2025 has been an incredibly busy and vibrant year for Sing Praise. Under the watchful and caring leadership of Catherine Johnson we have seen the choir inspire our worship and be offered opportunities that you will read about more fully in this report. Sing Praise at heart is a family which aims to give the primary aged children of Framlingham an opportunity to sing. Singing is that place in which joy and happiness can find their voice and where emotions can be explored in a safe way. Choral singing teaches children the importance of teamwork, discipline and fun while building confidence, particularly in children who sometimes struggle to find a place to fit in elsewhere.

Sing Praise is founded on the ethos of welcome, inclusion and kindness – all values that St Michael’s church take seriously as fundamental to Christian faith. Creating a safe environment is very important, we prioritise safeguarding and fully comply with the Church of England safeguarding policies. Our volunteers undergo basic and foundation safeguarding training, and our leaders have leadership level training all provided through the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Ratios of volunteers to children is carefully monitored, especially on the walk between school and church at the start of Sing Praise each week.

The church building is warm and welcoming and provides drinks and refreshments to settle the children for work. The acoustic in the church and the space available all help to create a place the children feel at home. This is their church, whether they attend or not, and that is a great joy. We use the framework of the Christian year to tell the stories of Jesus and the values of his life in worship. On the first Sunday of each month the children and their families play a prominent role in delivering and enlivening worship. The choice of music underpins the Gospel message for the day, and this puts the children right at the heart of the service as ministers of the sung word. Children read in the service, families lead the prayers as a family unit, and all are welcome at communion – in this way a truly multi-generational service has grown with parents, siblings and grandparents attending and joining in joyfully. This brings a vibrant energy into the life of the whole church and allows the children to play a full and valued role within it. Through Sing Praise families often move from the margins of the church towards the centre and this is a real joy for me and I think the whole church family too.

I am very grateful to Catherine who uses her skills so brilliantly and through her expectations of the children inspires high level musicality. I am also grateful to the Sing Praise volunteers who week by week support this exciting project and as their words in this report show, are inspired by it too. We remain deeply grateful to the support of the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Fund whose grant from the beginning has allowed us to offer Sing Praise without cost and therefore ensure it is open to all.

Chris

The Rev Christopher M. Davey

Rector of Framlingham.

TO READ THE FULL REPORT CLICK HERE 

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