Tockwith
The first concert, at St Andrew's Church in Fingringhoe, Essex (left) in December 2007, raised £1,300 for badly needed repairs to the belltower. Orlando played two complete suites, the C minor and the C major. The north wall of the church dates back to the Norman period and there is a stunning 14th century statue of St Margaret, hidden behind Victorian plaster until renovations in 1968.
The second concert raised £1,200 for the Boxted Parish Church tower appeal, in April 2008 (Orlando returned there a year later to play the remaining three Suites - the eighth concert in the series).
Boxted Church (below) is one of the most charismatic and unusual churches in Essex. Light floods in through a dormer windor with diamond leaded glass, and a small Victorian gallery on slender columns at the back makes for an intimate setting The church incorporates building materials from the Saxon church of 1008, itself probably built from the ruins of Boxted's Roman Villa which was sacked by Boudicea in AD 61.
In July 2008 Orlando made a small diversion to the early Georgian splendour of Blacks club (left) in central London, where he played the C major suite to a large private dinner party which raised £1,400 for a struggling colleague in the music business.
The third (and thirty-fifth) concerts took place in the 12th-century St Michael's Church,
Letcombe Bassett (below), near Wantage in Oxfordshire in August 2008 and August 2009 respectively. The concerts raised over £2,000 for repairs to the interior.
In October 2008 Orlando played the C major Suite at the National Churches Trust Annual Vice-President's evening, in St Dunstan's, Fleet Street, London (right) to launch his appeal for funds to make a recording of the Suites so that more churches can invite him to play.
The fourth concert took place in November 2008 in the grade 1 listed
Offton Church, Suffolk (below). The community is continually fundraising towards the current major external repairs and damp-proofing, and £800 was raised towards the ongoing works. Orlando played the large-scale Eb major Suite for the first time, coupled with the intimate G major and soulful C minor Suites.
2009 started with a Valentines day afternoon concert in the beautiful tiny remote church at Abberton, Essex (right), which has a stunning position overlooking the vast reservoir. Orlando played to a packed audience of 60 who contributed over £500 for vital repairs.
In the middle of a tour of Europe with the Philharmonia taking in six countries, Orlando played on 7th March at Aldham near Colchester (left), raising over £1,000.
The seventh concert was on 20th March when he played at Gestingthorpe in Suffolk (below). This was a free concer
t with a retiring collection at which an audience of 100 raised nearly £500 for running repairs. Gestingthorpe has a spectacular double-hammerbeam roof, a beautiful large redbrick tower and is Captain Oates' family church.
On a warm spring Friday (3rd April), Orlando made his furthest trip yet, to the cathedral-like Holy Trinity in Coventry, a magnificent church with a spectacular, recently restored mural from 1435 (one of only six in Europe from that period). Despite the size of the church the acoustics were breathtaking and despite it being the first concert of its kind organised by the wardens, the concert raised over £800 towards the cost of mending the roof, which had several leaks.
Later on that month Orlando made a four-day trip to the north of England, playing in
St John's Church, Sharow, in the Yorkshire Dales on 23rd April, the tiny remote Wythop Church, near Cockermouth in Cumbria on Friday 24th April, the well-known
Cartmel Priory, Cumbria, set in one of the most idyllic villages in England, on 25th April, and in front of the spectacular Brsngwyn mosaic in
St Aidan's Church in Leeds on Sunday 26th April 2009.
The following week Orlando played in Kent for the first time, at
St Nicholas' Church, Sturry, Canterbury on Friday 1st May, and at Holy Trinity, Milton Regis, Sittingbourne on Saturday 2nd May, the same day that Radio 4 broadcast a short piece about the cello pilgrimage on PM.
The week of 4th May 2009 saw his first London performance, at
St Gabriel's Church , Warwick Square (left), on Wednesday 6th May, and also concerts in Frynerning and churches around Sudbury where he played all six Suites over three concerts, bringing the total number of concerts to 20.
The week ended in Westleton, Suffolk where he played on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in the bright and airy St Mary's church.
The following week Orlando gave a masterclass to three excellent young cellists from Eggliescliffe School, and then played in
St John's Church Egglescliffe, near Middlesborough in County Durham on Saturday 16th May.
On Sunday 24th May he played as part of a wonderful village festival in Peldon, Essex, and three weeks later in the Norfolk and Norwich festival in the spacious and light Victorian church at Spooner Row near Wymondham on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon 14th June 2009.
Concerts followed in Needham Market (Suffolk), St Mary's Guildford, St Lawrence (Essex), Thornham Magna and Thornham Parva (Suffolk), Great Bromley (Essex), Fawley (Buckinghamshire), Fittleton (Wiltshire), St Denys Southampton, Ruan Lanihorne (Cornwall), Stanford on Teme (Worcestershire), Letcombe Basset (Oxfordshire), St John's Sharow in the Yorkshire Dales, Great Bardfield (Essex), Grayswood (Surrey), and Messing (Essex), ending the 2009 cello pilgrimage and bringing the total to 39 concerts.
