Over the years, there was a strong tradition of carol singing in Meltham. Like many villages, Meltham had it’s own favourite ones and even adopted one as its very own!
‘Tenderly Sleeping’ (written by Caleb Simper – an English composer and organist) became known as ‘The Meltham Carol’ though the reasons as to how that came about appear to remain unclear. This, and the other carols were often sung by the various church choirs out carol singing around the village and they could often be heard on Christmas eve and well into Christmas morning after the midnight mass.
One of the carols does however have an official link to Meltham. ‘Good night’ was written by Jacob Roberts of Meltham and he was a conductor of Meltham Choral Society sometime during the 1800’s. It was originally named ‘Good morn’ and used to be sung by the carol singers out singing around the village in the early hours on Christmas morning.
Some of you old Melthamer’s will no doubt remember them and maybe have a tale or too to tell, either of singing them or hearing them being sung.
Back in 2001, the choir at St Bartholomew’s Church recorded some of them onto CD (Meltham’s Favourite Carols) in the hope that they would not be lost and that future generations could listen to and learn them so that this longstanding village tradition can continue.
You can hear some of them here – have a listen. We hope it will either bring back memories of bygone times or help those who don’t know them to become more familiar. Maybe next year, we should have a community gathering and learn some of them together, so they’re not lost forever!
You can also hear more of these traditional village carols sung by a local group of choristers called the ‘Melvo Singers’ recorded many years ago in the 60s/70s using this link:
http://www.melthamparish.co.uk/pages/2018/12/22/meltham-carol-singers-from-the-sixties-seventies-hear-them-here/
