Invitation

The Organising Committee for the

2010
United Kingdom Sacred Harp Convention

formally invites all
Sacred Harp and other singers
(including anyone else interested in this music)
to foregather at

The Village Hall
WEEDON BEC
in the County of Northamptonshire

between
Friday 10th September (evening)
and Sunday 12th September 2010

The 15^th UK Sacred Harp Convention will take place in Northamptonshire – the Rose of the Shires - in central England, at the village of Weedon Bec, where North meets South.

Weedon Bec is located on the river Nene, which has traditionally been seen as the point of change between the north and south of England.  It has been popular with visitors for a couple of thousand years, Watling Street (now the A5 road), built by the Romans, passes by to the east, and the Grand Union Canal glides over the village via a glorious Georgian aqueduct, constructed at the beginning of the 19^th century.

Conveniently situated close to several motorways, (nearest - Junction 16 on the M1) and accessible by a regular bus to rail services from London, Weedon Bec is two hours’ drive from London Heathrow, an hour by car from Birmingham International Airport and less than two hours by train from St Pancras Eurostar terminal. 

There is plenty to see and do in the area – Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford are within an hour’s drive, and Weedon Bec itself has plenty of local history to interest singers visiting for the first time.

Weedon was first recorded in an Anglo-Saxon charter in 944 AD. The parish church of SS Peter and Paul still has a Norman west tower and has associations with the King of Mercia’s daughter, Saint Werburgh. She is said to have saved the village’s wheat harvest from the ravages of flocks of geese. The weather vane at the top of the church tower is in the form of a flying goose.

With the threat of invasion from the forces of Napoleon in 1803, plans were laid by the Government to muster ordnance supplies, principally of gun powder, as far inland as possible. Weedon Bec was chosen as a site for this depot, which was also assigned as a possible refuge for the Royal Family. The buildings constructed for the purpose still remain on the hillside opposite the Village Hall.

Besides two days of singing from the 1991 edition of the Sacred Harp, listed below is the Convention’s outline programme of social events. If there is sufficient interest we hope to organise a visit to the ancestral home of the Washington family, Sulgrave Manor, 15 miles away, on Friday afternoon, 10 September. 

Sulgrave Manor was bought by George Washington’s great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Lawrence, from Henry VIII.  Perhaps we shall be able to sing there as well!