Southwell Minster Choir Week, 2002

Whilst the choir and organist are away during summer Sundays, they are not just sitting around listening to Alistair Cooke as the bells of All Saints softly ring for the Parish Communion in the distance, whilst pondering the relative merits of fried egg, toast and a Sunday lie-in (that is of course the choir, not the bells!)

We were, in fact several miles to the north in Southwell, a town in many ways like many other but for its splendid Minster. The Minster, which is the Cathedral Church of its Diocese, has a choral tradition which has spanned many centuries. The present choir of men and boys sings around eight choral services each week throughout the year. This August, it was our turn to sing the daily evening office of the Anglican Church in the beautiful setting of the Minster choir. This we started with great expectations, our organist Nick Brown arrived with the gait of a seasoned maestro, played mellifluously then departed speedily under the direction of the local doctor who, whilst not calling immediately for the undertakers, did suggest that he stay in bed for the rest of the week!

Your Director of Music was not to be put out by this minor near-disaster and enlisted the help of the Church-at-the-other-end-of-Wokingham whilst getting on with the business of accompanying the choir, the Dean of the Minster remarking one evening that 'I think she has got the hang of this organ!' Praise indeed.

A hard week of rehearsing and performing brought its own rewards both personally and as a choir. We were presented with a framed picture of the Minster by the Dean (which must surely be a rarity!) and a just as well framed image of our very own Victor taking forty winks in the sun on the grass below the Minster Tower as we gazed down on him from the top of it. The evidence is in the post ...

Katharina Pohl