Bach for Bells

Join St Hilary Church for a special concert of music by Johann Sebastian Bach played by violinists Krysia Osostowicz (Brodsky Quartet and Endymion Ensemble) and Anna Brown (Amadeus Orchestra and Quartet Concrète), violist Tim Boulton (Penzance Orchestral Society) and cellist Joseph Barker (Quartet Concrète). The evening will be hosted by the popular broadcaster and author Petroc Trelawny.

St Hilary Church is known for its early twentieth century paintings by artists from the Newlyn School, but was also the location of the first outside broadcast of a drama by the BBC on 22nd December 1926 – the centenary of which falls this year. The drama – Bethlehem – was written by the then vicar, Fr Bernard Walke, and the concert will be punctuated by readings from Fr Bernard’s book Twenty Years at St Hilary read by Petroc Trelawny. Petroc will also hold short conversation with the current priest at St Hilary, Fr Jeff Risbridger, about the heritage of the church.

This special event is part of a fundraising campaign to restore the church bells (the first sound to be heard in the 1926 broadcast) and update the hospitality facilities at the church by installing a kitchen and accessible toilet.