The wandering organist

I blame Carly Spencer. And Ian (Hubnut). Without the 2024 Rustival September gathering I'd never have had the chutzpah to create videos like this.

I can't believe how long it has taken for bookings to start coming in again after the 2020 lock-up of every church in the Kingdom. However, at long last I got  asked to play somewhere other than Brighton. OK, I have played here before, but it's still a change of scene. I played at Heene Church   on Sunday last. Heene is  a part of Worthing that predates Worthing. The word apparently means "high", it is the site of the old windmill (long gone) and is on the only high ground for some distance around. About 30' above sea-level, since you ask. The organ is still working, still uncleaned (last work was done in 1966, so it's a bit dusty in there), but the electronic "concert organ" has been taken out of service, and there seem to be no plans to plug it in again. (Just a couple of photoes to entertain. The organ facade was redesigned in 1966 to allow maximum sound to percolate from the chamber to the nave, as there is almost no egress from the west side. Al...

The Advent Carol Service at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Southsea always marks the beginning of the countdown to Christmass. I wandered thence yesterday and, although not over-employed (three hymns, O Thou, the Central Orb and the Bach Wachet Auf ) had a nice time and grabbed this photo while the choir rehearsed. Wandering back home the snow was falling, snow on snow between Farlington and Arundel, but in Portsmouth and Worthing there was nary a flake.

Well, I wandered again. Not far, St Botolph's, Heene, in Worthing, but it was a booking. An event nowadays. Sung eucharist, an anthem (Goss O Saviour of the World ) and some music before and after The choir was as good as ever, the sermon a bit "miserable sinner", intincted wafers, and the pipe organ ciphering on middle E on the Great, which rendered that manual unusable. So I played the hymns and voluntaries on the electronic. That had tenor E flat not working at all on the pedals, so I chose pieces which were in C major and E major (slightly modal E, leading note flattened every time it occurred in the pedal). The main thing is that, after such a long break from having to be responsible for leading the music in a service other than St Mary's Kemptown, the feelings I had of slight panic have returned after a good couple of decades absence. Probably all to the good, keeps me on my toes, and all that sort of thing. After lunch I decided I would like to go to choral eve...

Well, not quite free, but playing at a church again. After 4 months, I finally got my little fingers on the keyboard of a real organ. And it was the lovely Bevingdon of St Mary, Kemptown . I've been attending services, but only via the internet. Not the same. Better than nothing, but not the same. I've posted photoes of St Mary's before, but this time I took some pictures during the service (still only virtual for the congregation) as I was able to wander around without disturbing anyone. So here's a small selection. And, just to show we're an inclusive church, the 'concelebrant', Magnus, who's a sweety, and very good in church.

I see that I haven't posted here for some while. Mostly laziness, I'm afraid, but a side order of moving home and this wretched virus has meant that some things have been put to one side. Moving home: I put the flat on the market in July 2019. Got an offer within three days and found somewhere to live. It turned out that the offer was from someone who couldn't afford it, and the place I found had a structural problem caused by next door trying to dissolve the garage (don't ask). Next, back on the market, and found a place (this time in a town I wanted to live in, not Littlehampton), and got another buyer. By November it was revealed that the buyer was a fantasist and I had to withdraw my offer on the place in Portslade. Generic bungalow of the same sort. Home sweet home! Come December I got another buyer (dear God!) but the over £5000 service charge for fireproofing, redecorating common ways and replacing the garage roofs became due, and so I was £5000 down. ...

Living and working in Worthing. Not the biggest/smallest/glammest/prettiest of towns, but I am lucky to live here. When I lived in Earls Court my car turned grey over the course of a day, but now I can drive home and stop for a brief wander on the beach. Bluer than the Mediterranean when last I saw it (February) and This misses the sparkle, the "innumerable laughter of the sea" as Dorothy L Sayers puts it. Refreshes the spirit wonderfully after a day at the office.

Today I was back in Findon for Trinity Sunday (45 years a church organist today liturgically), which coincidentally was the visit of residents of Schney in Bavaria, who are twinned with Findon. It was also an all-age service. The Vicar had, since it was Trinity Sunday, put down St Patrick's Breastplate which is theologically wonderful but crap for congregations to sing. It wasn't helped by the Mayhew book omitting a few verses and the vicar omitting a couple more, so we had the first verse, Christ within me and the last verse with its utterly unhelpful organ accompaniment (pinched from AMR which, since it's Stanford (d.1924), is out of copyright). Sitting by the organ console there were two people who knew it, as did the vicar. I couldn't hear much coming from the rest of the church... The readings and sermon were in English and German. I just about caught one word in 10 of the latter. During communion I played the Walton Elegy  (from music written for Richard III ), ...

Yesterday morning was an unexpected pleasure when the previous Tuesday, I was asked if I could stand in at short notice at Findon, their organist booked for the day had a problem. A normal 4-hymn eucharist, with Bach during communion and Frank Bridge after. In the afternoon, I thought that, since it was a lovely day, I'd go to a choral evensong. Chichester had Purcell in C and his Thy Word is a Lantern.   Guildford had Howells' Gloucester service and Finzi's Lo, the full final sacrifice . So Guildford it was, 35 miles through the Sussex Downlands and Surrey commuterland. As I was standing, gormlessly, at the back of the cathedral, two friends greeted me, they'd some up from Portsmouth for the same reason (nothing much on at their diocesan cathedral - Chilcott 3 choirs service and Mathias' Let the people praise thee, a service, slightly confusingly, described as choral evensong "with Commemoration of the WWI Centenary ringing by Winchester & Portsmou...

Well, as spring springs, and the beautiful sunshine makes the world a brighter place, I'm back to wandering. An old haunt, St John Findon , in its picturesque setting, and most of the blossom already gone. The wild primroses out in force and the daffs a little past their best. The service, a simple communion with the Murray setting and hymns, always appeals. Today it was taken by my former colleague, (now Rev) Colin Cox. I had forgotten he was attached to the parishes and when I was told it was "Colin" taking the service, thought nothing about it. Organ case on the west tower wall The organ, an unlovely-looking thing, skulks in the rafters of this fine and unusual church, which makes it awkward to photograph.  Sound-wise, it is a little on the reticent side, apart from the Trumpet, which is not subtle. The Swell stops are slightly louder than the Great, too. It has a 16' Open Metal, unusual for a village church. The Swell box is to the right of the gold-ish ...

Well, where have I been? Having never been to a civil Remembrance day ceremony, I decided to do the Worthing one. I checked the website which said it started at 11 with the silence, followed by a march-past of local uniformed organisations. I thought this a little eccentric, so turned up about a quarter of an hour early to find about two to three hundred people there, scattered across Chapel Rd, which might be a bit of a challenge for the mach-past. A band was providing music on a sporadic basis, and at about five to the hour they ended Nimrod and there was a pause in proceedings. Well, I realised that the tannoy system must be faulty when at two minutes to the hour, a solo bugler sounded the last post. There had to have been some speech before that ("They shall not grow old..."). It was all the more obvious that things were not quite as they should be when, at 11am, with the maroon gone bang and the Town Hall bell chiming the hour the bugler was already halfway through so...

Organist's view of the high altar Well, first Sunday away from the tied bench I wandered me over to St Mary, Kemptown, in Brighton. Such a friendly church, with all sorts of people. I love the way I don't stand out and can merge into the background more. This morning's service (All SS Sunday) also had 30 minutes of All Souls-tide remembrance (over 200 names read out), which stretched the service a weeeeny bit. My friend Alan Ireland was playing there for the first time, and did nicely improvising quietly over the congregational candle-lighting. Before the service he played some Mendelssohn I'd not heard before. He told me after it was the prelude to the G major P+F. The Bach Fantasia in c BWV 562 afterwards on full Great flues. Next week, no plans yet. Watch this space :-)

The other day, I saw someone wearing a T-shirt with the text "Surely not everyone  was kung-fu fighting?"

Went for a long weekend away, visiting friends in Shropshire and Wales. I tried to find a B&B but anything under £100/night long gone, as it was the last weekend of the school holidays. A reasonable self-catering place came up, not far from one friend, so I booked. Well, eccentric seems to be the word: a strong smell of joss-sticks in the hall of the cottage, magazines about permaculture everywhere, a "vegetarian kitchen" with a gas hob, electric oven but no saucepans over 4" diameter, about 40 plates and bowls but no drinking glasses. No microwave or electric kettle. The bedroom (ad said "sleeps 6") had three bunk beds in it, and a shower/toilet off. The sofa in the sitting room had elderly white loose covers which had seem better days. But I was only there two nights, and I can put up with most things. I did have to ask for a bath towel and kitchen washing up towel. There was also no TV or radio, but - and for this I was grateful - a builder's trann...

A picture of the west end from 2010 Well, being titular organist means you have to deal with the choir library, whether small, large, or middling. St Botolph's library is large for a parish church, a legacy of days of yore when the choir was all-male with the number of boys in double figures. Now it's just double figures and all adult, but at least as competent. Double-choir stuff is out of the window (only one bass and alto), but they can do pretty much anything else. The library. Well, I was in for a nasty shock when I looked inside the folders. I had decided I needed to know what we actually had. The official index was about 10 years out-of-date, and to find stuff just ignore the index's idea, which was based on the position in a pile in a double-width cubby-hole: eg 1 A 13, being first cubby-hole, left hand pile, 13th down from the top. Hmm. Someone had changed this into alphabetical order, dividing anthems from settings, but not updated the index. So, out with th...

Since January this year, I have been titular organist at St Botolph's church, Heene, in Worthing, so my wanderings have been reduced somewhat. My monthly wander to Holy Spirit , Southsea continues, and on the Sunday after Easter (known as "Low" Sunday, probably because of the number in the congregation is low) wandered with Cantores Vagantes to Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's gems. A "Father" Willis, built in 1876 and rebuilt with minimal change in 1934. Taking choir practice every week is a tie, but can be very rewarding. Today, I managed to overcome the missing pedal note (booked for repair in a week) and played a piece before the service on the extra organ, an electronic by Eminent. Widor's 5th Symphony, the 4th movement, a quiet one for strings and a solo 4' flute which can't be played on the pipe organ (no 4' flute). On this site , scroll down the page til you see 4 Adagio. It's the most gorgeous miniature and should be be...

Completely off topic. But this is my page, so I can relax the rules if I wish. Here's the eulogy I wrote for Dad's funeral service : On joining the RAF To the nurses, to the care-workers, he was Edward. To family, to friends, and everyone, he was Ted. To the charities he volunteered for, he was Ted. RNLI, Cats Protection, RSPB, he helped or donated with equal enthusiasm, he was Ted. Ted came from a working-class family in the east end of London. Born in (officially) Shoreditch, his father was an upholsterer and his mother died not long after he was born. Leaving Elementary school, he started work and was called up when WWII started. In the RAF in Algeria, he told stories of the camp commander selling the food for the troops to local people and pocketing the money, leaving them with fresh fruit and figs to eat. The searchlights, which used silver ingots to provide the arc, remained unlit for reasons not entirely clear… After the war, he took advantage of ...

I am so lucky. Now that I have stopped wandering for the moment and roosted in St Botolph's, Heene, I discover that they applaud voluntaries, which is really sweet. It's lovely to feel appreciated, and I see so many posts in the online organ fora about people complaining that the voluntaries they play are criticised for being too long or loud. But the one I played last Sunday was a quiet one, Jehan Alain's Choral Cistercien (AWV62), and at the end was respectful silence, which said more than any applause could ever. I was quite touched.

Sat am : 7am: Fire up puter, reply to emails including one from friend, wondering why friend needs me to take over UK distribution of her books.  Start typing out lyrics for Christmas Carol Service booklet I rashly decided to have for 9 Lessons & carols.  Have a nice, relaxing bath for about 10 minutes. Round to Dad’s to find carer has left note to say his bedside lamp has stopped working under 12 hours after I fitted a new bulb. Try bulb in another lamp, find lamp broken. Make mental note to buy new bulb-holder. Find a third lamp, bulb works fine. Scrabble round in drawer, find 3amp fuse for first lamp, change it, bulb works ok. Decide that a 60W filament bulb is a little too much for Dad’s bedside lamp, find a low energy one and find that it’s a screw fitting – we have no screw-fitting lamps in the house. Dad probably bought it by mistake some years back. Mark that bulb as “please take me” for a carer to take away and leave on kitchen table. Get new hair cli...

A few weeks back the Churchwardens of St Botolph's, Heene, slightly twisted my arm and I agreed to take over as Organist & Choirmaster from next January, carrying on with the 2nd & 4th Sundays I had already agreed to do, with choir practices before those Sundays. Last night I turned up, having been told that the PCC would be meeting the previous Tuesday to confirm my appointment, and that they would tell the choir. I had also said that a 6-month trial period - for both parties - would be sensible. Bless them, they've only gone and appointed me from 1st October, whilst letting me carry on with the other churches who have already booked me. This flummoxed me a little, and I didn't get off to the best start with the choir practice. Very kind, but perhaps asking me? I am not complaining, just expressing the flummoxisation. Their website is this one: http://stbotolphsheene2015.com/ and beware of imitations. There are at least two other sites which purport to be the ...