A MUCH-loved piece with a very special connection to Tenbury will be performed at the town's iconic St Michael's church this month.

The Kington Choral Society will be heading to the church on Good Friday, March 29, for the performance of Sir John Stainer's Meditation of the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer, The Crucifixion, which will take place at 3.30pm.

The piece, which was first performed in 1887, has enjoyed enduring popularity, and has been sung throughout the UK in the days before Easter ever since.

St Michael's organist emeritus Roger Judd said its popularity is thanks to the direct nature of the words and music, which are easily understood and appreciated.

The piece also appeals to amateur singers, while for the listener, there are hymns to join in with as the story unfolds.

The performance will be directed by Robert Evans, the music director of the Kington Choral Society, and organist emeritus Mr Judd will accompany on the church's wonderful 1873 Father Willis organ.

The tenor soloist will be an up-and-coming young singer now studying at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of Music, Tom Hawkey-Soar, and the bass soloist is Robert Pritchard, a lay clerk at Hereford Cathedral.

And while congregations across the country will hear the piece as Easter approaches, the performance is even more special for St Michael's, where Stainer was appointed organist of the then newly-consecrated church at the age of just 17 in 1857.