44 girls and 6 staff met on the morning of 17th October to board a coach bound for Belgium. Following on from a slight delay at Folkestone, we were soon in Antwerp when we had the first of many fine Flemish feasts, before checking into a lovely hotel.

We were all up early on the following morning as the choir were engaged to sing in the main cathedral service. Singing Schubert in G (with a fine solo from Isabella Roberts) as well as some Vaughan Williams pieces, the clergy and congregation alike were much impressed with the choir’s singing. The rest of the day was free to explore Antwerp before a return to the hotel for more rehearsals.

On the Monday, the day was spent first exploring Ghent and then the Flanders Field Museum in Ypres. In the evening the choir led the daily service of remembrance at the Menin Gate in front of many hundreds of people and the choir had dozens of compliments from the visiting public who were deeply moved by the singing of ‘Thou knowest Lord’ by Purcell and ‘We will remember them’ by Elgar. Isabel Ritchotte and Sarah Bithell laid a wreath. On the last full day, the choir went to Bruges and gave an hour-long concert in Bruges Cathedral featuring various choral pieces and a diverse range of solos from the VI form. Returning home on the Wednesday, we bade farewell to our fantastic courier Johan and our coach driver Simon and we were back at FHS over an hour early! After such a successful trip, plans are already appearing for another overseas choir tour in 2017…

R Patterson