www.endellionfestivals.org.uk

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From very modest beginnings 50 years ago, the St Endellion Music Festivals have grown and flourished to become one of the most important cultural events in Cornwall and the South West.

 

As we embark upon a second half-century, a renewed vision of how the Collegiate Church of St Endellion, its Rectory, the adjoining Glebe Farm complex and Church Hall – the St. Endellion ‘campus’- can become a unique centre for fresh and vigorous artistic and spiritual expression has been developed. The vision is not only to provide the Music Festivals with the outstanding home that they deserve but also to create a well-appointed community facility that enables a year-round arts programme linked to retreats and courses as well as providing the local area with valuable rehearsal and meeting facilities - bringing the unique charm and inspiration of the St Endellion experience to a much wider audience.

 

To achieve that vision in bricks and mortar, the St Endellion Music Festival Trust, in conjunction with the Parochial Church Council, is now appealing for funds. The aim is to raise £1.5 million which will:  

    

  - Convert the Stone Barn to provide sleeping accommodation

    for young musicians and youth groups  

    

  - Convert the Old Dairy into a new adaptable space for rehearsals,

    workshops and recordings  

    

  - Modernise the Church Hall to provide a better kitchen, improved

    universal access toilets, a Parish Office and storage facilities

 

 - To provide the working capital necessary to market and

    administer the 'campus' in the early years

    

  - Create a Bursary Fund to enable young people, who may not be able

    to afford the cost, to participate in the Festivals and the other events

    which will be developed within the Arts and Spirituality programme  

 

Click here for further information on the development project.

Click here to make a donation to the Golden Jubilee Appeal in memory of Richard

Click here to download the appeals leaflet

 

Contacts:  (click on name for email)

 

Ian Sandbrook - Acting Appeal Chairman - 023 8081 1390

The Lodge, Bramble Hill, Bramshaw, Hants SO43 7JG. Phone

 

Colin Fleming - Major Donor Fundraising - 0207 688 0320

70 Queens Head Street, LONDON N1 8NG

  

Martin Cooke - Appeal Treasurer - 01829 770955  

Lion House, Tattenhall Road, Tattenhall, Chester CH3 9QH

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What people have said about St Endellion:

 

Richard Hickox, CBE (1948-2008)

I have not missed a Summer Festival since I first conducted at one in 1972. There is a spirit, in St Endellion Church, on which we all feed, even when we're not physically present. The place is a magnet for so many of us as well as a refuge. The festival concerts are unique in blending professional and amateur yet the place seems to raise us to musical heights that we all find difficult to repeat anywhere else

 

I hardly give a performance anywhere in the world without someone coming up to me and saying they've either played, sung, or been in the audience at a St Endellion concert. Lovers of the Arts and anyone who appreciates the value of artistic opportunity for the young must support this appeal. Together we can work to ensure that St Endellion’s next fifty years are even more glorious than the last  

 

 

 The Rt Rev Bill Ind, Bishop of Truro (1997 – 2008)

I passionately want to protect what St Endellion and its Festivals stand for. I want this parish to be a kind of beacon. I want this part of North Cornwall to be a place where the arts are celebrated and explored, not just for their own sake but because they are themselves a window of transcendence through which we can glimpse, albeit darkly, something of the mystery of God  

    

 

 

 

Fr John May, Priest-in-charge, St Endellion

My first experience of a St Endellion festival, last summer, was glorious: the music, the sheer bustle of life about the place, the sense of mystery and beauty opening up on holy ground as if the gates of heaven were open. No wonder people come back again and again. I eagerly await this year’s festivals and to seeing you all again, and to working with you in the hope that the future is every bit as exciting as the past  

 

 

Patrick Gale, Novelist and Chairman of the St Endellion Summer Music Festival

The St Endellion Festivals are the reason I moved to Cornwall in my twenties. Discreet, unsponsored, idiosyncratic, they're as much a cornerstone of Cornish culture as the Minack Theatre, Barbara Hepworth and the pasty. For musicians, they're glorious busman's holidays; a rare chance to rediscover the joys of making music with friends and family in a space whose sacred intimacy allows for an intensity of performance few concert halls or opera houses can match. For the audience, they're artistic feasts in a county rich in the visual arts but relatively starved of classical concerts of a professional standard  

    

 

Mark Padmore, Tenor

I first came to St Endellion in 1983, a year after I had finished at university. The essentials were the same then as now – great music in an inspirational setting performed with lashings of enthusiasm If I ever need inspiration I know where to come – to the beautiful church and soul-enriching Festival of St Endellion  

 

 

 

The Lady Mary Holborow, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall

As Lord-Lieutenant I would like to offer my congratulations to the St Endellion Festivals on reaching such an important milestone. Over the years I have seen what an impact they have had on the county, particularly North Cornwall, with the marvellous music they bring to Cornwall. We all greatly look forward to the Festivals at Easter and in the summer. Bishop Bill’s Vision is a bold and compelling one and I wish all concerned every success with this Golden Jubilee Appeal  

    

 

Andrew Watkinson, Leader Endellion String Quartet

It was at St Endellion more than anywhere that I discovered the joy and excitement of performing music. The atmosphere of the small but glorious church, which at Festival time seems to expand to twice its actual size, creates an extraordinary intensity and immediacy of communication. By borrowing its name for our quartet we have been lucky enough to take a bit of this atmosphere with us and also been able to point people around the world back to St Endellion and its unique Festivals  

The St Endellion Golden Anniversary Appeal