Eight part harmony is incredibly difficult - I imagine even for an experienced choir!!! Even more so because some of these women do not read music and also their range is much closer together so even more important that they know their part so they don't wander off into someone elses! This would be less likely ( wandering off your part) in a mixed voice choir... also there are only 100 of them so not that many for each part!
Absolutely, Hurdity! And Gareth juggling all those parts in his head, too, not just when he's standing in front of the choir but also when he's preparing the music before the rehearsal - well done, him!
BTW, re. the Christmas carols - it's well worth a ponder over some of the words (Hark The Herald, for example............).
