However...

I know, another old Winchester church.  However... 

St Lawrence's, sited by the Cathedral's Outer Close, has a special place for me which is why I wanted it in my journal.  It is where  Winchester Community Choir rehearses every Tuesday evening in term time and has done since 2005.  We're not a church choir, we sing mostly folk and this year we are celebrating our 10th Anniversary.  I've been with the choir since the beginning, as has Redflash.  HalfwayUpAHill is also a member.  So it's where we'll be tonight!

The church itself is believed to be built on the site of the chapel of William the Conqueror's Royal Palace, though nothing of the palace now remains except a few dressed stones shoring up other buildings.  That older chapel probably went up in smoke with much of the rest of the Palace in 1142 (the Great Fire of Winchester) during the Stephen/Matilda civil war.  During the English Civil War in the 17th century it was turned into a school and only restored to church use about 30 years later.  It had another bad fire in 1978, so a bit of a chequered career!  We love it though.  It's very pretty and has fab accoustics.

Today was unbelievably beautiful round here, but I spent too much of it trying to make my computer run faster.  Last night was a horrid jolt on the blipsite, wasn't it?

Happy evening, dear people  xx