All sing together

3:16pm Thursday 6th May 2004

A Celebration of Sydney Carter
East Finchley Methodist Church
High Road, East Finchley
Sunday (May 9), 8pm

Children and adults alike will have a memory bank of songs they have sung in school assemblies, but probably no idea who wrote them.

Lord of the Dance, When I Needed a Neighbour and One More Step Along the World I Go are firm favourites among those who fondly remember what it's like to sit cross-legged on parquet flooring. Although few would be able to tell you that the man behind them was Sydney Carter.

Well known in the folk singing world and a composer of popular hymns, Carter was also responsible for songs which were adopted by the protest movement in the 1960s.

His music was published by Finchley-based company Stainer & Bell, and many in Barnet were sorry to hear about his death on March 13 this year.

Mike Sparks, honorary secretary of the charity Friends of the Welsh Harp Youth Sailing Base and a member of East Finchley Methodist Church, will be singing and playing the guitar at this tribute evening for Sydney Carter on Sunday. There will be a collection in aid of the Alzheimer's Research Trust on the night.

For Mr Sparks, Carter is a bit of a personal hero. "I met him on a couple of occasions he was a man we lived in awe of because he wrote such formidable stuff.

"He didn't write traditional hymns his provoked thought and action but he wrote them because of his beliefs. But his songs aren't just Christian, they had overall appeal."

He continued: "His style brought together the music of the folk, secular and religious worlds with humour, thought, provocation, challenge and gentleness in equal measure. I am hoping to look over the span of his work."

And Mr Sparks, who is 62 and lives in New Barnet, is looking forward to singing Sydney Carter's work.

"If I could write songs like that, I would be overjoyed," said the experienced folk singer.