Dear Reader
This note comes to you from a train heading to Reading where I will be met by my beautiful cousin, Sarah, so we can spend a few days together at her home in Henley on Thames. We had a marvellous night last night celebrating the end of tour in Oxford, at New College.
There were many laughs and some tears as we offered the Choir’s farewell to Leonie, and also to Bec, who we are leaving in the UK indefinitely. (Her choice, not an accident!) We will all miss her terribly. There were generous gifts to those of us who had special responsibilities. I received a beautiful book, some very warm gloves and a lovely tapestry purse. The gloves will come in handy when I head to Scandinavia later this week. Leonie, your gift to me is very precious too.
Then this morning there were more tears than laughter as the smaller group headed to the airport to fly home. A number of us have taken the opportunity to extend our stay on this side of the world, me included, so the group was smaller. Most of the tears came as each tour member bid their personal farewells to Bec.
Well, the train journey was shorter than I expected so I only got this far before it was time to get off again. It was great to catch up with the older girls, Alex and Rachael, and Mark as well as Sal. Amelia will be home from school soon. We caught a movie today - Little Women - something to do on a wet Monday afternoon.
Dear Reader, this has been the wettest day we have had since leaving Australia. In fact, since well before we left Australia. While our loved ones and countrymen are facing heatwaves and devastating fires we have been treated to a mild winter. Sal tells me it rained non-stop from September to December, but it has not rained much at all since. I believe the Irish named the current storm Brenda, from what I have seen on the news.
Now, back to last night. We sang our final service in the beautiful New College at Oxford where we were warmly welcomed by the Dean, Michael Burden, who is the international patron of our St Peter’s Cathedral Music Foundation. We also caught up with Robert Quinney, their Organist and Master of Choristers. He came to Adelaide with King’s College, Cambridge as Organ Scholar in 1998, and was billeted by our own Annabel Crompton when she was still a Thomas. It was great to renew both of these friendships again. There will be a picture of Robert in the professional photos taken last night. Here are a few of mine.
After Evensong we moved on to pre-dinner drinks in a beautiful room, which was where we caught up with Robert. Then it was onto the dining hall, which was absolutely stunning. We were informed it had been used for filming of some of the Harry Potter films. It seems to me, Dear Reader, that half of England has been used for the Harry Potter film sets.
We sang Grace - Charles Wood’s Oculi Omnium. Our MC for the evening was John Wells, who was very entertaining. Dinner followed and was delicious, interspersed with speeches and awards. Dear Reader, my award was for chaperoning Allan and Jules, my Foster Sons. Never in the history of tours has there been an easier chaperoning gig. They were impeccably behaved, beautifully mannered and considerate at all times. I felt like a fraud accepting a gift for this task, as it was SO easy. However, I did have custody of seven grown “men” for most of the tour - Byrd, Stanford, Matthias, Howells, Jackson, Ives and Dove - the five big and two little cases that contained the music. The original Mr Byrd lost a wheel at Westminster, so needed to be replaced. There was a suggestion that the cases may disintegrate in the order of the death of the composers, but in fact it was Mr Howells who was looking a little the worse for wear rather than Mr Stanford, which is out of order.
I attach some more photos of the evening, knowing that there will be better ones to come from the professional photographer. The building was very atmospheric with the tall lights, but it did make photography more challenging.
Another highlight was the singing of a Lavinia Gent psalm, in honour of Leonie.
I will prepare a separate post about the brilliant psalm.
Cxx
This note comes to you from a train heading to Reading where I will be met by my beautiful cousin, Sarah, so we can spend a few days together at her home in Henley on Thames. We had a marvellous night last night celebrating the end of tour in Oxford, at New College.
There were many laughs and some tears as we offered the Choir’s farewell to Leonie, and also to Bec, who we are leaving in the UK indefinitely. (Her choice, not an accident!) We will all miss her terribly. There were generous gifts to those of us who had special responsibilities. I received a beautiful book, some very warm gloves and a lovely tapestry purse. The gloves will come in handy when I head to Scandinavia later this week. Leonie, your gift to me is very precious too.
Then this morning there were more tears than laughter as the smaller group headed to the airport to fly home. A number of us have taken the opportunity to extend our stay on this side of the world, me included, so the group was smaller. Most of the tears came as each tour member bid their personal farewells to Bec.
Well, the train journey was shorter than I expected so I only got this far before it was time to get off again. It was great to catch up with the older girls, Alex and Rachael, and Mark as well as Sal. Amelia will be home from school soon. We caught a movie today - Little Women - something to do on a wet Monday afternoon.
Dear Reader, this has been the wettest day we have had since leaving Australia. In fact, since well before we left Australia. While our loved ones and countrymen are facing heatwaves and devastating fires we have been treated to a mild winter. Sal tells me it rained non-stop from September to December, but it has not rained much at all since. I believe the Irish named the current storm Brenda, from what I have seen on the news.
Now, back to last night. We sang our final service in the beautiful New College at Oxford where we were warmly welcomed by the Dean, Michael Burden, who is the international patron of our St Peter’s Cathedral Music Foundation. We also caught up with Robert Quinney, their Organist and Master of Choristers. He came to Adelaide with King’s College, Cambridge as Organ Scholar in 1998, and was billeted by our own Annabel Crompton when she was still a Thomas. It was great to renew both of these friendships again. There will be a picture of Robert in the professional photos taken last night. Here are a few of mine.
We sang Grace - Charles Wood’s Oculi Omnium. Our MC for the evening was John Wells, who was very entertaining. Dinner followed and was delicious, interspersed with speeches and awards. Dear Reader, my award was for chaperoning Allan and Jules, my Foster Sons. Never in the history of tours has there been an easier chaperoning gig. They were impeccably behaved, beautifully mannered and considerate at all times. I felt like a fraud accepting a gift for this task, as it was SO easy. However, I did have custody of seven grown “men” for most of the tour - Byrd, Stanford, Matthias, Howells, Jackson, Ives and Dove - the five big and two little cases that contained the music. The original Mr Byrd lost a wheel at Westminster, so needed to be replaced. There was a suggestion that the cases may disintegrate in the order of the death of the composers, but in fact it was Mr Howells who was looking a little the worse for wear rather than Mr Stanford, which is out of order.
I attach some more photos of the evening, knowing that there will be better ones to come from the professional photographer. The building was very atmospheric with the tall lights, but it did make photography more challenging.
Another highlight was the singing of a Lavinia Gent psalm, in honour of Leonie.
I will prepare a separate post about the brilliant psalm.
Cxx
Thank you for this blog and for all the blogs. I have been following the choir's progress with enthusiasm and interest, and have been glad to hear of all the services, the rehearsals, the missed sandwich suppers, some of the extra-curricular activities and to have seen the excellent photos. May those of you going on to other, additional destinations have travelling blessings. May all of you look back on this tour as one of the highlights of your lives, particularly those of you who sang (and played the organ) in various Anglican high spots. Here at home we're singing Matthias very well, but look forward to the variety of Eucharistic settings that will come with the return of the choir. Thanks for helping us at home to fell part of the tour overseas. Stuart L.
ReplyDeleteJanuary at the Cathedral can be dull with said psalm and responses (except the Matthias mass).
ReplyDelete