On 4 December, Swinton Estate hosted their annual Carols by Candlelight event, raising over £5k for the Archbishop of York Youth Trust, with over 150 people in attendance.

With a choice of an afternoon tea sitting, or three course evening meal, the event included a beautiful choral recital by the Yorkshire Decibelles and the Yorkshire Voices, with a procession through the candlelit corridor, ending with songs around the Christmas tree.

Lord and Lady Masham, proprietors of Swinton Estate, have kindly supported the Youth Trust through Carols by Candlelight for the last 3 years. Recently, Swinton announced that they will support the Youth Trust at Carols by Candlelight in December 2020 again.

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The Yorkshire Voices and The Yorkshire Decibelles,directed by Ruth Sladden, sung two choral recitals magnificently, including Rutter’s ‘Shepherd’s Pipe Carol’ and the premiere of a new sung blessing written by Dr Richard Shephard MBE, ‘This Christmastide’. Richard Shephard wrote the blessing for the Yorkshire Decibelles, in celebration of 10 years of the Youth Trust.

The two choirs, who are based in Ripon, performed beautifully and kindly donated an auction prize of a performance by the Yorkshire Decibelles – which raised a fantastic £1,500 alone.

All proceeds went to support the Archbishop of York Youth Trust, who are passionate about developing opportunities for young people to grow in leadership, faith and character.Through the Young Leaders Award, the Youth Trust has empowered over 90,000 young people from over 750 schools to learn and practice key leadership skills and character virtues and to transform their communities through social action.

Throughout the afternoon tea, Rosie Palmer, a former student at Manor Academy in York, shared her experiences of taking part in the Young Leaders Award, including how she played her part in organising two trips to Romania to support children and families in need.

During the evening, Hannah, India and Madelief, year 10 students from Abbey Grange Academy in Leeds, shared their experiences of the Young Leaders Award with the group with a group of 80 evening attendees.The three shared stories of their social action project, which was completed the day before the event. The pupils visited their local STEP drop in centre for the elderly, to present a cheque of over £400 which that has fundraised for the drop-in centre’s new minibus. The pupils loved visiting the centre and making friends with those in their community that they normally would not have met.

Dan Finn, CEO of the Archbishop of York Youth Trust, said:

“What a day we had! We are so grateful to Lord and Lady Masham for hosting us at the beautiful Swinton Estate, and the Yorkshire Decibelles and the Yorkshire Voices for their spectacular performances. Rosie,Hannah, India and spoke so confidently and passionately about the Young Leaders Award – they really were the stars of the show!”

Lady Masham, proprietor of Swinton Estate, said:

“The Candlelit Carols are the official launch of the festive season for us at Swinton, and it was a pleasure this year to be able to invite more guests than ever before with the new Afternoon Tea recital. We wish the Young Leaders and the Youth Trust all the very best for the coming year, and look forward to hosting the carols again next December!”

Find out more about Swinton Estate - swintonestate.com

Find out more about the Yorkshire Decibelles - facebook.com/TheYorkshireDecibelles

Find out more about the Yorkshire Voices – chorality@sladden.com

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Photos by Charlotte Graham - https://www.charlottegraham.photography/