Horsham: music, dance, carols, folk song and theatre with the Mediaeval Baebes

Their Christmas concert in the town on Monday, December 18 will weave story-telling magic with music, dance, carols, folk song and theatre. And to launch it all, baring aloft their flaming torches, the Mediaeval Baebes will be observing the mediaeval tradition of The Procession. Starting from The Causeway in Horsham at 6.55pm, they will wend their way to St Mary’s Church before offering an evening of festive music and entertainment. Tickets are available from www.mediaevalbaebes.com at £27.50 each and £12.50 for a child.

Katharine said: “We're really looking forward to Horsham. The Horsham date is the best-selling one on our tour. It's a really good area for us, with the Joust as well nearby. The procession has taken a lot of organising. I have finalised all the meeting points and put them on social media so that everyone knows what is going to happen. The actual procession won't be more than five minutes. That's how long the torches burn for and we don't want them fizzling out before we get to the venue! But the procession itself is a very mediaeval tradition. Everyone knows what it is and it's a way of involving the audience and just getting a really immersive experience for the whole thing. We are hoping that lots of people will join us. We started doing it in London a couple of years ago and it's grown and grown. Processing is much more exciting than walking and it just gives a nice sense of occasion and pomp and ceremony.”

And it kind of grew out of the pandemic: “The first time we did it we were playing to an audience that was 95 per cent masked but in the streets outside people just didn't have to have their masks on which was lovely.”

Katharine started the Mediaeval Baebes in May 1996: “It was at the beginning of May that we had our first rehearsal, that I just got a group of friends together encouraged them to sing mediaeval songs. I thought it would just be for fun and going up to Hampstead Heath. I had no idea that it would still be going 28 years later. It's just snowballed but the first idea was just doing something recreational. We've had so many members over the years and I just couldn't have predicted it would be such an epic journey but the point is that we enjoy it and the audience enjoys it. And also it is quite a unique set-up that we've got all women together. When I we first started it was 12 of us and that was actually quite difficult to sustain. But it was great fun. One of our band members called us a hen night on wheels. You get this fantastic energy with all women together. There is certainly a lot of cackling but we have to be careful of that because we don't want to lose our voices!”

Celebrating the true spirit of Christmas, the Horsham concert will showcase well-known Christmas carols and traditional folk songs, alongside tracks from the Mediaeval Baebes’ most recent album MydWynter which came out last year.

Katharine added: “We are hoping to do another album the year after next that would come out in 2025. That's the plan at the moment.”