Evening Christmas choir concert cancelled over health and safety fears

An evening Christmas choir concert in a rural church has been cancelled over health and safety fears that one of the congregation could fall in the dark and sue its organisers.

The 16-strong Collegium Vocale has spent weeks practising Handel's Messiah for the festive performance at tiny St Stephen Church near Wimborne in Dorset. But organisers have cancelled the event after deciding that the quaint countryside church could be "dangerous" on a winter's night.

Although the 100-year-old building has electric lighting they feared that a member of the audience could injure themselves if there was a power cut.



Choirmaster Ian Davis carried out a risk assessment of the venue and also found the unlit tree-lined avenue leading up to it could also cause problems.

Mr Davis, 43, feared his voluntary choir, which has performed in Westminster Abbey and Chichester Cathedral in the past, could have faced legal action due to the "absurd" health and safety laws and decided to pull the concert instead.

He said: "The law states that a dark church is dangerous if it does not have relevant health and safety procedures in place."