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Newsletter 2019

Leicester Cathedral OldChoristers’ Association

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EDITOR’S NOTEWelcome to the very late2019 edition of theLCOCA’s newsletter andpossibly my last as editor.This is, as always, YOURopportunity to keep intouch with your cathedral,

its music and those fellow choristers andsongmen with whom you shared so manywonderful times

It is really helpful for you to keep us up-to-date with your news and anything else whichyou feel would be of interest to us. I amespecially grateful to members of thecommittee, especially Richard Belton and NickBasford who have ensured a steady supply ofinformation.

To connect with us, please feel free to email usat lcoca.secretary@gmail.com. Let yourconscientious committee have comments onthe content and what you would like to read infuture editions.

When submitting articles, please ensure theyare unformatted. Photos should be attached toemails and not embedded in Word documents.Thanks.

David Fisher [Chorister 1963-69 & Songman 1970s]

LCOCA CALENDAR 2020LATE NEWS: Due to the current coronavirus [Covid-19] pandemic,there is considerable uncertainty about future dates and some plannedevents have already been called off. You will be notified of any changeswhen decisions are made nearer the time.

March 16th LCOCA Committee Meeting

May 9thFCOCA Day & AGM atRochester Cathedral

CANCELLED

May 14th LCOCA AGMCANCELLED

September 11th -13thFCOCA Festival atChester Cathedral

CANCELLED

Sept 8th LCOCA ReunionPROVISIONAL DATE

October ?? CCA Choral EvensongPENDING

October 26th Committee MeetingPROVISIONAL DATE

LEICESTER CATHEDRALOLD CHORISTERS’ASSOCIATION

PRESIDENT:Revd. Canon Dr Johannes Arens

VICE PRESIDENTS:Very Revd. Vivienne FaullVery Revd. Derek N Hole

Very Revd. David MonteithVery Revd. Alan C Warren

Revd. Canon Michael T H BanksRevd. Canon John Craig

Revd. Canon Stephen FosterRevd. Canon Michael Wilson

CHAIRMAN: Graham Wright

JOINT SECRETARIES:Amanda Fitchett & Simon Mold

7 Southernhay Close, Leicester, LE2 3TWEmail: lcoca.secretary@gmail.com

TREASURER, FCOCA & FCMREPRESENTATIVE: Richard Belton

12 Woodlands Close, Wymeswold,Loughborough, LE12 6TF

Email: richard.t.belton@btinternet.com

MINUTES SECRETARY: Nicholas Basford

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: David Fisher

COMMITTEE:Simon Headley

Dr Christopher Ouvry-Johns (Ex-Officio)Dr Johannes Arens (Ex-Officio)

The Association was founded in 1965 andwas accepted by HMRC as a charity fortax purposes in 2013. It is affiliated tothe Federation of Cathedral OldChoristers’ Associations which wasfounded in 1910.

www.fcoca.org.uk

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DR. GEORGEGRAY

MEMORIALTRUST

CHAIRMAN/TRUSTEE: David Briers7 Houlditch Rd, Leicester, LE2 3FF

TRUSTEES:Nicholas Basford Richard Belton

Neil Crutchley Michael Gray Gerard GrayPhilip Leech John Thorpe

This trust is administered by the trustees toprovide scholarships to the Cathedral Choir andis governed by a trust deed dated 8th February1983 as amended by a Resolution dated 8th

March 2010. It was registered as a charity on1st March 1983 under registration number513625 and any proposed changes to thetrustees are ratified at the Annual GeneralMeeting of the Association.

Dr George Gray Memorial TrustReport 2019.

The recipients of the eight annual scholarshipsof £200 presented to boy and girl trebles atthe Old Choristers’ Annual Reunion held onSunday 8th September 2019 were as follows.

George Gray Scholarship IJames Cowen, for violin lessons.

George Gray Scholarship IICharles Lawrence, for singing lessons.

Stephen and Mary Harland ScholarshipClara Leech, for singing lessons.

LCOCA ScholarshipSofia Tansey, for piano lessons.

Bishop and Cicely Williams ScholarshipSarah Headley, for singing lessons.

Lionel Hamer ScholarshipLuca Colardo-Cooper, for violin lessons.

Friends of Cathedral Music Scholarship

Anna Cowen, for violin lessons.Helen Jean Cope Scholarship

Maisie Lambert, for singing lessons.

Since the first scholarship was awarded in1985, a new milestone has been reached. Thisyear (2019), the Trustees’ presentationsinclude their 100th scholarship, the overall totalbeing 103 scholarships with total awards nowexceeding £87,000.

All scholarships, including those awarded bythe Cathedral, are recorded in two leatherbound books, presented to the trustees by ourformer chorister and trustee, the late GeoffreyCox, in memory of his parents and beautifullyupdated by our calligrapher Chris Martyn.Chris, who has carried out this work since1994, now feels the time has come for him torelinquish the position. We thank Chris mostsincerely for this work so professionally doneover 25 years and for his continued supporttowards the work of the LCOCA through whichwe will still be able to stay in touch with him.

The Trustees’ AGM of 2019 was held on Friday25th October 2019 at 42 Buckminster RoadLeicester, commencing at 2pm, courtesy ofJohn Thorpe.

The annual accounts for the year to 30th

September were presented. These showedassets of £105,560.06. Donations, includinggift aid tax recovered £510.75, and scholarshipawards totalling £1600.00. There was ashortfall of £456.57 between the total interestreceived of £1143.82 and the total amount of£1600.00 paid out in scholarships. This deficitwas met by utilising part of the accumulatedunspent interest from previous years. Thesefigures are taken from the annual reportsubmitted to the Charity Commissioners and inlight of the present financial conditions, similaraction of supporting scholarship awards fromaccumulated funds, will be required in thecoming year.

You can see from the figures given above, inthe present climate of low interest returns, thetrust struggles to maintain the value of thescholarship awards and greatly values anyfinancial help and support members can giveregarding scholarships we will want to make to

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future Cathedral Choristers who deserve all thesupport we can give them.

Many of you reading this report will havereceived largess in the past from the GeorgeGray Memorial Trust, always remember, this isyour charity trust, set up by LCOCA members,to provide awards exclusively to boy and girlchoristers of Leicester Cathedral.

On behalf of all the trustees may I take thisopportunity to thank all LCOCA members whoregularly make donations to the trust on theirannual subscription renewals, by bank standingorders, or in any other way, whether Gift Aidedor not, your generosity is much appreciated.

Last, but by no means least, on behalf of myfellow trustees may I extend our thanks toDavid Briers, our Administrator and Chairman,ably assisted in secretarial matters by his LadyWife, Julie.

John Thorpe,Treasurer Trustee

MEMBERS NOTESBirthsCongratulations to Chris Ouvry-Johns andPhilippa on the arrival of Sophie Louisa Romillyat 4.26a.m. on 23rd July, weighing in at 10lbs11ozs, a sister for Thomas.

Congratulations also to Richard Patersonand Olivia on the arrival of Bertie on 23rd

October weighing in at 7lbs 4ozs, a firstgrandchild for Charles Paterson and Susan.

In Memoriam

John Frederick Lees passed awayafter a short illness on 27th

September aged 89. John was aretired dental surgeon and brotherof the late Angus Lees. A former

chorister, as was his brother, John also sangalto for a while and occasionally sang with theGeorgian Singers.

His funeral and interment were held on17th October at the Church of St Leonard,Catworth, described by AboutBritain.com as “acharming small village just off the A14between Kettering and Huntingdon”. Donationsif desired were for the benefit of the LeicesterCathedral Charitable Trust and theseamounted to £118. An order of service hasbeen received and placed in our archives. Thehymns were “Dear Lord and Father” and “TheDay thou Gavest”,

Weddings

Peter Collett was married to BeverleyFarrand on Saturday 11th May in theCathedral. The service was conducted by theDean and the organist was Simon Headley.David Salt was the best man, Mark Salt wasan usher and Amelia Salt was one of thewitnesses. Pageboys and other ushers wereMasters James, Oliver, Christopher and NoahSalt.

The music included Te Deum Prelude(Carpentier) on the organ at the entrance ofthe bride, I give you a new Commandment(Nardone) and Love bade me Welcome (Hurd)as the anthems and Marche Triomphale(Lemmens) on the organ as the happy coupledeparted. The hymns were Love Divine, Greatis thy Faithfulness, We pledge to one Anotherand Guide me O thou great Redeemer. Thehomily was given by the Right Reverend DrFrancis-Dehqani, Bishop of Loughborough andduring the signing of the resisters, Jesu, Joy ofMan’s Desiring (J S Bach) was played bySimon Headley (piano) and Paul Jenkins(cello).

After the service, the congregation wastreated to champagne and cake after which

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family and other invited guests met in theGrand Hall at St Martins House for afternoontea. A honeymoon in Italy took place later inthe year.

Other News

Adam Pilpica singswith The Ebor Singersin York and had hisphotograph in theFebruary edition of"Cathedral Voice",published by theFriends of CathedralMusic. The choir hadsung at a special 75th

birthday celebration forDr Philip Moore in St Olave's Church, Yorkwhich included music composed by him. He isstill doing lots of singing in York Minster, RiponCathedral, St Peters Harrogate and many otherplaces around Yorkshire, singing most Sundaysin some place or another!

Andrew Webster was appointed as aProfessor at the Guildhall School of Music &Drama in 1994; he studied at the schoolhimself with Antony Pay and Thea King. In1997 he joined the orchestra of English

National Opera leaving in 2004 to pursue anever-increasing freelance career.

From 2002 to 2013 he was PrincipalClarinet for Glyndebourne Touring Opera aswell as playing guest Principal Clarinet with allmajor UK symphony orchestras including ThePhilharmonia Orchestra, The BBC SymphonyOrchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestraand the London Sinfonietta.

In 2013 Andrew was appointed to thepost of Head of Wind, Brass and Percussion atUppingham School. He remains an activeplayer on the freelance scene in London aswell as being a member of the Britten Sinfoniaand the Principal Clarinet of the LondonConcert Orchestra.

He is a coach for the National Children’sOrchestra and from 2017 he will be taking overas Music Director and Conductor of the NCOEasterlies Regional Orchestra.

Jack Thompson iscurrently Director of Musicat St Mary's Church,Chelsea and Organist andTeacher of Musicat Ardingly College. He hasworked previously as aconductor and organist atOxford, Cambridge andDurham Universities, and

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today maintains a busy freelance careeralongside choirs and ensembles from acrossthe UK.

Jack has studied choral conducting andorgan performance with some of the world'smost prominent musicians and educators,including Stephen Layton, James Lancelot,Graham Ross, Mark Williams and Dame GillianWeir. He is Founder and Artistic Director of theCadogan Consort, and has worked in recentprojects with members of the BBC Singers,Glyndebourne Opera, Tenebrae and theSixteen. He has prepared choirs forperformances with Sir Thomas Allen and theBBC Symphony Orchestra, and has alsoworked with children’s choruses and youthensembles in advance of concerts andbroadcasts at the BBC Proms. Jack remains infrequent demand as an organist and continuoplayer, and has twice performed as a soloistfor HM The Queen, HRH The Duke ofEdinburgh and HRH The Duchess ofCambridge.

Jack recently completed a postgraduatedegree in music, specialising in choralconducting, at Cambridge University. Here, hewas Organ Scholar of Corpus Christi Collegeand Organist for St John's Voices, the mixed-voice choir of St John's College. Jack waspreviously educated at Durham University,where he was an organ scholar, vice-chancellor's scholar and recipient of the BarkerMusic Award. He was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts, aged 24, in 2018.

In May, Andrew Belton took part in twosponsored events during the year.

The first was in May when he and Jane’sbrother in law, Dave, cycled Scotland’s NC500route, a 516-mile scenic route around thenorth coast of Scotland, starting and ending atInverness Castle. Launched in 2015, it linksmany features in the north Highlands ofScotland in one touring route, including VerdonGorge, Smoo Cave, Applecross, Isle of Skyeand the West Highland Way, to raise moneyfor Healing Little Hearts Charity in memory ofDave’s son, Tristan. Their target was £6,000which would change the lives of at least 8children born with CHD in countries where lifesaving surgeries are not readily available. Theactual amount raised was £7,630 including giftaid.

The second was on 5th October when hewas part of a group from his own Audaciouscity church in Manchester who tackled theYorkshire 3 Peaks in a day. The 25-milemountainous challenge was to raise moneytowards the amazing work of Audacious Kids,which they are all a part of, in partnership withnational charities such as MacMillan & SafeFamilies for Children. With the help of thegenerosity of volunteers, they aim to helppeople from all walks of life to reach their fullpotential. Each week they see over 500children and the money will be used tocontinue this great work and pilot a primaryschools project. Their target on this occasionwas £2,000 and the actual amount raised,including gift aid was £3630.

Roy Birch was pictured in the LeicesterMercury after helping set up a display in AllSaints’ Church, Leicester of rescued warmemorials from around Leicestershire andRutland entitled the “At Risk War MemorialsProject”. The open day was to invite people toattend to learn the stories behind the manywar memorials and to encourage residents toget involved. The project was formally set upin 2012 when the destruction of memorials atLeicester’s St Saviour’s Church was witnessed.In 2013, the project received Heritage LotteryFunding and since then has gone fromstrength to strength.

(For those that have not met Roy, he is secondfrom the right)

Many thanks to Andrew Long for spotting aletter from OC David Bishop (1956 to 61)

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included in the “Through the Letterbox” pagein the Summer 2019 edition of the GCR“MainLine Magazine”. David wrote in afternoticing an article about specials on the GreatCentral and remembered a special on 19th

October 1960. It was a train to Londonchartered by Leicester and County Chamber ofCommerce who were celebrating their 100th

Anniversary at the Guildhall in London.He wrote in his letter “There were

eleven choristers from the Cathedral, directedby Dr George Gray, who sang before themeal and were then free to explore thebuilding. I remember ending up on the roofwith some of the lads, but returned safely.Although I remember much about the day, Icannot recall which engine pulled the train andI wondered if any other MainLine readers mayhave the details.”

Not having any contact details forDavid, a successful request was made to theGCR asking them to forward a letter from ourassociation to David which they were pleasedto do. David then made contact with us andwrote “I have been involved with GCR for morethan 30 years especially with Witherslack Hall,but now with RVP and the wooden coaches. Inow live in Warwick with my wife and haveretired after a long career with Lloyds Bank. Iam treasurer of the Baptist Church, a task Ihave been doing for nearly 30 years. I wassent to the Cathedral for a test with GeorgeGray and so began my time singing. You will

see from what follows that this was somewhatof a commitment for me. Firstly the Cathedralwas a 2 mile bus ride from home and the farewas 1d each way (a lot of money when myfirst 6 months pay was 4/-. 24 visits). The next6 months pay rose to 6/- and we had biggerrises as we progressed. I eventually rose to behead boy on Cantoris which involved singingsolos.

The commitment to time wasconsiderable as follows:-Monday night – Choral Evensong (Boysonly). Just a reminder here that there were nogirls allowed in the choir at that time.Thursday night – Boys practiceFriday night – Full choir practice (It is worthbearing in mind here that as 8/9 year olds wehad to make our way home through the streetsof Leicester at 9.00pm.)

Saturday night – ChoralEvensong (full choir)Sunday morning – Matins(full choir) along with SungEucharist on the first Sundayin the month at 10am. Onthose Sundays but we werelet off the evening serviceSunday afternoon - ChoralEvensong (full choir) &Sunday evening – NaveEvensong (full choir).

On Sundays when wehad two evening servicesclose together, we would take

sandwiches and bottles of pop.We would then play football inone of the walks at the back ofthe Cathedral. For all the

services we sat in the choir stalls, but for anOrdination service we sat in the Organ Loft.Those services were very long, so we were latehome for dinner.

To help reduce the bus bill and reducemy time waiting for buses, my Granny helpedDad buy me a bike. It had no gears and rodbrakes and it was bought to allow me to growinto it as dad had to put wooden blocks on thepedals. I still recall some of my fellowchoristers, Ian Wilson, Malcolm Gregory,Roger Kestell, Granville Kestell, PhilOliver and his uncle (a year younger thanhim), Martin Oliver, Howard Mason, Chris

From L to R: Rupert Morris, Granville Kestell, Roy Tilford,James Hill, Roger Kestell, Peter Harvey, Nicholas Miller,Malcolm Gregory, Philip Oliver, David Bishop & Ian Wilson.

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Jager, Ronnie Guest, Mel Franks, RichardBelton. In spite of the commitment I quiteenjoyed my time especially the annual Easterboy's outing to Skegness. To many, the firstexperience of the Big Dipper. We were alsotreated to lunch and high tea at a smart cafe.We also had a regular trip to see a Panto. Ourservices were also required to provide theCarol Singing in Town Hall Square for theswitch on of the Christmas lights. Our serviceswere also needed each opening of the Assizeswith all the Judges in their finery. Weoccasionally were recruited to sing atweddings, a much more remunerative exercisethan normal. We did appear on both BBC andITV for morning services. Also we spent twoWednesday afternoons recording a record thatwas going to East Africa. Sadly we were nevergiven a copy. One adventure I had during mytime in the choir was a week sailing on acruiser on the Norfolk Broads. I went with twobrothers, Granville and Roger Kestell. Rogerand I were thirteen and Granville was sixteen.I cannot imagine any boatyard today would letthree teenagers loose on one of their boats. Ishowed my boating skills by capsizing the littledinghy that came with the cruiser. They say allgood things come to an end, and my timecame in the autumn of 1961 when my voicebroke. Thus I missed out on singing at theopening of the new Cathedral in Coventrysome months later.”

After learning about David’s letter to theMainLine Magazine, Nicholas Miller dug deepinto his archives and discovered a picture ofthe engine, but the special train boardobscures the number plate. A copy was sent toDavid and we are delighted that the finaloutcome is that he decided to join ourassociation after over 50 years since leavingthe choir.

Oliver Hatton is a Britishtriathlete from Quorn but lostout to the elements at theOutlaw Triathlon inNottingham in July when anunexpected downpour forcedrace organisers to cancel thebike section of the race. Theevent was supposed to consist

of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ridefollowed by a marathon. Oliver had hoped that

the bike course would give him the opportunityto make inroad against his main rivals but theweather had other ideas. Instead of hoping fora top ten spot, he had to settle for 22nd. Wewish him well in future races.

John Wood wrote in December “I'm stillsinging in our church choir in Chagford and ina small madrigal group which is now in itssixteenth year. I sing with Roger Clevedon ex-Westminster Abbey bass and Exeter as a boywhenever I can. It's great to sing withsomeone inspirational. Not much in the way ofsolo work now mainly weddings and more andmore funerals.”

As reported in last year’s newsletter, PeterCollett had volunteered his services asdistribution manager for the Soar Valley Lifemagazine. During this time he began to takean interest in the business and began tosuggest different and more efficient ways ofachieving the various desired outcomes. Wetherefore congratulate him as this led to himbeing promoted to the post of OperationsManager, Soar Valley Life’s first ever salariedemployee as from 1st December.

Jonathan Gregory concluded the year byconducting Handel’s Messiahfor the 28th Christmas Concertof the UK – Japan Choir &Orchestra on Saturday 7th

December at St John’s WoodChurch in London. Leicesterparticipants were LucyWadley, Oliver Sheffield,

Reuben Oreffo, Jack Thompson, RobinEaston, Josef Laming playing the organ withorchestra, Marius Carney and Christine Race.The concert was supported by many sponsorsincluded the Embassy of Japan, the JapanSociety and the Royal Academy of Music.

Other events during the year are toonumerous to print in this newsletter andJonathan has once again sent in a copy of theChristmas Concert programme for our archiveswhich includes details and many photographsof the other events if anyone would like toread it.

This year, Radio 3 challenged amateur com-posers to create new music for “Go to the

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Child”, a new poem byImtiaz Dharker. The team ofjudges whittled hundreds ofentries down to a shortlist ofsix which included DominicVeall, a former chorister atLeicester Cathedral, whowent on to be a Choral

Scholar at Kings College, London and is nowdoing a post-graduate course in composition atTrinity Laban Conservatoire London. Listenerswere able to vote for a week for their favouriteentry before 6 pm on Thursday 19th December.The winner was announced during the Radio3Breakfast programme on Friday 20th Decemberas Chris Black. His setting was performed bythe BBC Singers with conductor Bob Chilcottand pianist Richard Pearce and was played onRadio 3 throughout Christmas Day.Congratulations to Dominic for his achievementin reaching the final and for having hiscomposition performed at the Midnight Mass inLeicester Cathedral on Christmas Eve.

Paul Morley has sent another update onJayne’s Memorial Fund which helps youngmusicians and which is continuing to grow,seven years since Jayne passed away. LisaWoolley, Jayne’s former nursery nurse andclose friend again hosted another coffeemorning/event at her house which raised£1,141. The fund made front page headlines inthe Mountsorrel Post when Paul received acheque for £357 from Waitrose as part of theirin store Community Matters customer tokenscheme, which supported the fund also in theyear.

The fund continues to help EllieRobinson, a Year 10 student at Sir JonathanNorth School, by giving support for the cost ofher saxophone lessons and playing with theLeicestershire Arts bands. Daniel Bussey alsocontinues to receive support. A former studentwho attended Richard Hill School, Thurcastonbefore returning home to Kenya with hisparents, he is currently in his fourth yearstudying Voice Performance in the USA. Hegraduates in 2020 from Houghton College inNew York State.A former beneficiary from the fund, AnnieMcChrystal, is continuing to thrive at theprestigious Jennifer Bate Organ Academy

where she is also being supported by theAndrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. Sherecently came 3rd in the Woking YoungMusician of the Year Festival.

Nicholas Basford remembers as follows; “Onthe morning of Sunday 4 November 1962 Itravelled into the Cathedral in the almost newVauxhall Victor belonging to Mr Hamer, a bassSongman. Mr Thomas, tenor Songman, joinedus at Western Park. We were robed and inprocession in time for the 10 o’clock SungEucharist, a service which was added to ourusual weekly routine on the first Sunday ofevery month. My car ride was necessarybecause buses did not run that early on aSunday morning. With all the music for anextra service and the loss of our Sundaymorning boys’ practice, the previous Fridayevening’s choir practice would have beendemanding - and long. By about 10 past 9 theboys would be getting anxious, we all had abus or train to catch at 9:30p.m, with no wayof warning our families that we would be late.Eventually a songman would take pity andinterrupt, ‘George, I really think you ought tolet the boys go home.’ Our travel plans wouldbe frantically confirmed and we would leavelike greased lightning! After all the hard work,the end of the Sung Eucharist was a highlightof my musical week. We would sing Psalm 150in procession, to Dr Gray’s version of thesetting by C.V. Stanford.

As a junior chorister, I had the organand the whole of the choir behind me. Thesound was awesome! Back in the Song School,the boys would hurtle to the washroom for adrink, then back into procession for the 11o’clock service; just Matins and two Evensongsto go before our Sunday would be complete.”

Isaac Wiles is already a star of the West End.The student at Brookvale Learning Centre hasbeen performing in the RSC’s Matilda theMusical at the Cambridge Theatre in London.He got down to the final eight boys inauditions held in 2017 and 2018. After gettingthe call that he’d got the role of BruceBogtrotter, he moved to London in January tostart rehearsals and managed to keep up withlicensing laws of 15 hours of schooling, two fullperformances and two standby performances aweek, all while keeping up with his predicted

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grades. It is little wonder therefore that thejudges of the Leicestershire Education Awards2019 gave him the award for Musical Excellentin December, especially as his nominationpraised him for continuing to be polite, caringand well balanced despite his success.

Victoria-Jade Malone has been a member ofthe girls’ choirs since 2015. During this timeshe has been working hard to grow as a singeras well as a soloist but also developing as aprofessional, volunteering with the junior choirwhen becoming a member of the senior girls’choir and volunteering at Loughborough ParishChurch with their youth choir. This has helpedher prepare for university and to take grade 8Trinity Singing whilst attending performing ArtsCollege at Studio 79 full time and once a weektaking private singing lessons out of college.In 2019, Victoria was offered a place on theEton Choral Course and a place on the WelshInternational Academy’s summer school aswell, this being her top University choice. Herambition was then to join the opera andclassical music performance course.Unfortunately at this stage her homecircumstances changed which meant that thefunding for both courses, as well asaccommodation expenses, was not nowavailable and she would have to supportherself.

Our association was one of a number oforganisations which were approached for helpin this matter and your committee was pleasedto help with the sum of £300 being madeavailable. This was mainly due to the fact thatthere had not been a choir tour this year andthis amount would normally have been paidout to help parents with the cost of the annualchoir tours where this would otherwise beoutside their budget.

Chris Ouvry-Johns wrote: “I wanted tosay thank-you for having agreed to supportVictoria’s musical activities in this way. I’veseen from what she’s posted on Facebook thatshe had a fantastic time at the Eton ChoralCourse and has no doubt grown as a musicianthrough having taken part, which will benefitthe work of the Cathedral Music Department inthe next year that she’s still with us. Thatsimply wouldn’t have been possible without

this financial support: the money we’ve givenher will really have made a huge difference.”On 2nd January 2020, Victoria gave a lunchtimeconcert at Loughborough Parish Church. Shewill be taking up an offer to go to LeedsCollege of Music on a foundation course forone year from September 2020 with a view totaking a BA course in Classical Performancefrom September 2021.David Fisher’s musical news. Despite beingeditor of this newsletter I hope you’ll craveindulgence for me outlining my musicalactivities in the past year.

Verbum Caro was commissioned by FrSimon Lumby SSC and his parish to celebratethe Diamond Jubilee of St. Aidan’s Church,New Parks, Leicester, designed by Sir BasilSpence. The words are taken from “PangeLingua gloriosi corporis mysterium” by SaintThomas Aquinas [1225-1274] and dedicated toBishop Rowan Williams [former Archbishop ofCanterbury], Fr. Simon and his congregation.It was performed on 13th July 2019 by aninvited choir conducted by the composer withNicky Bouckley, soprano solo, in the presenceof The Rt. Rev’d Rowan Williams and The Rt.Rev’d Norman Banks SSC, Bishop ofRichborough [see below].

In 2018 I was commissioned to writethe carol In the Stable for three upper voiceswith saxophone, cello and organaccompaniment first performed in Köln. For2019 I was asked to rewrite the work forsoprano solo, saxophone and full symphonyorchestra and chorus. It was performed lastDecember by Elena Fink (soprano), Ehrenfelder

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Kantorei and the Orchester der Friedenskirche,Köln, conducted by Joachim Diessner vonIsensee [pictured below] and in the sameconcert the ‘Angel Aria’ from my LaudateDominum cantata for Dame Emma Kirkby wasgiven its European première.

Later that month Viva la Musica sangthree of my Christmas pieces in their CarolConcert in Loughborough, one of which wasMary Laid Her Child written for Peter Whiteand the cathedral choir whilst still a teenager.

A final carol of the year was a piece inPolish [Bracia Patrzcie Jeno] loosely based onan earlier SATB version but this time for oboesolo, two sopranos and two countertenorswhich was performed at the EvangelischeVersöhnungskirche, Ehrenfeld, Köln onDecember 15th.

Shane Hull writes: “Iwas offered theopportunity as a JohnLewis Partner to jointheir “Rock Choir” forthe day. The day inquestion was on theweekend of the 50th

anniversary of the Beatles Abbey Road Albumand the venue was the famous Abbey RoadStudios. The Choir met for the first time in themorning at a High School local to the studiosand rehearsed for a couple of hours, I sang arusty Alto.

Then we had a tour of the famousStudios which are not open to the generalpublic, before a further two hours rehearsal inStudio 1, which is the largest recording studioin the world.We then recorded a 4 track E.P. –

two songs, once accompanied by piano andthen full backing track, A Little Help from myfriends by The Beatles (which was very apt)and This Is Me from “The Greatest Showman.”

OTHER NOTESLead us, Lord…It has been a greatprivilege and joy overthese last months tobe Acting Precentor atLeicester Cathedral.One of the lovelythings about this busyrole is the requirementand opportunity toattend and cantor for Choral Evensong on aregular basis. I have been moved many timesby the music offered, and it has been lovely tohear pieces so familiar to me I know them byheart as well as encountering so much newmusic. I have greatly enjoyed witnessing thegrowth in confidence and competence of ouryoungest singers, taking their first steps asmembers of the choir, and this has remindedme of my own journey. I joined a church choirat about the same age as our new recruits andone of the pieces I know so well from my earlytime as a chorister is ‘Lead me, Lord’ by S.S.Wesley with words from Psalms 4 and 5: ‘Leadme, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness; makethy way plain before my face. For it is thou,Lord, thou, Lord only, that makest me dwell insafety.’ I’m sure many of you reading this aresinging it in your head as you read thosewords! When the Junior Girls sang this a fewweeks ago in Leicester, it took me right backto being a young chorister in my small church

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in Scotland with a choir consisting of lots ofgirls on the top line supported by a very fewvoices on the back row. Despite ourconstrained resources, we sang simpleanthems like ‘Lead me, Lord’, we led theservice singing on a Sunday morning, we tookpart in RSCM ‘Meet, Eat and Sing’ events andonce in a while we went on a big trip to aRSCM Festival to sing Evensong in one of theScottish Cathedrals. Singing ‘Let all the world’by Vaughan Williams with 125 other singersfrom all over Scotland in St. Mary’s Cathedralin Edinburgh is one of the defining moments ofmy childhood. Being a member of a churchchoir taught me about teamwork and trust,improved my musicianship and musical skills,and slowly but surely led me to learn aboutGod and to allow the seeds of faith to take rootin my heart. There is so much Scripture anddoctrine contained in the words of anthemsand hymns and so much rich learning to begained through travelling chorally through theChurch year that it is unsurprising that manypeople who go on to realise a vocation toChristian ministry started out in the ranks of aChurch choir. On reflection, becoming achorister at the age of 7 has turned out to beone of the most important decisions of my life!The God of whom the psalmist spoke all thoseages ago has indeed led me in righteousnessand made the way plain before my face, anddaily I continue to learn to dwell in the safetyof eternal relationship with God as I sing thesong only I can sing. May it be so for all of us,of any age, who lift our voices to God in choirslarge and small.

Canon Emma Davies

(From the 1st July for up to a year, CanonJohannes Arens was temporarily releasedfrom his duties as Canon Precentor in order towork within the De Montfort UniversityChaplaincy as Christian Faith Adviser. He is stillliving adjacent to the Cathedral, praying withthe Cathedral staff regularly during the weekand is around on Sundays to participate inworship at the Cathedral or out in the Diocese,assisting where needs arise. In the meantime,Canon Emma, Team Vicar in the Avon SwiftBenefice, is acting as Canon Precentor.)

Leicester Cathedral Revealed - What mayhappen during the proposed building

works.

The Dean published the following update inNovember 2019:

“The Chapter and LCRPlanning Team havebegun to think furtherabout the implications todaily life and worship inthe cathedral during ourproposed building works.

When work firstbegins, the Old SongSchool will be demolished

and we will dig down to create the foundationsand basement of the new Heritage andLearning Centre. This work may take up toabout 6 months and will require an activeinvolvement of archaeologists. During this firstphase the majority of the cathedral will remainunaffected bar perhaps hoarding at the eastend of the Great South Aisle and disruption for‘backstage’.

Following this work it is likely that wewill begin both on the new build as well as therestoration and renewal of the majority of theexisting cathedral. During this phase only theChapel of Christ the King, the Ambulatory andSt Katharine’s Chapel with be available withrestricted access via the little door ontoGuildhall Lane. We currently plan that dailymidweek prayers in the morning and eveningwill take place in the Chapel of Christ the King.Lunchtime Eucharist may take place in a yurtor a tent which would be located in CathedralGardens. This new space may also createopportunity to plan additional events orservices and might provide us with creativeopportunities.

The outline current plan for Sundays willbe to use the Chapel of Christ the King for 8amHoly Communion and the 10.30am will takeplace in the Grand Hall of St Martins House.There will not normally be an afternoon servicebut we hope to plan a series taking theCathedral Choir out to churches in the dioceseto sing Services.

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We are also beginning to plan agathering in the springtime when we’d like asmany as possible from our community togather and reflect together on how best wecan continue to build our life and grow in faithduring this time of significant change. We’llpublish details as soon as they are firmed up.Please note that in a project of this scalethings need to shift around. So whilst we areconfident in sharing this now, we may have tomake further amendments as we get intoplanning the detail. If you have any worries orconcerns, please do ask me or any of mycolleagues.”

You will all remember that there is astained glass window depicting St Martin andthe beggar in the Old Song School in memoryof Sydney Rudge, the assistant organist atLeicester Cathedral from 1947 to 1967

We understand that this window will bepreserved until it can be installed in its newlocation.

ALDERMAN GABRIEL NEWTONEducational Foundation

On Sunday 27th October, the annual wreath-laying ceremony in memory of AldermanGabriel Newton took place in front of the altarby members of the Old Newtonians’Association during the Cathedral Eucharist. Weare grateful to Mr Peter Kilty for providing thefollowing background to Gabriel’s life.

Gabriel Newton was born in 1683 anddied in 1762, a remarkable life span for the18th century. He was a wool comber by tradeand then became the landlord of The Horseand Trumpet. An astute business man, hiswealth further grew from his three marriages.Sadly each of his wives died as did his children.When his beloved son George died, Gabrielrealised that there were to be no heirs to hiswealth but out of tragedy was born an idea.Gabriel Newton, Alderman and Mayor in 1732,was to have thousands of heirs and I am one.

In his will, Gabriel left his wealth tofound a school for poor boys. The GreencoatSchool started in 1785. Each boy had to learnthe 3 R's and the Athanasian Creed and had afree uniform including a green coat The schoolbecame known as Alderman Newton's Schooland by the end of the 19th century wasfunctioning as a technical school gettinggovernment grants for its scientific education.

Under the 1901 Education Act, theschool became a grammar school. A girls'grammar school was set up in 1920. Theseschools gave bright children from ordinarybackgrounds the chance to excel. Two headsof Cambridge colleges went to AldermanNewton's as well as many business andprofessional people in this city and beyond.The boys' and girls' schools eventuallycombined as a comprehensive which closed in1999 although Gabriel Newton's legacy lives onin the Alderman Newton's EducationalFoundation which gives grants to localstudents in further and higher education.

Gabriel's motto underneath his coat ofarms is Non sibi sed posteris – “Not for oneselfbut for those who come after”. This is

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something that Gabriel Newton followed and itis a motto we all can heed in dealing with thisfragile planet and looking after the nextgeneration. Gabriel Newton is more than astatue on the Clock Tower. His is a livinglegacy and one that personally altered my life.An Old Newtonian Remembers

It was a cool but brightterm time morning,probably a Tuesday.Wearing our distinctivegreen blazers, we werestanding on the ‘out ofbounds’ side of PeacockLane. If Mr Balance,our headmaster, hadlooked out of his studywindow he would

probably have seen us, but nothing wouldhave been said. This was one of the perks ofbeing both a chorister and a pupil of AldermanNewton’s Boys’ School. We would have leftschool half way through lesson 1; causingconsiderable disruption because 30 desks werea very tight fit in the ground floor rooms ofwhat is now St Martins House. We had sincewandered next door to the Song School,robed, and then sung an Assize Service. Wewould not have been welcome if we hadcaused more chaos by rejoining a lesson halfway through, so we were now officially freeuntil the next lesson change. We were inpolite conversation with an absolutelyimmaculate police motorcyclist, I had beenadmiring his equally well polished machine andwe were waiting to see the high court judge,Lord Lieutenant, chief constable and otherdignitaries drive past on their way to LeicesterCastle. Nobody seemed to mind.

On another occasion, we were able toeat an early lunch (our dining hall was in 21 StMartins), collect our robes from the SongSchool, saunter down to St Margaret’s Church,sing a 20 minute funeral service and be back inthe school playground before the start ofafternoon school at 2 o’clock. At a shilling aminute and almost no rehearsal time, that wasmy most lucrative ever engagement!

Sometimes our two worlds cametogether and life felt a bit more complicated.

Our Maths master was Rev. Thomas Pickering.He described himself as a ‘preacher of no fixedabode’ and would sometimes preach at Matinsin the Cathedral. He always promised to takeone minute off our homework for every minutethat he strayed past 15 minutes of preachingtime. Not once did we ever catch him out! Itwas also strange to be in one of Mr Thomas’German lessons on a Friday (in room 33,behind the window which is high up in thegable of St Martins House) and then travelhome with him in Mr Hamer’s car a few dayslater.

More recently, just last September, anold classmate and I were able to stand in whatis now known as ‘The Great Hall’ of St MartinsHouse. We admired the redecorated roofbeams from which we used to hang stagelighting for school productions and also stoodin the room next door, on the very spot whereour desk had been. Across the road, at whatis now The King Richard III Visitor’s Centre, wefound the subtle changes in brickwork wherethe door to our Year 8 registration room is nomore and pondered a while in the room whichwe had known as The Lower School Hall and isnow the Education Room. Isn’t it wonderfulthat the building is still being used for itsoriginal, educational, purpose so many yearson? I wonder if the bust of Sir Gabriel stilllurks on the wall behind the present day liftshaft. I expect he’d be pleased.

Nick BasfordNotes

The City of LeicesterConstabulary ceased tobe a separate entity in1967, while changes inlegislation brought anend to the assizes andassize services in 1971.

Our association knows ofa few other formerchoristers who attendedthe school namely SirAlan Walters (former Financial Adviser toMargaret Thatcher), David Bishop, AndrewLong, David Fisher and Spencer Basford. MrCyril Thomas, who taught German at theschool, also sang tenor in the Sunday Eveningchoir and Richard Scarth also mainly sang

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tenor in the choir during his time as MusicMaster at the school, although he oftendeputised for various missing singers andoccasionally conducted and accompanied onthe organ.

If you know of any others, do let us know.

The Cathedral choristers continue to benefitfrom the generosity of the EducationalFoundation through scholarships and grantstowards tours.

[The photographs of Nick Basford and David Fisher werefrom 1971 – a photograph of the Prefects at Alderman

Newton’s Boys’ School]

A truly distinguished army chaplain

Were thesurname Buck tobe mentioned inany number oforgan lofts or in“choirs andplaces wherethey sing”, itwould morelikely than notbe met withinstant recog-nition. For SirPercy CarterBuck (1871-1947), the oldest

of six sons of William Richard and AliceEmmeline (née Wilson) Buck, of West Ham,Essex, was one of the most influentialmusicians of the early 20th century; and notonly in church and cathedral precincts. Bookson acoustics, the history, theory, andpsychology of music, were among an extensiveliterary output, while professorships at DublinUniversity (1910) and at The University ofLondon (1925-37) testified to his teachingprowess. And how many budding organistshave not owed something to First Year at TheOrgan?; a hardy perennial in Stainer & Bell’s(publishers) catalogue. Best known and loved,however - the tune itself, if not its name orthat of its composer, is the wonderfullyuplifting Gonfalon Royal; Percy’s setting of thefaith-affirming “The Royal Banners forward go”from his 14 hymn tunes published in 1913

during his directorship of music at HarrowSchool, which sounds remarkably fresh andmodern, even today. The tune may be betterrecalled nowadays as used for Advent’s “Andart thou come with us to dwell?”.

Such observations serve simply as aprelude to the central figure of my essay;Percy’s youngest brother, Cyril Bernard WilsonBuck; born 1st June 1880. Cyril followed Percyinto the Merchant Taylors’ School London, anddisplayed considerable sporting ability and flairalmost from the start. He was a member ofthe School’s (Rugby football) First XV for foursuccessive seasons, captaining in 1897-98 and1898-99; this last, being his final year atSchool and one in which he also won a silvermedal for gymnastics. He read history atTrinity College Oxford, graduating B.A. in1907, before entering Cuddesdon TheologicalCollege in Oxford to spend the next two yearsstudying for the Anglican ministry. On leavingCuddesdon he moved to Birmingham to beginan enduring association with the CathedralChurch of St. Philip and where, according toThe Times and possibly combining the roles ofspiritual guide and teacher, “he devotedhimself to important work among boys at theCathedral House".

Ordination in 1910 brought immediateappointments as Chaplain and OrganisingSecretary to the Birmingham Street Boys’Union, (sometimes shown as “Children’sUnion”); posts he retained until 1914 whilesimultaneously serving as Curate on the staffof Birmingham Cathedral until 1913 and of St.Mary’s Selly Oak, Birmingham, for a furtheryear. He was appointed Temporary Chaplainto The Forces (4th class) on May 17th 1916 witha rank equivalent to captain, as were all armypadres on receiving their commission. He wasposted to France and attached to 1st/5th

Battalion Leicestershire Regiment almostcertainly with immediate effect; i.e. from May1916, although some sources date hisattachment from 1st November.

Padre Buck soon came to be esteemedthroughout the 1st/5th “Leicesters”, conductingdaily services while under fire, often literally atthe closest possible quarters. His contributionto Battalion morale was recognised inDecember 1917 with his name appearing in asupplement to Sir Douglas Haig’s despatch of

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7th November listing those “deserving ofspecial mention”. This, however, was not theonly instance of The Reverend C.B.W. Buckbeing recognised for his sterling service. Everone to remain alongside his men, disregardingpersonal safety, he was with the 1st/5th

Battalion for one of their most decisivecontributions to the fighting on The WesternFront, helping to breach the hitherto seeminglyimpregnable Hindenburg Line.

As part of 46th North Midland Division,the 1st/5th’s attack on the shattered village ofPontruet in September 1918 fell within whathistory now records as “The Battles of The 100Days”. Launched at 5 a.m. on the 24th, troopsencountered far stiffer opposition thanexpected, including snipers, while dense andlingering fog also impeded progress until theBattalion was temporarily withdrawn. BySeptember 29th, however, with operationshaving moved on and now with tanks insupport, the crossing of the St. Quentin Canalwas comparatively straightforward. Ultimateobjectives such as Bellenglise, KnobkerryRidge, and Magny, were secured towards duskon the 29th. But the casualty toll was nowsignificantly higher, many being sustained asthe “Leicesters” stood in exposed positionssome 600 yards beyond Magny, awaiting re-enforcements from 39th Division.

A unit from The IXth Tank Battalion hadbeen hit and burst into flames at much thesame time, drawing down an increasinglyintense artillery bombardment from the nearbyheights of Le Tronquoy onto men andmachines alike. One crewmember from theblazing tank, though seriously incapacitated,crawled to the Regimental Aid Post set up in asunken road by the Medical Officer (M.O.),Captain Jack, and The Reverend Buck in mid-afternoon. And it was from here that thePadre sprang forward, disregarding theshellfire and the gas, hoping to rescue or atleast be able to comfort the remaining tankcrew still trapped within the inferno. But hewas hit multiple times, almost immediately,and died within the hour at the very R.A.P. hehad just helped to establish; “conscious to thelast, but not in great pain”.

His instinct for knowing where help wasneeded typified the man and neither, clearly,was there ever a reluctance to come

forward. Around noon on the 29th, forexample, he materialised through the mist atjust the right moment, weighed down withrations, “very hot and very angry at beingshelled”. Reflecting on the incident, CaptainJ.D. Hills, chronicler of the 1st/5th wrote: “It isimpossible to imagine what we should havedone without runners, signallers, or batmen, tosay nothing of the food”. Warmer still was theCaptain’s appreciation of the Padre’s sense ofduty and that of the M.O. alongside whom heremained throughout the action againstPontruet on September 24th, “though theirvalley was almost continuously shelled andnever entirely free from gas. The devotedwork these two did that day is beyonddescription and too great for praise”. Payingtribute to the 38-year-old Padre, Captain Hillsnoted that during all his time with the Battalion“there was never a trench or outpost that hehad not visited, no matter how dangerous orexposed. He had been Officer Commandinggames, recreation room, and often MessPresident: a thorough sportsman and a bravesolider. We felt his loss keenly”.

The Reverend Buck’s gallantry wasrecognised in the posthumous award of theMilitary Cross in March 1919 with the citationreading: “For conspicuous gallantry anddevotion to duty at Pontruet during the attackon the village on 24th September 1918. Heworked all day at the R.A.P. under heavyshellfire, helping the Medical Officer, carryingstretchers, cheering the wounded, and givinginvaluable assistance. On 29th September1918 he was killed during operations aroundthe St. Quentin Canal, north of Bellenglise. Hebehaved splendidly”.

Paying his own tribute in a letter to thedeceased’s parents, then living in Ewell,Surrey, his Colonel wrote; “I cannot yet realisethat we have really lost the dear Padre, whowas always so helpful and cheerful. He was agreat favourite with the men”. Captain TheReverend C.B.W. Buck M.C., Chaplain to 1st/5th

Bn. Leicestershire “Tigers” Regiment, nowrests in Busigny Communal CemeteryExtension in northern France.

Roy-Anthony Birch

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ROSIE VINTER

Leicester Cathedral isdelighted toannounce theappointment ofRosie Vinter to thepost of AssistantDirector of Music andHead of MusicOutreach. Rosie iscurrently Organ

Scholar at Lichfield Cathedral and GraduateMusic Assistant at Lichfield Cathedral School.She is an Associate of the Royal College ofOrganists and has degrees from ChichesterUniversity and the London College of Music.

Christopher Ouvry-Johns, Director ofMusic at Leicester Cathedral, said: “Rosie’sskill-set and experience areas close a match forthis post as we could have hoped to find. Sheis a highly proficient organist, conductor andsinger and, most importantly, has aninstinctive understanding of education and anability to establish a rapport with youngsingers, which will be invaluable, both in theclassrooms of our DioSing! schools and in herwork with the choristers and Young Songmenat Leicester Cathedral. I look forward verymuch to welcoming her to the departmentafter the summer holidays.”

Emma Davies, Acting Canon Precentorof Leicester Cathedral, said: “We’re absolutelydelighted that Rosie will be joining our musicdepartment here at Leicester Cathedral. Theconsiderable skills, talent and experience thatshe brings will be enormously valuable to ourmusic team and will enable us to build on anddevelop the good musical work that we haveundertaken here. We very much look forwardto welcoming Rosie in September.

”Speaking about her appointment, Rosiesaid: “I am delighted to be joining LeicesterCathedral as Assistant Director of Music andHead of Music Outreach, and cannot wait tobegin working with the Cathedral musicdepartment and local schools in September.Prior to this appointment, I studied Theologyand Music at Chichester University, and MusicPerformance at the London College of Music. Ihave since been teaching music at AbbotsBromley School and Lichfield Cathedral School,

and have held posts as organ scholar atChelmsford Cathedral, Temple Church andLichfield Cathedral.”

FEDERATION OF CATHEDRAL OLDCHORISTERS’ ASSOCIATIONS

The 2019 AGM together with the other day’sevents were hosted by the Lichfield CathedralAssociation on 11th May. I was sorry not to beable to attend with having family connectionswith the Cathedral but very glad that Revd.Canon John Craig offered to be our associationrepresentative. John has now moved toLichfield and is an old chorister of theCathedral, as well as being one of our VicePresidents, so he was wearing two hats on thisoccasion.

Members were able to register for theday in the Old Stables in the close and bewelcomed by the Dean, the Very Revd AdrianDorber, before having a tour of the Cathedral.Lunch and the AGM were then held in the OldStables followed by tea and biscuits. The choirfor Choral Evensong was made up of membersof the Lichfield association and otherassociation delegates directed by Arnold Wills(Peterborough) and Nigel Argust on the organ.The setting of the canticles was Sumsion in Gand the anthem, I will lift up my eyes byWalker.

The federation had not been invitedback to Lichfield since they hosted the AGM in1984 and the festival in 1971 and so memberswere pleased to be back after a long absence.Thanks were expressed to Francis Bunch formaking the arrangements.

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The 2019 annual festival was hostedby the Portsmouth Cathedral Association from21st to 23rd June. The federation had onlyvisited Portsmouth on one other previousoccasion and that was in 2012 for the day ofthe AGM so it was a first for the festival. Dianaand I were the only delegates attending fromLeicester this year and we took the opportunityof booking a few extra days in our hotel as thecity has so much to offer and we enjoyedbeing at the Cathedral which boasts that it isthe only one beside the sea! On one of ourfree days before the festival, we travelled onthe hovercraft to the Isle of Wight and met upfor the day with Charles Paterson and hiswife Susan, Tom Jackson and ChristineTipple, our three association members livingon the island.

On the Friday afternoon afterregistration, there was a very interesting talkentitled “Then and Now” by the former andcurrent organists, Anthony Froggatt and DavidPrice, charting the development and progressof the music foundation since the 1970’s. Aftertea and an open rehearsal, choral evensongtook place with the music being ReadingResponses, Second Service and the anthem“Consider, all ye passers by” by John Amner.Supper was then provided in the SquareTower, built in 1494 during the reign of HenryVII, and is among the earliest stonefortifications in the city. The service ofCompline sung by the Lay Clerks and ChoralScholars brought the first day to a close.

Saturdaybegan with aharbour tourfollowed by“Seafood on theGreen” for lunchrun by the choirassociation. Backinside theCathedral in the

afternoon,international

organist DavidBriggs gave arecital entitled

“The Art of Transcription”. David is currentlyArtist-in-Residence at the church of St John the

Divine in New York City. He has held a numberof positions in Cathedrals and performs morethan 50 concerts a year worldwide. Hisprogramme began with Final from the OrganSymphony by Saint-Saens transcribed by Davidin 1998 and finished by Improvisation on atheme proposed by the audience. In betweenwere pieces by Vivaldi (transcribed by Bach),Wagner (arr. By Lemare) and Ravel(transcribed by David in 2017). After tea in theCathedral House and rehearsals, ChoralEvensong was sung by the Cathedral Choirsand federation delegates. The music was Roseresponses, Dyson in D and The Spirit of theLord by Elgar.

The evening banquet was held at theRoyal Naval and Royal Albert Yacht Club whenthe guest speaker was the Right Revd. GraemeKnowles, Precentor of Portsmouth 1981-87,Archdeacon of Portsmouth 1993-99, Dean ofCarlisle 1999-2003, Bishop of Sodor and Man2003-07 and Dean of St Paul’s 2007-11. Gracewas sung to a setting by Sachin Gunga, theSub-Organist.

On Sunday morning, delegates wereagain invited to join the Cathedral Choir asbaritones during the singing of Widor’s MesseSolennelle at the Sung Eucharist. The anthemwas O sacrum convivium by Gabriel Jackson.After this service, the festival was brought to aformal conclusion with sherry/coffee farewell.For those staying overnight, there was theopportunity to attend Choral Evensong and tohear Rose responses, the Three Choirs Serviceby Chilcott and “This is the record of John” byIves.

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As an aside, Peter Gould, who was aprevious Director of Music at Derby Cathedraland who retired back to Portsmouth a fewyears ago, had helped organise the festival.His duties included handing out our boat triptickets and being with us on the trip, and alsoconducting the Widor Baritones in the MesseSolennelle on the Sunday morning. It wastherefore nice to meet up with him as well.

The 2020 AGM will be hosted by theRochester Association on 9th May and theannual festival by the Chester Associationfrom 11th to 13th September. Full details will besent out when available. [CANCELLED]

The post of editor of the Once A Choristermagazine is still vacant and we were indebtedto the Chairman who once again produced the2019 edition.

Richard BeltonAssociation Representative

LCOCA AGM – REPORT

The Association’s 2019 AGM was held onThursday 7th November, a later date than usualwhile the appointment of an associationsecretary had been pending. Of which, moreanon. Members first attended Choral Evensong- responses by Ayleward, canticles Dyson in F,psalm 138 (chant by Atkins), anthem Lord, letme know mine end by Greene. We thenadjourned to the upper room at The Globe Inn.The latter proudly claims to be the oldest pubin Leicester, sadly, the gas lights were not litfor us on this occasion.

Graham Wright welcomed thosepresent, giving a special welcome to SimonMold and Amanda Fitchett who had expressedtheir willingness to become joint associationsecretaries and were appointed to this postduring the course of the meeting. Grahamprayed for the future of the association andalso remembered Canon Derek Goodman,Colin Tipple, John Lees and Jack Clay, who haddied since the last AGM.

The usual annual business wassuccessfully concluded, and had included adiscussion of the past, present and future ofthe medals worn by Leicester Cathedralchoristers over the years. The silver andenamel medals originally worn by the headboys of Decani and Cantoris date back to theconsecration of the cathedral over 90 yearsago. How many young singers have wornthose medals, and how many of you readingthese words did so?

Graham closed the meeting with aprayer, Old Choristers attending bade theirfond farewells and then the committee heldanother meeting. It was strange to be makingmy way home at that time of the evening. OnFriday nights in days gone by we would havehad the town centre pretty much to ourselves,and the nights were dark enough to discoverwhose torch could shine a beam of lightfurthest up the cathedral tower. These days,the city was still humming with activity, and asbright as day!

Nick Basford, Minutes Secretary

P.S. The winner of the most powerful torchcompetition was Jonathan Lee, using anexample powered by six ’U2’ batteries (nowknown as ‘C cells.) No doubt it would now beconsidered an offensive weapon!

LCOCA REUNION – REPORT

The 2019 Association Reuniontook place on Sunday 8th

September, was based on ChoralEvensong at 3:00 pm andcombined with theCommissioning of Diocesan

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Board of Education Governors. The sermonwas preached by the Bishop, who masterfullyreferred to both organisations in his talk. Thiswas the first time that your reporter had seenthe new cathedra actually occupied. Theservice was sung by the Senior Girls andSongmen of the Cathedral Choir, joined bythose members of the association who felt ableto. Responses were by Rose, canticles wereWalmisley in D minor and the anthem And Isaw a new heaven by Bainton. The OldTestament Lesson was read by StephenAdshead, Chair of the Diocesan Board ofEducation, the New Testament lesson by amember of our association.

All the choristers’ presentations tookplace before the singing of the anthem. Thepresentations of hymnbook awards to thosewho have completed their time as Boy andJunior Girl Choristers were made by The Revd.Canon Emma Davies, Acting CanonPrecentor, to Hattie Brooks, OliviaBurgess, Luca Calardo-Cooper, ArwenDawson and Imogen Wood.

The Acting Precentor and the Director ofMusic then made presentations of theAssociation Book Awards to James Cowen,Harry Duffin, Sarah Headley and DarcieFurniss.

Next came the scholarships awarded bythe Dr George Gray Memorial Trust, presentedby David Briers, Chairman of the Trust,please see the Trust report for further details.

The Acting Precentor and the Director ofMusic presented the Cathedral MusicFoundation Scholarships, which were awardedas follows:Darcie Furniss towards the cost of a newviolaAndrew Clarke for piano lessonsTom Good for various instrumental lessonsJames Upton for singing lessonsJonathan Leeming for organ lessonsVictoria Malone for audition costs at musiccollegesDamien Hollis for piano lessons

The anthem, sermon and the hymn, O Jesus, Ihave promised, provided a natural break inproceedings before the Diocesan Board ofEducation part of the service and thecommissioning of foundation school governors.

The service ended with the hymn, Now thankwe all our God and the organ voluntary, Finalfrom Symphony No. 1 in D minor by Vierne, afine rendition by David Cowen, Cathedralassociate organist.

All present then adjourned to theCathedral Great South Aisle for refreshments.

Nick Basford

ORGAN RECITALS 2019

I was fortunate to be Front of House for mostof the recitals at the Summer Organ Festivaland what a joy they were. A splendid variety oforganists were on offer with an even widerrange of music and each player demonstratingtheir skills and the capabilities of the organ toperfection. Strangely, we can never guesswhat persuades folks to come into the centreof Leicester on a summer evening.

• David Price [Portsmouth Cathedral]• Paul Provost [Southwell Minster]• D’Arcy Trinkwon [Concert Organist]• Rachel Mahon [Coventry Cathedral]• James Davy [Chelmsford Cathedral]

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• Christopher Totney [Devizes]• Keith Wright [St Olave’s, York]• David Cowen [Leicester Cathedral]

Being Front of Housefor most of therecitals I always madethe effort but I feelthe intense heat andon one occasiontorrential rain mayhave kept some athome. There were somany felicities that tosingle any out wouldbe invidious but Ireally enjoyed RachelMahon [Assistant

Director of Music at Coventry Cathedral] notjust because of her technique and command ofthe instrument but we were treated to tworemarkably innovative works [by Gerald Balesand Rachel Laurin] which I am sure have neverbeen played on that organ. She also had tocope with the rain which with the drummingon the roof literally drowned out her quieterpassages!D’Arcy Trinkwon[Virtuoso ConcertOrganist] displayedintegrated organskills of the highestorder in that we wereable to appreciate thesensuous nature andgrandeur of themusic throughout hisprogramme but especially in a bravura accountof his own arrangement of Liszt Funérailles.Buxtehude’s Passacaglia was a superb choicein that it was played with such sensitivitybecause D’Arcy’s evident experience andknowledge of northern German Baroqueorgans enhanced the piece by his authenticuse of stops appropriate to the period.

James Davy [Organist andMaster of the Choristers atChelmsford Cathedral] gave ussome surprises in hisprogramme. Calvin Hampton’s“Lullaby” was utterly beautifulbut I was especially taken by

the clarity of his articulation in Bach’s Preludeand Fugue in C minor and the inventiveness ofhis registrations of the Langlais and theTournemire.ChristopherTotney’s commandof the instrument andhis technical prowessare impressive but Iparticularly appre-ciated the structure ofhis programme withthe well-thought-outHoly Week and Eastersection. It was superto hear him using thetuba in all its brilliance in Nicholas Choveaux’The Resurrection. Some recitalists seemnervous about using it!This is only a small overview of an impressiveFestival and I do encourage more OldChoristers to get to the cathedral, listen togreat players on an instrument you know sowell, and meet the organist afterwards withfree drinks and snacks.

David Fisher

The “Archdeacon’s Court” (as it was labelled on the19th Century photograph) in the Great South Aisle.

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LUNCHTIME RECITALS 2019The photo below is of Emma Trounsonaccompanied by David Cowen showing howwell attended the lunchtime recitals have been.

There were many stunning recitals to enjoy atthe cathedral over the year. I wasn’t able toget to as many as I wanted but it was good tohear the remarkable voice of Rosie Vinteraccompanied by Chris Ouvry-Johns in arousing selection of famous First and SecondWorld War and inter war songs. A beautifulselection and I was particularly captivated by“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” aswell as the more rousing numbers like “It’s along way to Tipperary” and brilliant rendition ofGershwin’s “Blah, Blah, Blah”.

David Cowen accompanied EmmaTrounson in Simon Mold’s very poignant InMemoriam which was sung on RemembranceDay proper. Genuinely moving and giventouching performances, Emma and David havenow recorded the song cycle on CD which isavailable on the Heritage Label and the CDalso includes more pieces by Simon suing byStephen Cooper [baritone] accompanied byPaul Provost.

A surprise to me was the recital by two peopleI have come to know well through music.Harvey Nightingale [baritone] and TorBridge [piano] gave a stunning song recital inwhich the range and breadth of Harvey’s voicewas perfectly matched in impeccableaccompaniments by Tor.

[The photograph of Tor and Harvey is on thenext page]

Especially fine were French songs performedwith true Gallic style and impressivepronunciation. Harvey, who studied at NewCollege Oxford and sang in the choir there, willhave sung the part of Richard III in the firstconcert performance of my Richard III: Out ofthe Deep with Leicestershire Chorale by thetime this newsletter reaches you. [That concertwas postponed] More of this next year alongwith news of the services and special eventswhich will have marked the fifth anniversary ofthe reinterment of King Richard III in March2020.

David Fisher

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A SUMMARY OF CHOIR NEWS

During the last committee meeting ChrisOuvry-Johns gave a brief summary of recentchanges in the Cathedral Music Department.He reported that, after a challenging timecaused by staff shortages during 2019, a newteam is now in place including Rosie Vinterwho has been appointed Assistant Director ofMusic. Rosie, Chris said, particularly lovesworking with the beginners and recruited fournew boys and five new girls to the choir at hervery first ‘Be a chorister for a day’ event whichallows him more time to concentrate on themore advanced singers.

David Cowen, the cathedral’s AssociateOrganist, has been taking on a larger roleaccompanying services but is also able to takerehearsals on occasion. Each team member,Chris feels, has their own enthusiasm andspecial skills, but each is able to cover for theothers as need arises.

The department also has a newadministrator who is making great strides withthe organisation and a member of staff fromLeicestershire County Council has taken over

work in four schools from Chris.The junior girls are gaining confidence

and the choir has a good back row, with onemember of the latter going to WorcesterCathedral on a gap year choral scholarship.Three members of the back row also sing withprestigious Leicestershire Chorale as ChoralScholars.

The committee was enthused aboutChris’s positivity about music at the cathedraland his positive excitement at his plans for thefuture.

ANOTHER ARCHIVE PHOTOOF ST MARTIN’S CHURCH

This photograph follows several of the C19thphotos of St Martin’s which you have seen inthe last two LCOCA newsletters and here is avery unusual view of the inner South Aisle fullof pews at right angles to the nave. There isan interesting candelabrum on the left andmany more pews in the Great South Aisle. Itdoes not look very conducive for choir andclergy processions.

A REMINDER

Please contact…lcoca.secretary@gmail.com

…if you have any news, photos or otherinformation you wish to pass on for the2020 LCOCA Newsletter or our Archives.

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ANARCHIVEPHOTO

This photo-graph seemsto have adoubleexposure butthat is onlybecause it wastaken throughglass. It showsthe building ofthe ChoirGallery in the1930s and isbefore theorgan wasinstalled soone can seethree windows– two at theend of thenorth aisle anda north westclerestorywindow –which are nowobscured. Thecarpenter onthe left seemsunaware ofsafety proce-dures perchedas he is on aplank betweentwo A-frameladders.

On the bottom left of the front cover there is adrawing of the cathedral taken from aChristmas card designed for and sent by thebell ringing team. Kindly loaned by MaryWhittaker, she and I reckon that it must havebeen the 1950s. The message on the inside ofthe card is reproduced here. Does anyonewhich year and who the artist was?