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The Wimborne Minstrels




Music John White may not have liked?

Tabors, shawms, sackbuts and bagpipes resounded round St Peter's Church Dorchester when the Wimborne Minstrels played  popular music from the seventeeeth century and earlier.

The Wimborne Minstrels, Charles Spicer, Phil Humphries and Ray Sargent, performed dance music and folksongs from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries on an array of traditional instruments from bagpipes and tabors to shawms and sackbuts. They were dressed in period costumes and the show also included readings and humorous introductions to the instruments and their music. The event was part of the celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of Dorchester's famous Puritan rector John White and it included music he would probably have known, but may not necessarily have approved of.

Jill Minchin, one of the organisers of the John White 400 celebrations, said, 'Last month we had a church service with the liturgy and music of the time, so now we're going to raise the roof with some rip-roaring tunes that would have been played outside of the church. White was a moderate Puritan who liked music and singing in worship, and he did run a brewery to raise money for the poor and needy, so he may not be turning in his grave in the church porch.' Profits from the show went to church charities such as the Poverty Action Group.

Phil and Charles are also well-known as members of the Mellstock Band who specialise in the music of Thomas Hardy and his family. The Wimborne Minstrels were first formed to play to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the States of Jersey in 2004.


Photos from the Minstrels website
http://www.ray-sargent.net/wimborne_minstrels.html 

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