FCMG London Children’s Choir -
Belgium Tour 2005

The FCMG tour of Belgium took place at the end of half term.

63 members of the Senior and Chamber choirs travelled to venues in Belgium to deliver a wonderful series of concerts, including music by Langlais, Kodaly, Laloux, Ives, Holst, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Sallinen and Tippett.

Our first concert, on Friday 28th October, was at St Rochus Church, Kortrijk. This was organised as a fund raising event for a local school for children with learning difficulties. The church was a wonderful venue, the music was inspiring and the audience of nearly 400 people clearly enjoyed themselves. After the concert, children from the school gave our choir members small gifts, and we shared drinks and conversations with the audience.

On the next day, the choir performed at the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. This was an "open" performance in a busy church - but a large audience sat and listened in silence to the wonderful music.

Our final performance of the tour was Sunday Mass at Brussels Cathedral. About 1,000 worshipers attended the service in this stunning venue, and the choir performed to their usual high standards.

As well as all the rehearsals and performances, there was plenty of time for social activities. A trip to Antwerp included a visit to the diamond museum, and time to spend in the Cathedral with it's famous Reuben's paintings. In Bruges we all went for boat trips down the canal, and in the evenings we all had time to walk around the very lovely city of Ghent.