Drastic change

The choir party with Louise Sage and Fr Adrian 

Reading the Christmas letters up to 2003 there is nothing but progress with choirs flourishing at Our Lady's. Fr Gary was replaced as assistant by Fr Adrian. There is no sense of impending crisis which came on Good Friday 2004. I need to be careful what I write. Our new priest did have some good features. I liked having lectio divine on the gospel at the start of liturgy meetings. His changes of mood were very difficult to cope with especially just before Mass or immediately afterwards. Actually clergy should NEVER change things at the last moment. There is seldom a good reason for this. One example will suffice although I should have spotted the signs much earlier. Shrove Tuesday we entertained at home with brandy pancakes and all was sweetness and light. The very next evening  I was informed that the choir was not wanted at Ash Wednesday. We always sang at the evening Mass. That he lost it and reprimanded me in front of a full church on Good Friday was appalling. Somehow we got through the Vigil and Easter day. The following Wednesday he demanded that I resign which I refused to do. I was extremely upset. Liz was never consulted. Both choirs were finished. After 19 years of unremitting service I had lost my parish and a huge part of my life. A stormy AGM and appeals to the bishop made no difference. Sadly people I had encouraged to become Catholics never went back to Mass. Barry Williams gave me the best advice which was to remove all my music. Amazingly I kept going to Mass although Liz often left in tears. We toured local ch urches and the liturgy was dire no music or indifferent, poor preaching. Richard Moth was one priest who enquired about me. Do not forget I was very well-known in the deanery.
I have today 30/4/20 destroyed all the paperwork. It has taken a long time to come to doing this. I also wrote to the priest concerned about 4 years ago and pointed out that I was to be his host at a Catenian function and it was time to bury the hatchet. He replied immediately. At least we now greet each other and he is retired. I have returned to Mass at Addiscombe quite calmly.

Digital organ

Chorus tributes to Joyce Reah

P.1076 we sang Bairstow's Cradle song at Christmas 1996.p.1083 I applied for Tooting library but did not get it. Dad rewrote the wedding anthem a tone down.p.1085 Runcie biography by Humphrey Carpenter.I think the Archbishop was indescreet. Ffrench-Beytagh mentioned. P.1087 Bruce had a growth on his leg. P.1091 video of York Minster. P.1093 dad sent a copy of the Walter Webber Tuba tune on Lobe den Herren which I played at the mayoral service at St Mark's.

 Adult choir was in good shape . We built a repertoire which we all knew for big services e.g. gathering Mass, Inwood communion song, Jones Gloria. In June 1996 Stephen Haylett was ordained a Catholic priest at St George's cathedral. He had been an Anglican priest and did his diaconate at Addiscombe. Very musical person.

In 1996 Joyce Reah died in November and I played for the funeral at Surbiton Catholic church. It was the only time I played the piano at Gandhi Hall! Faure Requiem. We all loved her. I was on the Parish council at Our Lady's purely advisory.  I sang the tenor solos in a liturgical Mozart requiem at St John's and played during the flower festival. Simon Lole welcomed us to G CM weekend at Sheffield cathedral.

Parsifal in Birmingham with Simon Rattle

Medieval banquet St John's

 RSCM leave Addington Palace

The hilarious Howard Thomas after singing at the RSCM summer course at Canterbury cathedral

Addiscombe

The magnificent window in the organ gallery

Page 208 Confirmation at Addiscombe. I guess the trombone was Neville Squires who played for me several times. Bruce was fascinated and started to learn the trombone later. The choir at Our Lady's was directed by Mary Endacott. Some were elderly but we did have some youngers singers. Tony Potter led the basses. At that stage we sat in the gallery with the pipe organ at the side. The choir had been founded in 1948 by Mrs Moynihan and her grandson Paul was MC. At that time the Mass was followed by a Mass in Polish and a little old gentleman arrived to play for it. The first time I saw the church was when Fr Farmer gave me a lift to Addington Palace and he was very dismissive - a load of old women. He had turned up for an ordination there and pushed the organist off the bench. Paul's father Tony had been organist bit went to St Mary's upon the changes from Latin. They still sang plainchant at St Mary's. We did Missa de angelis on the last Sunday of the month. 

1985

With Margaret (Peggy) Woodroffe many years later in Ireland she was one of the original members of the choir

P. 192 Mum and Dad stayed in Spa Hill and this worked really well. We played the organs of Hereford, Worcester and Salisbury cathedrals. Best of all Ralph Downes came to demonstrate the Royal Festival Hall organ and Dad asked if I could play! He was charming that day and showed us a Hill English sound! That night we sang the Missa with Giulini. Dad went to the Sons of the clergy p. 194. Dad mentions a recital by Ronald Frost in Hereford. I started to play at Our Lady of the Annunciation, Addiscombe. dad gave a recital there on 25th May with a collection for Ethiopia. Fr Farmer gave  the first recital there in 1974 pm the 2 manual Conacher which came from Hammersmith. I was initially asked to play for the 11.30 a.m. Mass. I never had a contract (a mistake!) just a letter from Monsignor John Moran. This fitted in well with St Margaret's. Later the problem was Easter and Midnight Mass!

25th October signed by Archbishop Michel Bowen and the brass players Roger Snewin, Neville Squires, Richard Riley, Nigel Brianbourne? Bob Duffield and singers R Barber. This was a combined effort with the folk choir and we finished with Trumpet coluntary

Page 198 mentions Broad Heath Elgar's birthplace and Chartwell also the Nicholson Singers under Michael Fleming at Salisbury with Chris Dowie at the organ. This was a regular Bank Holiday event for us and Michael took us all over the place! Mark Gordon Lennox was born 29 September 1985 - great joy! 17 June a lovely letter from Walter Macfarlane head of St John's. He mentions Alan Foden, John East, Michael Matthews, Stan Trollip, John Thing, Anthony Gear.

 From the chorus newsletter 1986 how the children saw us!

A letter to CMQ about visiting organs. I had an unhappy experience in Boscombe where we knew the choir director (She had been at St Chad's). Having spent an evening chatting to the parish priest about the new organ he refused to let me play it! I don't think it was published. 

I have a copy of my article for the Old Johnnian magazine and I mention Mum and Dad meeting Old Johannians at the London reunion. I sang Caspar in Amahl and the night visitors in 6 churches and every time it snowed! John East was directing the choir at St Etheldreda's Ely Place. 

Michael died 2006 his influence through RSCM and Nicholson Singers was enormous

Leaving

It is Holy Saturday 2017 and I have realised that not much writing has been going on! I am beginning to see that this story may have its difficult aspects. I have certainly had some disappointments amidst much love and joy and it will not be easy to recount them. Good Friday always bring back memories both of home and the dreadful end of 19 years at Our Lady of the Annunciation, Addiscombe and since then the sad end of much at Westminster cathedral. Strange that the Reproaches should have been the bone of contention! Or perhaps not! Being a Christian was never going to be easy.
I am now nearing recounting the departure from South Africa.I have tried to convey what my world was like. I was certainly somewhat naive and I needed to have my eyes opened. I was also obsessed with London and England reading the Listener every week from cover to cover and listening to BBC World service and seeing many films especially Ealing comedies. In fact I once spoke at a pre-Prom talk describing England as a golden land whereas in fact the 50s were pretty grim. The 70s saw much racism and discrimination. I was shocked by the comments I heard in the staff room in England - we would never have spoken like that in Johannesburg. Yes Afrikaans people might be overtly racist but it as rare to hear English speaking people be so racist. Well at least in the circles where I worked. In fact South Africans are usually very polite.
I did not want this story to be a diary or a travel log but I am afraid the blog format tends to make it like that!
Leaving home was a major step which had been well-planned. Mum always said she kicked me out of the nest. I doubt if I would  have become the man I am now if I had stayed in Johannesburg. I would probably have been a bachelor bringing washing home every Sunday! I knew very little about cooking and had been brought up on English roast dinners so how would I survive! I quickly learnt that what mattered was where you were sleeping and where you would eat. Sight-seeing came second exciting as it was! Ann was under strict instructions not to cry at the airport as I knew I would struggle not to cry myself! Harriet was in tears when I left. I know Dad really missed me at church and at home. But I knew I was doing the right thing. I had saved up living at home while at university and in the library for 3 years and I told the immigration people I had enough money to come home. I knew I had no intention of doing so. I also had a British passport and in fact let my South African one lapse. I was a dual citizen having arrived in 1947. I promised to write every week (as Dad did to York) and I kept my promise sending movies and tapes as well as letters.