. The tunes will not be as familiar as these were often wrote by local people and were peculiar to a certain area.
Rehearsals take place in the Providence Room, Green Moor Church, at 6.45pm from November 2024. All are welcome to join.
The tour of the Parish are as follows:
Sunday 8th December 2024 at 11.00am – Wortley Top Forge Christmas Open Day
Saturday 21st December 2024 – Green Moor Church Carol Service
Tour of the Parish 2021
December 2021, the last sing of the night
Over the years, like many traditions, it became more difficult to keep it going. Elderly residents who knew the history and the tunes were no longer with us. Modern living means time for so many is precious and singing carols and keeping traditions going is not always a priority. However, a small group of Green Moor residents did come together with the will, and a bit of time on their hands and the enthusiasm to revive it and make it part of parish life once again.
We needed a place to rehearse, someone to help us learn the tunes and the enthusiasm to start the ball rolling once again. We managed all of them and with the aid of a small grant from a local charity even managed to provide interval refreshments and pay for the hire of a rehearsal room.
We are now very proud that the tradition of singing local carols in Green Moor and the surrounding Hunshelf Parish still thrives today. A group of 25-30 local people start rehearsing in November. This year it is intended that we should sing at Wortley Top Forge on Sunday 12th December, at Green Moor Methodist Church Carol Service on Sunday 18th December, and tour the parish on Monday 19th December. The tour of the parish, continuing the 100-year-old tradition of singing round this rural parish. The Covid pandemic put a halt to singing in homes, at least for the immediate future. The evening is an enjoyable one and as the night goes on the singing gets more enthusiastic, though this is possibly fueled by the generosity of those houses visited that tend to provide us with both food and wine. The singing seems to get more tuneful also as the night progresses, but that could be an illusion! We believe we may be one of the very few groups or indeed the only group in the local area to actually tour around and sing. Over the years we have raised several hundred pounds and the money collected is always donated to a charity which has a local connection.
We always say we are not a choir, but a group of enthusiastic amateurs who enjoy singing, but over the years, we have improved. We are a mixed bag comprising those who are able to read music, those who have never sung before and some who sang the carols years ago and are happy to be doing it again.
If you are interested and you would like to join us, please contact David Horsfall by emailing oberwald7@gmail.com or by telephone 07973892437
