Kitchen Singers celebrate Handel in Grosmont

Coram and Coronations takes place on Saturday at 7.30 p.m.

The Coram story, which inspires the concert, began more than 275 years ago when Captain Thomas Coram established the Foundling Hospital, London's first home for babies whose mothers were unable to care for them. Coram began a campaign to create a home for these babies by enlisting the support of leading members of the aristocracy, the City, the arts and the sciences. Early supporters of the captain's endeavours included the composer Handel, the artist William Hogarth and author Charles Dickens.

The campaign was finally brought to the attention of King George II who signed a Royal Charter in 1739 for the creation of the Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury, and mothers brought their babies to the Foundling Hospital to be cared for, with many hopeful that their circumstances would change so they could one day reclaim them.

In 1749 Handel offered to stage a concert to pay for the Chapel at the Foundling Hospital. He was deeply moved by the project and wanted to support it.

The concert took place on 27 May 1749 and included an anthem specially written by Handel called Blessed are they that considereth the poor, known today as the Foundling Hospital Anthem.

The event was a hit, and the next year Handel became a Governor of the Hospital, donating an organ to the chapel and conducting a performance of The Messiah. Tickets sold out and another concert arranged two weeks later.

On Saturday, The Kitchen Singers with instruments, perform the Foundling Hospital Anthem – including the Hallelujah Chorus which Handel re-uses as was his custom! – and two Coronation Anthems including “Zadok the Priest” which has been sung at every Coronation since 1727.

The residential work of the Foundling Hospital was suspended in the 1950s but the choir is delighted that one of its last boy residents has kindly agreed to attend the concert – and to participate in it. Tickets are £5 on the door, children free.