It was around this time that the ’20th Century Church Light Music Group’ was formed through a collaboration of Geoffrey Beaumont (1903-1970) and Patrick Appleford (b. 1925). The group’s aim was to modernise church music, particularly hymnody, and to create words and music that arose of the spirit of the time. Beaumont’s tunes, in particular, were very daring and certainly divided opinion, especially his modern hymn tunes written for old and established words.
The movement inspired many church composers to produce new hymn texts and tunes. Patrick Appleford’s hymn ‘Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us’ (LIVING LORD) is a famous and popular example. And HATHEROP CASTLE a tune for the words ‘O Jesus I have Promised’ is typical of Beaumont’s lighter, ‘jazzier’ style of hymn tune with its syncopated rhythms and chromatic harmonies.