The Colchester Waits are your local amateur shawm band, recreating the town band of the 13th-17th centuries with colourful costumes, a huge range of historical instruments and a sense of fun.
"I saw the audience faces change from surprise to delight soon after you started!"Val Haines, Hadleigh Folk and Acoustic Music Nights
Like most European Towns of any size, Colchester had a band of Waits (civic musicians) throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque. The band would have been employed by the town to perform at civic ceremonies and processions and to entertain the populace. The modern Colchester Waits play reproductions of the instruments of our forebears - shawms, trumpets, sackbutts, cornetts, lysards, bagpipes, recorders, gemshorns, fiddles and more. We perform vibrant historical music with a sense of history, enthusiasm and fun, wearing the livery of a 16th century band. Our musical tastes range from the early Middle Ages to the present day and we do our best to provide a fitting tune for any occasion.
Refreshments will be served after the concert, with donations to church funds
