It’s been a good few years since I visited the ancient church of St Mary, Clifton – just outside Nottingham. On Saturday December 18th I had the pleasure of leading a choral workshop based on early a cappella music for Christmastide (Philips, Sweelinck, Händl, Clemens non Papa, Mouton, Byrd, et alia) in its nave. Pleasantly resonant, it boasts a fine west end organ (Marcussen, 1973) and a beautiful chancel, decorated by Bodley, glimpsed here in a photograph of the Crossing with crib in place, above which can be seen part of a typical decorated ceiling by the York architect George Pace.
