The Derbyshire Carol Workshop

Saturday 29 November 2025, 10.00 am – 5.00 pm

The Memorial Hall, Hathersage S32 1DU

To be followed by an evening carol sing at the Millstone Inn, Hathersage, S32 1DA.*

The workshop will help participants learn the singing parts of sixteen favourite carols from village traditions in the Peak District and NE Derbyshire. No special expertise is required; just enthusiasm for the carols and a willingness to join in. All the carols will be pitched to fall within the range of normal voices (as in the pubs). Instrumentalists will be able to learn to play the accompaniments in parts (string/woodwind/brass). Based on the manuscripts used by village carol bands, these have been specially prepared and edited by Ian Russell. Fourteen are taken from The Derbyshire Book of Village Carols. The remaining two are from The Eyam Book of Eighteenth-Century Carols, a remarkable edition in facsimile and transcription of a village manuscript housed in Eyam Museum.

An informal carol sing will take place in the evening at the Millstone Inn from 8.00 pm. The festival is supported by carol singers from Hathersage and other Derbyshire villages.

Refreshments will be provided, and lunches will be available in local pubs and cafés.

This will be the seventh workshop that we have held, and we intend to make it an unforgettable occasion, informal and friendly. We hope that you can come.

Enquiries: Ian and Norma Russell, 07875 467354 or ianrussell@abdn.ac.uk

* Diners should contact the Millstone Inn, 01433 650258, to book a table in the ‘carolling’ room.

Here’s what we’ll be singing:

From The Derbyshire Book of Village Carols

• 1. Peace o’er the World* – Castleton (p. 165)
• 2. Little Bilberry – Castleton (p. 126)
• 3. Bengal – Castleton (p. 48)
• 4. Hark, Hark*– Castleton (p. 101)
• 5. Babylon – Foolow (p. 44)
• 6. Mortals Awake – Foolow (p. 149)
• 7. Angels – Coal Aston (p. 25)
• 8. Hail Delightful Sacred Morn – Eyam (p. 95)
• 9. On the Dew Besprinkled Lawn – Dore (p. 156)
• 10. Christmas – Hathersage (p. 59)
• 11. Prince of Orange* – Castleton (p. 170)
• 12. Once More* – Castleton (p. 159)
• 13. Mighty Trump – Sparrowpit (p. 148)
• 14. Rolling Downward – Hathersage (p. 173)

From The Eyam Book of Eighteenth-Century Carols

• 15. Hark, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing – Eyam MS, no. 16
• 16. Shepherds Rejoice – Eyam MS, no. 28