You may recognise the text of the ‘Irish Blessing’ from souvenir mugs or tea towels:
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you ever in the palm of His hand.
There have been many setting of this poem over the years, and I first sang one with Hayley and Jennifer at Rev Debby and Jeremy’s leaving concert back in 2014.
I discovered Bob Chilcott’s setting in June 2026, when it was set as a study piece at a Sing for Pleasure conductor training weekend. The performance pieces were each movement of Chilcott’s “Nidaros” Jazz Mass, but more about that another time.
Bob Chilcott has been called a ‘contemporary hero of British choral music’. He sang with The King’s Singers from 1985-1997, since when he has worked as a full-time composer and conductor, notably of the BBC Singers and the Birmingham University Singers – where he also mentored Jennifer as a fledgling choral conductor. He has guest-conducted choirs in more than 30 countries and regularly offers ‘come and sing’ days in the UK. He has a vast catalogue of both sacred and secular songs and choral works, following collaborations with poets, dramatists and charities.
Chilcott’s setting of the Irish Blessing was originally written for upper voices (SSA), but he has since re-arranged it for SATB. St Margaret’s Voices is learning the SSA version, and you may have heard it as our ‘calling card’ at the end of the Patronal Festival on July 19. It is beautifully lyrical, beginning with just a few soprano voices, and building in energy and complexity as first the altos add harmony, and then the 2nd sopranos. It fades away gently at the end, with quieter and slower repetitions of ‘palm of his hand’.
Sadly, on the day we sang it in church, Facebook deleted our livestream so there is no recording of St Margaret’s Voices singing this beautiful piece. However, in this SATB performance of Irish Blessing, you can see Bob Chilcott standing to the right of the performers, enjoying their music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn63nLrtNLE
Carol P
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 