1981

Me singing at Wembley

Dennis starts school at St Chad's

At the party Lynn, Grace, John Thing, Sheila, Freda Curtis, K, the Goldthorpes

Very fine concert of the Mozart C minor mass with Muti. We started to record it at Kingsway hall but Cotrubas cancelled on the Friday. Louise was growing fast and tried to get up the slide in the garden! Liz sang the Bruckner Te Deum with Haitink. Matacic conducted Bruckner and Dvorak. Repeated in Barcelona. Page 134-137, 139-141  In March Mum and Dad arrived. We had 30 at a party in the garden March 22. We earned some money distributing census forms. Took Mum and Dad to Lingfield and Chartwell which they loved. We went to Eastbourne, RSCM, Chessington Zoo, Hampton Court. We went to Bath and Sherborne where we sang with Martin How. We all went to London Zoo and Fenton House and Kenwood House. Beethoven 9 with Jochum. Liz sang Elijah with Fruhbeck. Sang at Canterbury and Chichester cathedrals. A member of staff was caught stealing money. To Bournemouth again and a lovely day on the Isle of Wight. Visited Liz and Don in Pinner - Liz knew Liz from guides. July 28 we went to the Royal wedding fireworks in Hyde Park. It was a huge crowd and exits were closed. We ended up walking to Marble Arch to get out - not happy! We watched the whole thing the next day Diana and Charles. K had given us life membership of the National Trust and we loved going to Sheffield Park. The Rossini Stabat mater was memorable for all the wrong reasons. The Prom was on TV. Giulini was very angry at the rehearsal and Mende who had taken over as chorus master that year did extra rehearsals. We did record it at Watford Town Hall but it was all a bit of a strain. Giulini's wife was there and she had been very ill. I comment that I missed the children - they had gone to No 99. In September we had lunch with Nellie on the way to Prudhoe. We visited Holy Island, Cragside, Allenheads, Durham, Richmond, Ripon cathedral, Lichfield, Birmingham lunch with Sybil,
Stratford. 1300 miles in all!
I note in my diary conflict with Jane Allen when I moved to Balham to be senior assistant. She insisted on having the main doors open in winter so I got my coat. She also wanted the money counted on the desk in public! Madness! For somebody who had a management degree she knew nothing about dealing with staff. Dad commented "How many Brownie points do you need in Wandsworth libraries?" Page 147 Dad says that I started playing at St Margaret's, Chevening Road, Upper Norwood after Easter. Liz had spotted this in the Church Times. A daughter church of All Saints there was a small committed congregation and a Bishop organ with an addition of 15th and 22nd which was rather shrill. I think St Chad's had never used my talents properly - I played for some Masses and sang in the choir but the strain of Friday practices in addition to chorus and two late nights at the library was beginning to tell. I wanted more time with the children and was lucky to have a day off during the week as I did alternate Saturdays. St Margaret's used New English Hymnal which I loved. Page 148 Pope John Paul II visiting |England. This was Fr Farmer's biggest mistake. As he had been choir director at St George's cathedral he was asked to bolster their choir. Instead of taking all of us, he selected singers. This caused immense resentment. We did go to Wembley and the cathedral choir sang. When he left in the helicopter instead of singing Hail the day that sees him rise the crowd sang He's got the whole world in his hands! The visit to Canterbury cathedral with Archbishop Runcie gave us great hope for ecumenism - hopes which have been dashed by Rome and women clergy. Liverpool was also a major highlight which was televised. 

1977

1977 I played for several Masses at St Chad's. Ross Hickling was a great support whereas Fr Farmer always wanted his tempo! He did know composer so we sang Douglas Mews settings among others. Because Dad was a steward at the Albert Hall we went to quite a lot of concerts. Feb 1977 I was going for interviews - Mr Kirby was awful at interviews. Jane Allen got the promotion. I record how nice Mike Cornford was to me. Simon Johnson rehearsed Messiah with the chorus. We did Alexander Nevsky with Muti - Prokofiev suited him well. Mum and Dad again came to Barcelona on the chorus trip with Balatsch. Messiah and I got Norma Burrowes to sign my score - Liz always did this but I was a bit shy of doing it. She was just heavenly. B minor Mass with Andrew Pritchard.
I should have mentioned Liz's aunt K who was very fond of her. We would get invited to her parties. She lived on the first floor at 99 Oxford Gardens and the Poles Janka and Gennik were on the ground floor. In May we sang the Schubert Mass in E flat with the London Mozart players at the Festival Hall conducted by Harry Blech. Sang at Chichester with Martin How and Missa solemnis in Bristol with Mackerras. Fine flower festival at Westminster Cathedral. Martin How got us into the Addington Palace madrigal singers for the Addington Palace garden party and this later became the Nicholson Singers so we were there from the beginning! I can never forget Martin playing Brahms and the piano moving across the great hall floor but he just carried on!
I have a charming postcard from Jim in Heidelberg. He sang in the chorus and was a gifted repetiteur and conductor from the States. He says he saw us last month so he must have come to a concert in Dusseldorf or Cologne.  

1976 Gerontius

In March 1976 Mum and Dad came with us on the chorus trip Missa solemnis to Barcelona. We went to the Zoo and saw the white gorilla. Also the Spanish village. The chorus visited Barcelona, Ghent and Orange most years. Later on the opera in Orange - I only ever did Fidelio. We would often do the same concert on a Saturday at Fairfield Hall and then repeat it at the Festival Hall. It was said that Croydon came to hear Beethoven whereas London came to see the soloist or conductor! I note John Walsh ill at the library - he later wrote a funny book about Balham library and pinched some of my jokes for it. March 3 to Arundel cathedral with its bathtub acoustics joined with Norbury parish choir Thiman's Last supper. We were much indebted to Dad's friend Dennis who fixed lots of things in the house and later built the extension to the kitchen. Fr Farmer took us to Petts Wood to sing in the passion with Robert Munns. I record a general absolution at a penitential service at St Chad's! Lovely chorus trip to Lucerne where we visited the Wagner museum. We sang Schumann Das Paradies und der Peri - Helen and Schreier was superb. 15 minutes of applause! Maazel conducted Mahler 2. On June 28 sang Gerontius in York Minster. Janet Baker was superb, Aexander Gibson less so, We were invited to a reception by the York chorus so I rang Nellie to explain. Your tea is on the table. You are late scholars when we arrived! I record many TV and radio classical music events including ballet. The Proms and holiday in Boscombe visiting Christchurch (all on trains and buses). Dad did a lot of decorating for us. In September we were off to Ghent to sing Gerontius with Andrew Davis. Soloists were Alfreda Hodgson, Norman Bailey and Andrew Rolfe-Johnson.We visited Mama and Solly in Brussels. Oct 16 Dream in Swansea conducted by Christopher Seaman. Bob Tear excellent (Liz had a crush on him) Robert Dean sang the bass (he later became chorus master). Vivaldi with Muti and we started to record it at Kingsway Hall but it was never completed because of a poor alto soloist in boots!  Muti could be very difficult. Liz kept on failing her driving test but eventually passed. I had to have some lessons and passed first time. Of course I had my licence from S.Africa. On Dec 16 I record my first Catenian dinner! It was many years later I could afford to join! Kevin and Gill lived nearby and gave us lifts and we spent some very happy evenings together. It was a juggling act with church and chorus and work hours. 

The chorus

Martin Penny in Orange

Barcelona

Orange

TV with Owain Arwel Hughes St John's Smith Square

Basle

Rostropovich conducted Beethoven 9. Vishnevskaya kept her dog with her all the time

Walter Hagen-Groll

Accompanist Martin Penny 

A later photo shows Joyce Reah second from left then wonderful contralto Ethel and her husband in the doorway (at Liz's 40th)

12 Feb 1974 Verdi requiem was Muti's first concert with the New Philharmonia . Princess Alexandra attended and !setting Talvela was the bass. Later in the year we sang the Missa solemnis with Maazel. We went to Orange to sing Tristan and were finally allowed to see the remaining acts!1975 was a busy year with Chorus concerts, Royal Albert Hall concerts and some operas at the Coliseum. I was working at Balham music library twice a week until 8 and alternate Saturdays. We had seen a small house in Forest Hill. The latter part of the year records decorating Wrights Road and buying furniture. In the summer we went to Orange to sing Messiah with Mackerras. Kiri Te Kanawa, James Bowman hitting top F sharp, Stuart Burroughs, Norman Bailey. A swimming pool to cool down. We also went regularly to Jean Taylor's to sing madrigals and the like. Jean was a dear friend. Her father had been in the BBC Choral society and she was a fine alto and worked at the BBC Music library with Francis Herbert who later went to the Royal Geographical Society library to work on maps. Jean was a kind host and loved our company. Later on she had an enormous influence on the choice of chorus directors.
Joyce Reah was in many ways the true founder of the chorus as from her work at EMG Soho Square she brought together the singers Walter Legge needed. She would sit in the vestibule at Gandhi Hall and welcome all. Joyce came to all our family dos and loved them. How I wish I had written her stories down! We were for a time chorus librarians so we heard much we maybe should not have heard. Luckily I never told off Jan Latham-Koenig for not returning his scores and this paid off later when he conducted us in Strassbourg! He was the bass mentioned in a concert review as conducting from the front row. We once went to a BBC lunchtime concert of the Janacek Nonet and I remarked to him that he was amazing to watch as his hair beat out the rhythm.  "They are terrified of me you know!" he replied. Charles and Germaine Spencer could be very unkind to singers who had to miss rehearsals or were late. The legendary Pitts (Liz knew him) would never want to dismiss any singer so the chorus was large and no doubt there was some elderly dead wood like Dolly! Walter Hagen-Groll who auditioned me was a fine conductor - Mozart "it is jazz". His preparation was thorough. He was ably assisted by Russell Burgess who sadly died. He was succeeded by Simon Johnson. Norbert Balatsch was in many ways an inspiration. He travelled from the Vienna Opera each week. We knew we were in safe hands. Mind you he could be terrifying especially when he got the sporanos to sing in twos. Stephen Rose succeeded Martin Penny both wonderful accompanists.