Carols and Community: Celebrating the Spirit of Christmas with Inspiration Trust Schools

Following the success of last year’s Carol Services, Inspiration Trust once again hosted two wonderful Christmas Carol Services at the end of the autumn term. Pupils and staff from across Norfolk and north Suffolk came together on the 3rd and 4th December at Great Yarmouth Minster to perform two evenings of traditional carols and hymns. 

Over 600 students from the trust’s Primary, Secondary and Sixth Forms have been hard at work preparing for the events in recent months. We are delighted to offer two Carol Services for the second year running; one for our primary schools, and one for our secondary schools, in order to provide opportunities for all our pupils who wish to perform.  

Inspiration Trust is immensely proud of the commitment shown by pupils and staff alike and would like to say a big thank you to the staff at Great Yarmouth Minster, our incredible music teachers, all our pupils for making the event possible in such a lovely venue, and everyone who came along to support and share in two wonderful evenings. 

These were traditional Carol Services, modelled on the famous ‘Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols’. The first service of this type was held in King’s College, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve in 1918 and was first broadcast 10 years later, in 1928. 

Inspiration Trust is proud to offer traditional services like this, both to set it apart from the many and varied Christmas concerts that are offered elsewhere, and to expose pupils to the richness and wealth of our cultural heritage which is contained within it.  

John Stephens, Director of Music, said: 

“I was pleased to see so many pupils were keen to get involved with our Annual Carol Service this year, and am so proud of their fantastic contributions on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The musical progress in our schools and in the lives of our pupils is truely exciting. I want to thank everyone involved for facilitating the smooth running of the service - we could not have done it without them!”