URC Musicians’ Guild

1. Any opportunity to report on our activities is an opportunity not to be missed! Where to begin? Well, a good place is the Guild’s Celebration Day held at Caterham United Reformed Church in October 2003. Not only did the trees in their glowing autumn colours give us a glorious welcome but our hosts also pulled out lots of stops to make sure that Guild members travelling from far and wide enjoyed a happy and rewarding day of music-making for the glory of God.

2. Our Celebration Day each year is the one event when all the Guild’s members across the UK are invited to join together for a day which is hugely enjoyable; a chance to meet with old friends, to sing new kinds of worship music, to learn about pipe organs maybe, or to find inspiration to form a musical group back home. It is a day offering far more than might be suggested if we called it ‘the AGM’!

3. However, this is not the only event organised by the Guild. Many other musical activities are arranged throughout the UK by our branches. The branches are based on the areas of United Reformed Church Synods and each of them holds two or more events each year, so there are plenty of great musical opportunities from which to choose.

4. Another good place to continue with our report is ‘Guild Review’. This lively and informative journal is sent three times a year to our members. Each edition contains reviews of new music, enthusiastic reports of events, interesting articles and advertisements for future meetings.

5. In addition to special events and a special magazine, the Guild continues to offer a special service to churches. Our Organ Advisory Service has a network of skilled musicians who can advise a church on problems, or opportunities, relating to pipe organs, whether it be repairs, new ‘voicing’, complete overhaul or even disposal. Our Register of Redundant Pipe Organs can sometimes help find an organ a new home.

6. So, not only does the Guild nurture the use and enjoyment of music – of all kinds – in our church worship, but it supports the creators of music whether they be composers, instrumentalists, singers, sound recorders or just those many people who continue to attend Christian worship because they really like the hymns and songs.

7. It might come as a surprise therefore to hear that membership of the Guild is currently declining. 2004 Yearbook statistics indicate that United Reformed Church membership stands at almost 85,000. It surely must come as a shock then to be told that only about 400 of these are individual members of the United Reformed Church’s musical organisation. This is very worrying but what does it truly indicate? Do United Reformed Church members no longer care about the music in Christian worship? (Surely this cannot be the case.) Is the number of musicians in our churches generally decreasing? Or do United Reformed Church members simply not know about the Guild?

8. The Guild is for everyone who appreciates music in worship. Please help the Guild to report on a huge increase in its membership with even more enjoyment of new music, new worship groups and new young organists in post in the next Report to General Assembly. Our annual subscription for individual members is £4 – yes, that is £4 – and church or corporate membership is a minimum of £10.

9. For further information about membership, branch events and the organ advisory service please do contact our Honorary General Secretary: Mrs Chris James, 56 Back Street, Ashwell, Baldock, Hertfordshire SG7 5PE (Tel: 01462 742684) Or why not visit our website at www.urcmusic.org.uk ?