THE event has been postponed due to illness.

 

A CHOIR is singing in public for the first time in over two years to help raise funds for a repair bill at a historic village church.

Minehead Male Voice Choir are performing again following a hiatus caused by Covid-19 to assist the repairs at the church in Stogumber.

St Mary the Virgin Church is facing a bill of £14,000, mainly for work on the roof and parapets to prevent rain getting into the building causing rot in the roof timbers and damage to the Victorian painted decoration.

Churchwarden Julian Spicer said: "Such a big bill, after two years when fundraising events have been affected by Covid, has caused a lot of worry in the village."

Many Stogumber residents have stepped forward with donations and offers of help.

And Joe Hull has organised a fundraising concert by the Minehead Male Voice Choir to raise money for the repairs.

Joe, who is a member of the choir, said: "This will be the first concert we will have given since the start of Covid, and is a preview of what we will be performing at the International Male Voice Choir Festival in Cornwall this summer."

The concert is on Saturday (April 23) at 7.30pm and tickets can be bought from Central Stores, in Stogumber, or online at www.stogumberfestival.com.

St Mary's has been the focal point of Stogumber for more than six centuries.

It is believed that there was also a place of worship on the site in Norman times, although all trace of the original church has disappeared.