St John's Church in Highbridge have been awarded almost nine thousand pounds in funding to host a monthly music event called Blues in the Pews. It is an open mic and jam night featuring a house band and is open to everyone in the community. All ages and abilities are invited to come along and enjoy the music, and musicians are encouraged 'sit in' with the band, either to sing or bring an instrument and play.
The funding comes from Seed, an Arts Council funded intitiative for parishes and towns within the Sedgemoor area. It is aimed at encouraging people to create and take part in arts and cultural activity. Seed is also the organisation behnd the recent Front Garden Music Festival in Highbridge which featured St Johns church and Priest-in-Charge of St John's, Revd Martin and his band.
St John’s Church community describes themselves as, "A community committed to one another in Christian love. This means we like to socialise together, as well as worship. We love food, music and fun just as much as anyone – and you are welcome to join us, whether you share our faith or not, because a parish church is there for the whole community."
A point Revd Martin echoes, "Our vision at St John's is to be a people of courage sharing God's love across our community. This of course means we do all the normal things a church does, but it also means thinking outside the box!
"Live music is really popular in Highbridge, and we're hoping that Blues in the Pews will appeal to music-lovers and musicians alike, many of whom have been starved of opportunities to perform during the pandemic. It's all about bringing the community together to celebrate the gift of music."
St John's has hosted many music events in the past, from performances by local concert bands, to a charity Music Marathon and Rev'd Martin who played in bands for many years before training to be a Vicar, says, “We are enormously grateful to the team at Seed for supporting this new initiative which is part of a generous programme of support for the arts across Sedgemoor." His band Mossflower will be the house band for Blues in the Pews.
The launch at the church on the 18 September will feature a licensed bar, everyone is welcome including under-18s who can attend with an accompanying adult.