Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege today to rise to honour the 175th anniversary of St Andrew's Church choir in the wonderful electorate of Goldstein. Yesterday, they celebrated this incredible anniversary of their choir, which can be dated back to 1842, making it Victoria's oldest choir. They did so through a couple of events. Firstly, there was the morning service, which my fiance, Ryan, and myself attended. We sung gusto—but, perhaps, not as much gusto as Tim Renouf, who always sings with us and with much more force—and enjoyed the morning. It was wonderful to be surrounded by good friends, particularly people such as Heather and Roger Sanderson.

In the afternoon they had a wonderful celebration led by their director, Thomas Heywood, who described the choir as a 'priceless cultural asset'. The choir included 39 young Brighton and Firbank grammarian chorus scholars. I am sorry to have missed this wonderful celebration simply because of our attendance at parliament. But I have heard from others who attended that it was a wonderful afternoon of choral song that filled people's hearts and souls, and lifted them up.

Mr Deputy Speaker Coulton, if you ever have the chance to come to the wonderful electorate of Goldstein—and I hope you do—you will have the opportunity to come to St Andrew's Church, which is a magisterial building of hallowed halls, reverent spaces and an exceptional organ played by a wonderful organist. It lifts your heart and your spirit exactly to where you would wish it to be. Thank you.