A DEVIZES church choir has started a Crowdfunding initiative in a bid to raise £14,000 to help pay for a trip to Latvia next year.

Chris Totney director of music at St John's Church hopes people will give cash but also support a number of fundraising events which start on Saturday (4) when he will take part in a hymnathon.

Between 11am and 6pm he will attempt to play all 542 hymns in the New English Hymnal in St John's Church.

He said: "Although details are still be finalised the cost of the trip is estimated at around £20,000, and fundraising has already begun. The choir is also applying for grants from various musical bodies but would welcome any donations large or small from local businesses and individuals."

The Latvian trip has come about thanks to ties with built up by the rector of St John's Paul Richardson who has been strengthening the link between the church and the Baptist Church of St John in Cesis, Latvia. He made a personal trip to Latvia two years ago and a Latvian priest has been seconded to the Salisbury Diocese for the past year.

Now the choir has received an invitation to sing in Riga Dome, which is the city's cathedral, next August.

The Rev Richardson said: “To receive this invitation really is something extraordinary for a parish church choir. It will be a significant challenge to raise the finance to pay for the trip, but it’s a huge privilege to be asked and a recognition of the very high quality of the choir’s performance.”

St John's has a choir of more than 40 members, including 23 children aged between 8 and 16, representing 13 different local schools.

Mr Totney said: "The church community has worked tirelessly over the past few years to defy the odds and establish it as one of the country's leading parish church choirs."

In addition to its weekly performance of music every Sunday morning during term time at St John's, the choir has made two recordings, as well as undertaking regular trips to lead services in some of Britain's most prestigious cathedrals including St Paul's, Chichester, Coventry, Salisbury, Wells and Winchester.

The trip to Latvia will include singing Evensong at St John the Baptist Church, Cesis, on the Feast Day of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, as well as the concert in Riga Cathedral.

Mr Totney said: "In order for the trip to become a reality, however, some serious fundraising will need to take place over the coming months, as the cost per person will be too large to expect our families to be prepared to pay outright."

The tour will be officially launched on December 16 with a Christmas Concert in the church followed by carol singing in The Brittox between 11am and 2pm.

To give go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stjohnsdevizeslatviatour?utm_id=106&utm_term=BWbxJjr5g