Name: Winchester shape note singing - Ninth Winchester all-day
Start: 2026-05-30T10:30:00+01:00
End: 2026-05-30T16:00:00+01:00
Location: St Paul's Children and Young People

Winchester shape note singing - Ninth Winchester all-day

We are looking forward to welcoming friends from near and far, new and old, to Winchester at our ninth all-day sing at St Pauls Church. We'll be singing from the 2025 edition of The Sacred Harp.
10:00am registration and tea/coffee for a 10:30am start on Saturday 30th May. Dinner on the grounds , and plenty of tea and coffee!
We will collect donations to cover event costs.
---Travel---
St Pauls is a 300m walk from Winchester train station.
There is limited car parking at the church itself. You can park at the train station car park £4.90 for 24 hours.
There are 3 park and ride sites for £3.50 (coins or RingGo) if you don't want to deal with Winchester's one-way system. The park & ride bus will drop you off about 5min walk at Westgate.
Limited hosting available for singers travelling a distance — please get in touch!
--- New to shape note singing?---
New singers are very welcome — no prior experience is necessary! We will have some loaner books that people can borrow for the day. You can come and go throughout the day.
---Dinner on the grounds---
This is a 'pot luck' where we don't know what folks will bring. If you are able to bring a cold dish to share, that would be lovely! If you can't, that's ok too!
---Access---
The building has step-free access and wheelchair accessible facilities, however, there is a slight lip at the entrance. Please let us know ahead of time if you may need help at that stage.
---Christian Harmony on Sunday 31 May---
We'll be having a more informal singing afternoon on Sunday, 1-4pm. There is a separate Facebook event in the Winchester Shape Note Singing group. All are welcome to join! There will be a small number of loaners, and hopefully some Christian Harmony books for sale.
--- What is shape note or sacred harp?---
Sacred Harp Singing is four part a cappella harmony singing. All are welcome to come along, whether you have experience or not, whether you think you can sing or read music or not, and whatever you believe in (it's a hymn book, but the singers are 'of any faith and none')
Sacred Harp is social singing- it is not performance music and there are no rehearsals. We sing together for ourselves in the moment, more akin to a folk session than a choir.