Our Lady of the Assumption

Anna Russell returns

Somewhere along the line I appear to have omitted Warwick Street. This would have been in the months after we were married that we began to sing on Sundays at Our Lady of the Assumption a beautiful church now in the care of the Ordinariate. The date we joined was Nov 17th 1974. Before that we had been to various churches on Sunday and my remarks are often quite scathing about the choirs we heard Spanish Place, Farm St, Kensington.  There was a professional group but the director Frans Busuttil welcomed amateurs to boost the numbers. He loved Bruckner and we had some thrilling Masses with brass in the gallery with organ and choir. This all came to an end when we moved to South Norwood but we enjoyed it. Of course there was the inevitable juggling act with chorus but we were allowed to miss one conductor's rehearsal so that would be the Sunday morning one! I was often amused at how the tenors moved around between rehearsal and concert. It was said that you could not be heard if you sat in the back row of the chorus at the Festival hall.

Mr Pewa

The Rhodesian holiday was called a Flame Lily holiday and was based around one plane which flew from destination to destination. We flew over the Victoria Falls which was amazing and visited a crocodile farm. Kariba dam and Wankie reserve were impressive. We stayed at Troutbeck Inn after visiting Salisbury.
I have searched my diaries but cannot find a reference to the most important encounter which I have often recounted. Mr Pewa was the doyen of the library service highly respected by all and he in fact retired on my watch in 1971. He invited me to tea and I accepted. I struggled to drink tea with condensed milk! I asked how many lived in his 4 room house and he said 16. I was shocked and asked why. He said there was nowhere else for them to go. I said "Mr Pewa you will soon retire. We think you and your wife deserve a proper retirement." I went home and told Mum I could no longer live in this country where the elderly were not respected and denied privacy.
My eyes had been opened! I am very frank in my diary about the difficulties I was facing at work and express my relief on being asked to move to the music library as assistant to Shona Wallis. I knew her well as Maurice and I borrowed records and scores. It was indeed a happy year. Rudolf in the record library proved to be a tricky colleague - he was once attacked by an irate Italian and I suspect much of it was his fault! I became the youngest president ever of the Guild of Church Musicians and enjoyed my role.
I continued with my UNISA honours degree in English trying to balance the demands of work, church choir, church youth group,  concerts, organ practice including the Widor Toccata and friends. I mention several people and Lynette Stagg proved to be a good friend. On page 85 Dad describes passing his FTCL exam for which I turned the pages and advised on balance. Revd Peter Gordon died - a wonderful preacher and kind man. I still have books his wife Ann gave me.
By the end of 1971 I was getting ready to leave recording Anna Russell on cassettes to take with me and noting good films and books. I gave Death in Venice an A. In September I went to see "Othello" at St John's a bold move by Walter Andrewes. I gave it B+ and commented that Desdemona was weak and the crowd scenes a little stilted. Mark Wilson was there and John Alexander enjoyed it very much. My departure date was March 16 1972 and the whole trip was planned around flights right up to arriving in London on October 1st. Page 87 and the final holiday together in Plettenberg Bay.

Kontarsky signed the library Stockhausen score