Great Success For The 30-hour Sponsored Hymnathon

All 542 hymns in the New English Hymnal were sung and £20,000 raised for charity

The Grand Finale of the Hymnathon

The hymn 'God is Love' was the clear winner of the St Michael & All Angels Hymnathon 2017 which has raised (including Gift Aid) almost £20,000 so far.

Choirs and singers from all over Chiswick came together to join in the 30-hour Hymnathon at the weekend to raise money for its Organ Appeal and three charities. People can still contribute on JustGiving at Hymnathon 2017.

For the third time in 30 years, they sang all 542 hymns in the New English Hymnal, going right through the night.

The organisers would like to say Thank you to all who sang, played the organ, donated, sponsored hymns or singers, or made cakes, sandwiches, breakfast, tea and coffee!

Thanks to all the local choirs, churches and schools who took part, including singers from: Chiswick Choir, the Hogarth Singers, St Michael & All Angels Choir and Choristers, St Peter's Southfield Road, St Michael's Elmwood Road, Our Lady of Grace, St Saviour Wendell Park, St Michael & All Angels Barnes, Chiswick Churches for Justice & Peace, Arts Ed, Chiswick & Bedford Park School, Orchard House School and singers from our three charities, The Upper Room, Msaada and The Amber Trust.

In the Grand Finale, 'God Is Love' was the hymn which raised most money.

The picture below shows the cutting of the Hymnal cake by Oliver West, who masterminded – and played the organ at – all three of the Hymnathons, in 1987, 2012 and 2017. You can see lots more updates on Twitter

Oliver West organized the very first Hymnathon at St Michael’s in 1987, when he was the church organist. Pictures of the event made the front page of the Independent, and the inside of The Times.

He also masterminded the second Hymnathon in 2012, when the singing was accompanied by the old organ, which was on its last legs. In a blog about the event, the award-winning BBC drama producer Richard Broke wrote: “They did the whole thing once before - exactly 25 years ago and this time it is necessary as the organ is falling to bits.

A film of the 2012 Hymnathon – compressing 30 hours into 3 minutes – can be seen on YouTube

March 8, 2017