Welsh Journals

OFFERTORIES AND COLLECTIONS AT ST. MARY'S DURING DEC, 1905. WELSH. £ s. d. ENGLISH. s. d. Dec. 3rd, 10 a.m. 0 6 oi Dec. 3rd, 11-30 a.m. ... 1 3i 11 6 p.m. 1 3 6 ,, 6-30 p.m. ... 0 81 Dec. 10th, 8 a.m. 1 4 0 Dec. 10th, 11-30 a.m. ... 1 it 10 a.m. 0 12 1 ,, 6-30 p.m. ... 0 11 6 p.m. 2 3 10 Dec. 17th, 11-30 a.m. ... 0 15 9* Dec. 17th, 10 a.m. 0 5 11 ,, 6-30 p.m. ... 0 »» 6 p m. 0 19 1 Dec. 24th, 11-30 a m 14 Dec. 24th, 10 a.m. 049 i> 6-30 p.m. ... 0 7* 6 p.m. 1 1 7 Dec. 25th, Dec." 25th, \ (Xmas Day) I 10 a.m. 0 6 10$ (Xmas Day) Dec. 31st, > 11-30 am. 11-30 a.m. ... 0 ... 0 12 15 6 p.m. 0 13 11 >> 6-30 p.m. ... 0 Dec. 31st, 10 a.m. o53 11 6 p.m. Total (Welsh) . 1 6 6 Total (Engli 610 13 4 sh) £6 19 Total collection for D ecember, £ij I2S. 5d. BAPTISMS. Dec. 7th.—John Emyr, son of Llewelyn and Leah Rowlands, 32, Ambrose Street. „ 10th.—John Humphrey, son of Richard and Mary Ellen Owen, Brynmor Lodge. ,, 10th.—Olwen, daughter of Alice Thomas, Talsarn. ,, 14th.—Elsie, daughter of John and Ellen Catherine Cale, 4, Robert Street. ,, 14th.—Mary Jane, daughter of Lewis Owen and Margaret Evans, 3, Old Baths. " JUDAS MACCABEUS." On New Year's Day, the parishioners were regaled with a highly meritorious per¬ formance of a portion of Handel's well-known Oratorio "Judas Maccabasus," which was given by the combined Welsh and English Choirs under the direction of our temporary Organist-in- charge. That both choirs had worked well in their preparation was evident from the excellence of the choruses, from which we select " 0 Father, whose Almighty Pow'r," " Lead on, Lead on," " See the conquering hero," and the 'Hallelujah, Amen," a? being given with a large amount of snap and quite unmistakable verve. At the outset of this service of song, Mr West- lake Morgan played Elgar's " Pomp and Circumstance " March, as well as the Overture that preceded the Oratorio. In the solo department Mr Will. Roberts gave a fine rendering of "Arm, arm, ye brave," and Miss Florence Rowlands gave a charming interpretation of the air "Pious orgies," combining also very sweetly with Miss Alice Williams in the duet "O lovely peace." Mr R. Ivor Thomas did yeoman's service at the organ, fulfilling his part with much skill and unostentatious modesty. At Evensong on Christmas Day, the sermon gave place to a selection of seasonable music. Several choruses from the Messiah were rendered by the choir with particularly fine effect, carols were sung, and solos played by Mr Westlake Morgan, who presided at the organ throughout an interesting and most enjoyable programme. Perhaps the feature of the evening was the excellent singing of the soloists, Mr Will Roberts, Mr Griffith Morgan and Mr R. H. Morgan, all of whom were in splendid form, doing ample justice to the Handelian Christ¬ mas music that fell to them. On Sunday (New Year's Eve), Mr Westlake Morgan's Festival Anthem, " Cenwch i Dduw," was heard for the first time in Welsh since its performance in St. Paul's Cathedral on St. David's Eve. The Baritone solo was admirably executed by Mr Will. Roberts. The following Extract out of the Nonconformist Musical Times cannot fail to interest my readers seeing that the Bangor Church referred to is St. Mary's. I hope I shall not be guilty of divulging a secret if I say that the article in question has been written by the present organist of the City Temple Church who happened to be visiting a relative in Bangor, and quite by chance strolled into St. Mary's on a Sunday evening with the results contained in the following extract:— During the past summer I spent ten days in North Wales, and perhaps readers of the JOURNAL may be interested in a record of my two Sundays' experiences. The first Sunday I was in Bangor, and in the morning I went to the Congregational Church. The congregation was decidedly small, and is greatly to the credit of the few members who