In his poem ‘Summer Images’ John Clare wrote that ‘Rich music breathes in summer’s every sound’. Song was everywhere: in the sky, the trees, the fields and rivers. It affected him to the extent that he declared: ‘I thought Id a right to song/And sung …’

While a prolific poet he also wrote many songs himself and we still have access to them today. Clare’s love of song has also been a constant focus of the John Clare Society. Its annual festival has always been full of song and singing. From the sessions led by the late Pete Shaw in the Blue Bell, Helpston, during the formative years, to concerts given on Saturday evenings in St Botolph’s, Helpston, by a variety of individuals, groups and choral ensembles.

In 2026 we welcomed the Peterborough Choral Society and its renowned Director of Music, Bradley Smith. Their annual summer concert in St Botolph’s was entitled ‘A Walk With John Clare’. It was a sell out of over one hundred people. Bradley Smith had conceived a rich pastiche of words, song and choral arrangements to reflect John Clare and his surroundings. Divided into three groupings – the woods, birds and bees and the fields – each was introduced by the reading of a Clare poem. The music ranged across several genres from Britain, Ireland and Europe.

One of the final pieces was an evocative rendering of Sting’s ‘Fields. of Gold’ inspired by Bradley Smith’s own walk across golden fields to his home in Northborough. The overall effect was cathartic. An effect best summed up by the great composer and conductor Sir John Rutter who said that ‘a choir will ask you to leave your troubles at the door and to inhabit a world of beauty in a bond between choir and audience in which it changes all in the room.’

Dr Mike Mecham,
Chair, The John Clare Society