Skip to main content

Now for some words about London

Dear Reader

It has been a very busy time for us what with singing and walking and walking and singing. And occasionally sleeping. Oh, and eating at least three times a day. So I am a little behind where I would like to be in letting you know what has been happening. We are currently in Coventry, but I will backtrack in this post.

Our second venue for London was Temple Church, where Roger Sayers is the Director of Music. Roger ran a workshop and conducted two services for us in Adelaide in August 2018 when we had a Cathedral full of scaffolding. We were joined for our concert by their trebles. They have twenty boys who go to all sorts of schools in London with scholarship support. They do four rehearsals on weekdays after school and sing one service a week. Their lower parts are all taken by paid professions, so as it would have cost £1 000 to have them join us, we only had the trebles. We sang two pieces with them - Bruckner’s Locus iste to begin the program and Poulenc’s Quem vidistis pastores dicite at the end

We sang the Bruerville Locus iste, Dove The Three Kings, Leighton Lully Lullay, thou little tiny child,  and Wilberforce’s My Musick Shine.  As a bit of fun at the end we sang Waltzing Matilda.  They sang two movements from Britten’s Ceremony of Carols  and two other pieces. I will edit these into the post when I find the notes I made.

The concert was well received, even if most of the audience we brought with us. It was a very different building to sing in, and great fun. I attach a couple of photos, which may well be in the long London Photo Post.










Getting back to the hotel was really only possible by taxi, and the booked taxis could not deliver. So it was off to Fleet St to hail cabs. The first cab went off with three people and two cases, one big and one little. The pan was for another two cabs with the remaining five cases, four bigs and one little. Well, along came a wonderful London Cabbie, Daniel, who fit six people and all the remaining cases in his cab for the ride back to Westminster. Yongjian was so excited to take his first black cab ride. Daniel opened the window as we crossed the Waterloo Bridge so I could get the photo down the Thames more clearly.




After all of this excitement the Cromptons, David and I headed off to the Slug and Lettuce for dinner. We then returned the three Crompton Kids (they have adopted Archie for tour) the three Elders retired to All Bar One for a well deserved night cap, taking Bp Geoff along for the ride. 




Well, that about covers that evening...

Cxx

Comments

  1. Thanks for this. Temple Church is a wonderful place, and I remember Rogers Sayers' conducting of the choir at the cathedral. Bishop Geoff! Didn't expect that. Stuart L

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Big One, St Paul’s

  Dear Reader Today was the Big Event of tour. St Paul’s Cathedral, London. If you are observant, you will notice my absence from the photo above, along with several of my colleagues. Sadly, this happened.  After nearly four years and six vaccinations I finally succumbed to the dreaded Covid. At the worst possible time. My multiple vax status has meant I only feel a bit rotten, like a cold, but I do feel sad to have missed the day. And to miss Windsor tomorrow. I was grateful for the considered medical advice provided by Dr Ritesh, father of one of the trebles, who also updated my supply of paracetamol and ibuprofen.  So I am relying on others for the report about this special day.  The good bits started with four of the young Lay Clerks heading to St Paul’s for singing lessons with my friend Patrick Craig, who is an Alto Lay Vicar at St Paul. In have yet to hear from Nicholas, Marco, Charlie or James, but Patrick was very complimentary about their singing. This is what he said: Such a

And now the deadline is hours away...

Dear Reader! What an amazing fortnight we have had! We have rehearsed every Saturday as well as Friday. And sung on Sundays.  We travelled to Victor Harbour to sing to a capacity congregation for Lessons and Carols. Yamba had a ball.  We have done our Christmas Rounds - Lessons and Carols, Midnight Mass and Christmas Day. Precious Lillian was privileged (and rather nervous) to bring the sweet Baby Jesus into the Cathedral at Midnight Mass. She performed her duties beautifully. Zoom in to the second picture and you can see just how wonderful she was.  And now there are bags of robes and music in my front room, ready for the 6:45am departure.  Dear Reader, Please remember us in your thoughts and/or your prayers (whatever works for you) as we prepare for this big adventure.  Off we go. Christine 💖

Worcester - that’s a wrap

  Dear Reader Well, that’s a wrap. After a free morning to shop, skate, scoff scones or the like, we boarded the coach to Worcester. Annabel Crompton continued the proud tradition set by her late father, the beloved Prof David Thomas, and shared history and interesting information about the Cathedral, always including the South Australian connections. We had a very warm welcome from the Interim Dean, Canon Stephen, and Anita the Virger. On the musical menu was Hunt Versicles and Responses, Howells in G Canticles and Be Present O Merciful God  by Australian composer, Owen Elsley. I thought the Anthem went particularly well. We sang two psalms, 131 to a Willcocks chant and 132 to a chant by a random (will update later). Turns out the second chant was by Richard Massey. David played a beautiful postlude, Rhapsody by Daniel Cook (b1979). When we arrived in Worcester it lived up to the reputation England has for wet and rather miserable weather, so we headed straight into the building out o