Category Archives: Charity Fundraising

The Eight Seasons Concert: Saturday 11th September

As part of our St Mary’s Arts Festival from 10th – 12th September we are delighted to welcome back our friends from Symphonia Academica orchestra with this wonderful concert ‘The Eight Seasons‘.

  • The Four Seasons Vivaldi (soloist Peter Bussereau)
  • The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires Astor Piazzolla

Saturday 11th September, 7.30pm. St Mary’s Church, Redbourn.

Symphonia Academica will be playing Vivaldi’s beautifully descriptive The Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, with its seductive tango rhythms, arranged and featuring Alasdair Malloy, Principal Percussionist of the BBC Concert Orchestra. 

Tickets are free of charge but must be reserved via the booking form below.

There will be an interval with pay bar in the Transept.

A retiring collection will be in aid of Pumps for Mpwapwa and Luton Foodbank.

Arts Festival at St Mary’s: 10th – 12th September

An exciting Arts Festival will take place at St Mary’s Church from Friday 10th – Sunday 12th September, in aid of our charity of the year, Pumps for Mpwapwa, installing a solar-powered water pump in a small village in Tanzania. 

The weekend festival will include: 

  • An exhibition and sale of works by artists with local connections – a proportion of every sale will be donated to Pumps for Mpwapwa
  • Live music throughout the weekend
  • A concert ‘The Eight Seasons’ by Symphonia Academica orchestra
  • An ‘Anonymous Art’ sale: is the work you choose by a professional artist, a celebrity, one of our Forest Tots or your next-door-neighbour… who knows?! Find out how to take part
  • A children’s art project led by our Forest Tots 

Meet the Artists

We will showcase some of the artists who will be exhibiting at the exhibition here in the run up to the Arts Festival. Click on a picture to read more about them:


The programme will run as follows: 

Friday 10th September

6.00 – 8.30pm Exhibition Preview Night

Please join us for a preview evening with pay bar, live music and raffle.  Browse and buy from the exhibition and the ‘Anonymous Art’ wall, meet the artists, (and have first opportunity to buy if you wish!).  All welcome. 

Saturday 11th September

10.00am – 5.00pm

Exhibition and Anonymous Art Wall open for browsing and buying.  Live music performances throughout the day, (check back here for more details nearer the time). Refreshments will be served in the Transept.

7.30pm

The 8 Seasons – a concert by musicians from the BBC Concert Orchestra – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (soloist Peter Bussereau) and The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla. Admission free, retiring collection in aid of Pumps for Mpwapwa.  Check back here for more details and booking information nearer the time.

Sunday 12th September

10.00am – 5.00pm

Exhibition and Anonymous Art Wall open for browsing and buying.  Live music performances throughout the day, (check back here for more details nearer the time). Refreshments will be served in the Transept.

Anonymous Art Sale: Can You Help?

As part of the Arts Festival at St Mary’s from 10th – 12th September, we will have a wall of ‘Anonymous Art’ on sale. Every A5 size work will be priced at £25 – some will be by the professional artists exhibiting at the festival, some will be by local amateurs, students, school children and anyone who wants to join in!

Could you create a piece of ‘art’ for the anonymous wall? All proceeds will go to ‘Pumps for Mpwapwa’ – building a solar-powered water pump in a small village in Tanzania.

It can be any kind of art:.

  • Painting
  • Sketch
  • Cross stitch or embroidery
  • Photograph
  • Collage
  • Mixed media
  • … or anything else you can think of!

Everyone is welcome to join in – of any age and any ability.

Our only requests are:

  1. It is A5 size
  2. Please don’t sign your artwork on the front! It must be anonymous to customers browsing to buy.
  3. Please do put your name on the back of your work – whoever buys your piece can then find out who it is by.

There will be a postbox inside church for you to safely deposit your artwork.

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 31st August.

Please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested in joining in with this fun project for an excellent cause.