February 2003

The February 2003 issue of Organists' Review carried a letter from a project co-ordinator of the UK National Inventory of War Memorials, based at the Imperial War Museum. The letter appealed for information about organs which are war memorials so that they may be record in the Inventory.

The organ at All Saints' Church is a war memorial and, on contacting the project co-ordinator, it was discovered that the organ was not recorded in the Inventory. A four-page form was then completed in order to rectify this omission and a copy of the completed form has been lodged with the Secretary of the Parochial Church Council.

Fortunately, a brass plaque on the organ console records the fact that the organ was dedicated by the Rector, the Revd. Leslie Badham, on All Saints' Day, 1949:

Scrutiny of the Parish Magazine for 1949 allows a vivid picture to be reconstructed of the period. Mr. Badham encouraged and cajoled, month by month, in order to ensure that the target of the Church War Memorial Fund should be achieved. The target was £1600, the cost of the new organ built by the John Compton Organ Co. The Rector was able to write, at one point in the fundraising campaign, that "varied are the generous impulses behind the splendid gifts. One couple gave £10 and then doubled it in thankfulness for many years of happy marriage. Another gave 5 guineas [£5.25] in gratitude for the safe return of their sons. Another gave £10 for each of their children. An old gentleman gave 4/- [20p] out of a very slender purse. Yet another couple had the happy idea of contributing the cost of one note on the organ and gave £17/4/0 [£17.20] and one still in his teens sent £1 from his Air Force pay."

Concerts to help raise funds were given by the Choir of St. Luke's Church, Reading, by the Remenham Singers and by our own church choir. A bottle on Peppard Post Office counter produced £15/10/1 [£15.50]. The War Memorial Fund was started by a donation of £325 from the Nursing Association Committee on its disbanding and the Mothers' Union contributed £90 from the proceeds of a Christmas Fair. The hardship of those post-war years seems to have made it much more difficult to raise £1600 by public subscription than was the case, in 1993, when we needed to find £20,000 for the new Copeman Hart organ. In the end, more than £1600 was raised and so the Chancel was redecorated at the same time as the organ was installed.

The opening recitals were given on 23rd October, 1949, by Mr. J. Taylor of the Compton company and Mr. F. Rogers of Remenham. Fred Rogers is remembered as conductor of the Henley Singers and Organist of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Henley. He now lives near Malvern.

K. B. ATKINSON

March 2003

Several members of the Choir of All Saints' Church were among 137 singers who attended a choral workshop at Eton College on Saturday, 8th March. Organised by RSCM Berskshire, the workshop was directed by Ralph Allwood, Precentor and Director of Music at Eton. The theme was music for Lent and Passiontide and Mr. Allwood had chosen to work on several challenging anthems which are beyond the capabilities of most individual parish church choirs. They included Crucifixus (Lotti), Christus factus est (Bruckner), Ave maris stella (Grieg) and O vos omnes (Casals).

The division of the singers into eight parts and the opportunity to sing these anthems in the acoustic and ambience of Eton College Chapel provided a memorable experience for even the keenest of church music exponents.

Lionel Dakers died on 10th March at the age of 79. He will be remembered particularly as an effective and approchable Director of the Royal School of Church Music from 1972 to 1987, having earlier been Organist of both Ripon (1954) and Exeter (1957) Cathedrals.

In this locality, he conducted a memorable Henley Deanery Choirs' Festival on 27th May, 1978, just prior to the 25th anniversary of HM Queen's coronation. The service was held in St. Mary's Church, Henley where Dr. Dakers's father-in-law, the Revd. Claude Williams, had been Rector. It is also of interest that the New Church Anthem Book (Oxford University Press, 1992), which Dr. Dakers edited, carries as its frontispiece a colour photograph of a John Piper stained glass window in St. Bartholomew's Church, Nettlebed.

By chance, I met Lionel Dakers again in March 1994 while visiting the Peercy Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne. He was delighted to reminisce and eager to ask about current church music in Oxfordshire.

His obituarist in the Daily Telegraph wrote that "he combined high teaching skill with tremendous enthusiasm and an avuncular charm". Coupled with his own high musical standards and administrative efficiency, he served church music to great effect throughout the English speaking world.

KEITH ATKINSON

During a service of Choral Evensong on Sunday 16th March 2003, a plaque on the organ console was dedicated to the memory of Vernon Openshaw, Organist and Choirmaster of All Saints' Church from 1955 until his death in 1998. The Rev. Hugh Warwick read the Service, the Address was given by the Rev. Graham Foulis Brown and the Rev. "Bob" Butler-Smith was robed and in the sanctuary. Former members and friends of the Choir swelled the ranks in the chancel and Vernon's daughter Jenny was among the congregation.

Music during the service included View me, Lord (Lloyd), Preces and Reponses (Smith), Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Willan), There is a land of pure delight (Ives) and I got me flow'rs (Howles). The First Lesson was read by Don Hickson, President of the Berkshire Organists' Association at the time of Vernon's death, and the Second Lesson by Peter Smith, Chairman of RSCM Oxfordshire. Jim Wooldridge, President of the Berkshire Organists' Association, and former railway colleagues of Vernon were also present.

In his Address, the Rev. Graham Foulis Brown touched on the virtues of loyalty and commitment which Vernon had typified, on the importance of the choral tradition in the Anglican church and on the sometimes different musical requirements of weddings and funerals. He had wondered aloud before the service how many Rectors had been at Peppard in Vernon's time (the Rev's Badham, Arch, Tracey and Butler-Smith). The Rev. "Bob" Butler-Smith, speaking to the Choir just before the service, recollected the 22 years which he and Vernon had served church and community in harmony together.

April 2003

It is customary at All Saints' Church to introduce a different setting of the Communion service at Eastertide. Nicholson in G will be used on Passion Sunday (6th April) and on Easter Day, Sumsion in F will be sung and used each month until Easter 2004. The gradual anthem at Sung Eucharist on Easter Day will be Good Christian men by C. S. Lang. During Festal Evensong that day, the evening canticles will be sung to the G major setting by Sumsion and the anthem will be Te Deum Laudamus from the Stanford B flat service.

Herbert Sumsion (1899-1995) was Organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 to 1967, before enjoying a long and productive retirement in which a great deal of lovely church music flowed from his pen.

May 2003

Five adult members of the Choir of All Saints' Church (and a number from the Choir of St. John the Baptist Church, Kidmore End) attended an RSCM event at Goring on Monday evening, 19th May. With the title "Making music in the smaller church", John Wardle sought to enthuse a remarkable attendance of 91 participants. He managed to introduce a variety of music, much of it recently composed or newly published. Those of us from All Saints' were much taken by a setting of the Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester by Malcolm Archer, Organist of Wells Cathedral. The anthem has been dedicated for the Icon of St. Richard on its travels around Sussex to coincide with the 750th anniversary of the Saint's death, culminating in its arrival at Chichester Cathedral on the Feast of his Translation (16th June).

Malcolm Walker, Organist at the Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Goring, is to be congratulated on the arrangements for such a successful event which attracted a wonderful attendance for a weekday evening, participants coming from as far as Bracknell in the south to Bicester in the north.

June 2003

Gary Magill, David Silsoe and I were at Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford, for Choral Evensong on Wednesday 4th June to hear "our anthem" - There is a land of pure delight (Grayston Ives) - conducted by the composer, who is Informator Choristarum at Magdalen College, and sung for the first time by that choir. Other music for the service included Preces (Leighton), Golden Sequence (Rose) and Magnificat (Grayston Ives) from the Warwick Service.

That twelve boy trebles and a similar number of men can produce such a richness of tone in those beautiful surroundings is quite remarkable. Should you get the opportunity of hearing them, take it!

We also had the pleasure of meeting Grayston in the Cloister afterwards. Comparing notes, I observed that it was rather a coincidence that he had chosen that Magnificat. (I was once an assistant organist at St. Mary's, Warwick, my home town, although long before the time of Mark Shepherd, now conductor of the Reading Bach Choir, who commissioned the work.)

It is so good to see There is a land of pure delight in print at last. It has been published by the RSCM, complete with its dedication to All Saints' Choir and Vernon Openshaw. We shall sing it proudly at Evening Prayer on Sunday 13th July 2003 for the Inauguration of the United Benefice of Rotherfield Peppard and Kidmore End & Sonning Common.

Nigel Wallington

On Saturday 7th June, The Eve of Pentecost, 3 members of All Saints' Choir sang at the RSCM Annual Celebration Day at Coventry Cathedral. Approximately 23 choirs were represented with some choirs having come as far as the U.S.A., New Zealand, South Africa and Holland. We were also joined by the choirs of St. Mary's Warwick and Coventry Cathedral Choir.The conductor for the afternoon was Geoff Weaver, Senior Advisor to the RSCM and the organist was Rupert Jeffcoat of Coventry Cathedral.

The music for the afternoon consisted of the Jubilate Deo by Giovanni Gabrieli, the Magnificat by Herbert Howells, and the anthem, The Spirit of the Lord by Edward Elgar.

A very enjoyable afternoon.

Margaret Woodward,

Whit Sunday falls on 8th June. Festal Evensong at All Saints' Church at 6.30 p.m. will include the E flat (No. 2) setting of the Evening Canticles by Charles Wood and the anthem God is a spirit by William Sterndale Bennett. Both composers were associated with the University of Cambridge.

John Wesley, the elder brother of Charles Wesley, was born 300 years ago on 17th June, 1703. We shall remember him on Sunday 15th June (Trinity Sunday) when hymns that day will include Put thou thy trust in God, Author of love divine and Eternal power, whose high abode, this last written with Isaac Watts.

July 2003

There is a land of pure delight (Grayston Ives), commissioned by the PCC to mark the millennium and dedicated to All Saints' Choir and Vernon Openshaw will be the anthem for the special service of Evening Prayer at 6.30 p.m. on Sunday 13th July to inaugurate the new Benefice of Rotherfield Peppard and Kidmore End & Sonning Common. Other music will include the introit Ecce Sacerdos Magnus (Elgar) and the hymns Blest are the pure in heart, Eternal Father, strong to save and Sun of my soul.

Friends, old and new, of All Saints' Choir will join the ranks in the chancel and we are particularly pleased to welcome Andrew Baldwin who will accompany the service and play his own Postlude in C as the closing voluntary.

No, not the unexpected arrival of a woman priest to join the team! However, if you attend the sung services at All Saints' Church on 20th July, you may find that the anthem sounds familiar. Howard Goodall's setting of Psalm 23 provided the theme music for "The Vicar of Dibley" television series. The broadcast version was recorded by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, but listen carefully and you will find that, at Peppard, we shall sing the unabridged version!

Sarah Woodward is a member of this prestigious group which will be singing Evensong at Guildford Cathedral on Monday 21st July at 5.30 p.m. The music for the service will include the Bernard Rose setting of the Responses; the Evening Canticles will be sung to Stanford in G and the anthem will be O Lorde, the maker of al thing by John Joubert.

With the whole of south-east England to cover, the Singers will not come much nearer to us than Guildford and this service provides a splendid opportunity to hear them, as well as to worship in such a wonderful building. And car parking at Guildford Cathedral could not be easier!

September 2003

Two members of the Choir of All Saints' Church received presentations on Sunday 21st September during the Family Communion service.

Sarah Woodward has been in receipt of a choral scholarship for two years, funded by the Parochial Church Council. She was presented with a certificate to mark the conclusion of the scholarship period. The wording of the certificate records Sarah's significant musical achievements during that period, including her success in the Bishop of Oxford's Senior Chorister examination and her membership of the RSCM Southern Cathedral Singers (Students).

Elizabeth Atkinson first sang in the Choir on Sunday 18th September 1983. The PCC presented Elizabeth with a gift voucher in recognition of the 20th anniversary of her joining the Choir as a young girl. During those 20 years she has become one of the Choir's most reliable and experienced singers.

October 2003

Members of the Choirs of All Saints' Church and of the Church of St. John the Baptist, Kidmore End will be taking part in the Choirs' Festival on Saturday 11th October in Dorchester Abbey. It will be good to return to the Abbey after a year's absence caused by restoration work. Singers who are lovers of the famous Abbey teas will also relish the prospect!

The choirs will be directed by Adrian Partington, Director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales. The organist will be Philip Aspden, Organist of St. Mary's, Henley and Assistant Director of Music at St. George's, Weybridge. The sermon will be preached by the Reverend Canon John Crowe, Rector of Dorchester, at what will be the last of many festivals which he has attended as incumbent of Dorchester.

Despite statements often heard to the contrary, recent first-hand evidence suggests that an interest in good quality traditional church music is thriving hereabouts. On three successive Saturdays in October, the Royal School of Church Music has held events in the Thames Valley at Sonning, Dorchester and Oxford which have attracted 140, 350 and 80 singers respectively. All places for the Dorchester and Oxford events were taken and the Oxford event had a waiting list.

All Saints' Church was strongly represented at Dorchester on 11th October, with 25 singers participating and numerous members of the large congregation came from All Saints'. On 18th October, four members of the choir attended a workshop on Advent music at Magdalen College School. The workshop was directed by Grayston Ives and, in a two hour session, ten very different items from Advent for Choirs (OUP) were sung, any of which could be used in parish churches as part of a Sequence of Music and Readings for Advent. The workshop ended in a short act of worship, led by Canon Timothy Wimbush. It included four of the ten pieces: Remember, O thou man (Ravenscroft), How beautiful upon the mountains (Stainer), Rejoice in the Lord alway (Anon. 16th century) and Long ago, prophets knew (arr. Archer).

Afterwards, it was possible to cross Magdalen Bridge and attend Choral Evensong in the College Chapel which was preceeded, as is the case on Saturdays, by a short organ recital. This was given by Scott Ellaway, Organ Scholar at Keble College, and included works by Saint-Saëns, Bach and Franck. The service music, beautifully sung by the College Chapel Choir under Grayston Ives, included the Howells Collegium Regale setting of the evening canticles and Cantique de Jean Racine (Fauré). The chapel was packed to overflowing, another sign that church music of the right calibre is such a wonderful help in devotional worship.

Congratulations to Sarah Woodward on her award of a Choral Scholarship with the Chapel Choir of the College of St. Hild and St. Bede, University of Durham. We shall miss her in the chancel and sanctuary at All Saints' Sunday by Sunday, but wish her well in her academic studies and musical activities while at Durham.

November 2003

The Patronal Festival of All Saints will be marked on Sunday 2nd November. The music at the Sung Eucharist (10.30 a.m.) will include the F major setting of the Communion Service by Herbert Sumsion and the Gradual Locus iste a Deo factus est by Anton Bruckner. At Festal Evensong (6.30 p.m.), the Evening Canticles will be sung to the setting by Basil Harwood in Ab and the Responses will be sung to the setting by Grayston Ives.

Adult members and friends of the Choir of All Saints' Church sang at St. Andrew's Church, Oddington on Saturday evening, 29th November to help celebrate the Eve of St. Andrew's Day in a service of Sung Eucharist. Oddington is a tiny village on Otmoor, between Islip and Bicester. The church is of considerable antiquity and has several interesting features, most famous of which is a shroud brass on the chancel floor, placed there in his own memory before his death by Ralph Hamsterley, Rector from 1499 - 1507. The Latin inscription on the brass begins Vermibus hic donor ... (Here I am given to the worms ...).

The organ of one manual, four stops and no pedals is at the west end of the church. Time spent on reconnaisance is seldom wasted and a visit to the church in July helped to dictate our choice of music. We also knew that the service would be held in candlelight and it is not easy to read music in a poor light! A good rehearsal was followed by a welcome cup of tea and a biscuit at the nearby home of a churchwarden.

Soon after our return to the church for the service, all electric power failed. So there was no heat, no electric light and no organ. But the show must go on and Nigel Wallington took firm control in these difficult and crepuscular circumstances. The Choir sang from the west end of the nave and so gave a good lead to the congregation in the hymns (one of which was written by a former Rector for "Great Saint Andrew"). Nigel took a leaf out of the old parish clerk's book, singing the first line of the tune before choir and congregation joined in. The Sumsion in F setting of the Communion Service was sung unaccompanied, with Nigel providing vocal continuity for the missing organ part. The Introit (Bruckner's Locus iste) and the Communion motet (Tantum ergo by de Séverac) are unaccompanied pieces, chosen to suit the local circumstances.

A 25 minute sermon from a visiting preacher and a 15 minute talk on Vanuatu immediately after the service (the offertory went to help the work of the Melanesian Mission) did nothing to warm the singers, but an excellent "feast" at another home in the village sent us on our way rejoicing. Some of us decided that, if anyone asked us how we had fared at Oddington, we thought that "memorable" might be the appropriate adjective.

[CONTRIBUTED]

December 2003

As is customary, there will be two carol services at Christmas. On Sunday 21st December at 6.30 p.m. the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols will include Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing?, O little one sweet (Sheidt / Bach), A child is born in Bethlehem (Sheidt), So gentle the donkey (Barnard), In dulci jubilo (Pearsall) and No small wonder (Edwards).

The Service of Seven Lessons and Carols will be held at 11 a.m. on Christmas Day. Music will include I saw a fair maiden (Terry), Unto us is born a son (Mawby), the Coventry Carol and Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Thiman).

On Sunday 28th December, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, singers from Greys, Kidmore End and Sonning Common church choirs will join with All Saints' Choir in a service of Choral Evensong at 6.30 p.m. The evening canticles will be sung to the D minor setting by Thomas Attwood Walmisley.