As some of you know already, April 24th is not only Easter Day but also my Silver Jubilee Anniversary of becoming the St. Marks organist. I can still vividly remember my debut as we were celebrating our 10th anniversary, with the church bedecked with flowers and decorations and packed to capacity for the Morning Service. But how did my organ playing career begin? I do not come from a musical family; neither of my parents were musical and the only musical ancestor on either side was my mother's Uncle Jim, who lived from 1881 to 1966. He was a former silent movies pianist at Saltburn-in-Cleveland's Regent cinema in the early 20th century and was a "natural". He had little formal musical education and was largely self-taught but could change the character of the music at the drop of a hat to suit the varying moods of the films. I am eternally grateful for being given the chance and my musical education started with piano lessons which began on my 8th birthday. I progressed to Grade 6 practical and Grade 8 Theory and won the School Music Cup (for being the only pupil to pass O Level Music that year so the competition wasn't exactly red hot!). As for the organ, my opportunity came purely by chance on 12th August 1979; a defining moment in my life. After attending Morning Service at my local church, St. Andrews, Kinson that day, the then vicar, Canon Loughlin, asked me if I would play the organ at the daughter church of St. Philip as their organist was having to retire due to failing health. I consented but having never played an organ before I visited the music library and borrowed a book called "Teach Yourself To Play The Organ" by Francis Routh. After reading it through and practising at St. Philips during the week I made my debut the following Sunday and from then I was "hooked". Hours of practice and hard work followed as I developed my pedalling, together with lessons from the then organist of St. Johns, Boscombe, Norman Wilson.

Nearly 7 years later I left St Philips due to the arrival of a new evangelical team vicar who did not want the pipe organ and instead installed a charismatic music group. As I was musically redundant I applied for the organist vacancy at St. Marks and was appointed by the Rev. Fred Rason. Upon my arrival there on 27th April 1986 I inherited a small, dwindling (and ageing) choir, having never fully understood the logic behind the assumption that if one can play an organ he must also be capable of training and conducting a choir. The sudden and premature death of Phil Dorset, one of my organist predecessors, in mid April 1986, who I had been told would have been willing and able to advise me on certain matters, did not help. I gave it my best shot but with choir numbers continuing to decline a P.C.C. decision to abandon the regular choir at the end of 1987 was taken. After that it was a case of my forming voluntary choirs to sing anthems at key stages of the Church Year. However, I greatly enjoyed playing at the large number of weddings we had in my early years here, over 30 per annum, with 41 in 1988. On occasions I have nipped out to play for weddings during suitably long breaks in my bus driving duties. I have been amused at some of the musical requests that have come my way, especially at funerals. The latter have included "Ding Dong, The Wicked Witch Is Dead" (from The Wizard of Oz), the theme from "Chariots of Fire" (before a cremation) and "The Sun Has Got His Hat On", which I had to play by ear. Sadly the number of weddings declined dramatically after 1990, with single figure totals every year from 1995, and with so many other types of venues now licensed to stage weddings that situation is unlikely to change.

The musical content of the services under Rev. Rason was a mixture of traditional hymns and worship songs. This format caused a degree of friction between the traditional and charismatic worshippers, who felt that the music should have gone either one way or the other. That changed after his retirement in October 1991 and his successor, the Rev. Tony Watts, abandoned worship songs and choruses. He was modern-minded in many ways but he preferred modern hymns by such writers as Peter Cutts, Brian Wren, Timothy Dudley-Smith and Michael Baughan. He also introduced Taize chants and responsorial settings of psalms. Following his departure to Warminster in May 2000. the Rev. Charles Booth was appointed in September that year. His arrival more or less coincided with that of Ralph Hebditch. Ralph is an accomplished multi instrumentalist, as well as a skilled and experienced choir trainer and he and his musical family have contributed enormously to the music at St. Marks. I will admit to having learned a lot from him on accompaniment and have gleaned many tips on training the choir, which to this day is still going from strength to strength.

It certainly does not seem so long since I made my debut here. Where has the last quarter of a century gone? But 25 years ago it was.

Charles Thomas

Another great Congress week, albeit with a couple of reservations. I was unimpressed with my hotel room (just ten feet square, with neither air conditioning nor windows) and there was a travel mishap on the third day, about which more anon. Those two blemishes apart, the week was up to the usual high standard and is always one of the highlights of my year.
The proceedings began with a superb recital by Michael Maine on the fine Hill organ at All Saints, Hove, a beautiful Gothic Revival building with excellent acoustics, designed by J. L. Pearson, whose other churches include St. Stephens, Bournemouth and Truro Cathedral. His programme included two delightful chorale preludes by Canon Anthony Caesar and Peter Hurford's Suite "Laudate Dominum".

The following morning began with a recital in the remarkable church of St. Bartholomew, which is notable for being the loftiest church in Britain apart from Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. The sweet-toned 3-manual Morgan and Smith organ, revised by Wood/Brown, was excellently played by Julian Thomas, who I first met as a 15 year old at Charter House School on our 1991 Outing. He showed enormous potential in demonstrating the Chapel organ for us that day and he is now Director of Music at Tonbridge School. In contrast, our next port of call was the East Sussex Golf Resort, where Mike Wooldridge played medleys of popular tunes and songs from the musicals on the 4-manual Wurlitzer which is housed there. Then it was on to Lancing College Chapel. Despite its lofty proportions the acoustic was surprisingly dry, which I learned later was due to the sandstone used in its construction. Consequently the sound of the somewhat under-sized Walker organ on the west end gallery did not carry well through the building. Daniel Hyde played a recital of music by Parry, J. S. Bach, Ireland and Guilmant and then conducted a master class on the Frobenius organ in the chancel. Its baroque voicing was perfect for the J. S. Bach pieces chosen by James Luxton, Nick Miller, and Joseph Wicks, who responded positively to Daniel's skilful and gentle guidance.

My nomination for Recital of the Week goes to Mark Wardell, whose handling of the splendid Hill organ (restored by David Wells) in Arundel Cathedral was a delight. It matches the building perfectly, which has superb acoustics, and his excellent and varied programme included one of my favourite organ sonatas, the C sharp minor by Harwood. Then it was on to Chichester Cathedral and a fine recital by Catherine Ennis. This was followed by a more informal "organ extravaganza", featuring all 5 of the cathedral's organs played simultaneously by Catherine, together with Mark Wardell, Simon Lawford, Alan Thurlow, the recently retired Cathedral organist and Dr. John Birch, his predecessor.

Next day began with a visit to Christ's Hospital, near Horsham. It included a tour of the hospital, with a short recital on the 2-manual Willis organ in the Dining Hall and then a recital on the Chapel Organ by Adrian Bawtree, the Hospital's Director of Music.
The afternoon venue was Tonbridge School, whose chapel boasts a magnificent 4-manual 67-stop Marcussen organ. This was the setting for the Brereton Memorial Recital, performed by Simon Preston, whose brilliant and intense playing shows no sign of flagging despite being in his seventies. His programme was interesting for including several pieces which were new to me, including Six Fugues on B.A.C.H. by Schumann and an attractive Adagio by Beethoven. The only blot on an otherwise great day was a three and a half hour accident induced delay on the M25.

It was back to Brighton for the final day. It started with the A.G.M. in St. Pauls Church, which was followed by a Communion service and then the R.C.O. Lecture entitled "Spreading the Music - a fresh look at teaching and learning". After that we took the short walk to St. Peters Church for the final Congress recital, given by Neil Cockburn, the Head of Organ Studies at the Mount Royal University Conservatory. Fittingly it included pieces by S. S. Wesley in the bicentenary year of his birth and finished with Peeters1 dazzling Toccata, Fugue and Hymn which amply demonstrated the power and tonal range of the superb 4-manual Willis organ. The Annual Dinner brought Congress to a close. The Guest Speaker was the Right Reverend Graham Knowles, the Dean of St. Pauls Cathedral, who proved a most engaging and amusing speaker.

Overall, another splendid week, spent with like minded people. We are all indebted to Jeanne Cawley, who stepped back into the breach at the last minute following the sudden resignation of Helen Devereux Murray as Congress Administrator after just one year. As always, she strove to make Congress a trouble free experience, which it was apart from the aforementioned traffic delay; even she could not control that! Next year the Congress Roadshow moves across the Irish Sea to Belfast.

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A BOURNEMOUTH COMPOSER

Those of you who read the titles of my opening and concluding voluntaries on the pew sheets will know by now that I have a penchant for the music of Percy Whitlock. But how many of you realise that he spent most of his adult life in Bournemouth? Born on 1st June 1903 at Chatham Kent, his musical education began as a chorister in Rochester cathedral choir under the tutelage of Hylton Stewart, the Cathedral Organist. Percy was appointed Assistant Organist of the Cathedral at the amazingly early age of eighteen, by which time his creative talent, generously and sympathetically nurtured by Stewart, was beginning to flower. When Stewart left Rochester, Percy's mild nature precluded him as a successor so, after marrying Edna, he moved to Bournemouth in 1930.

Here he became Director of Music at St. Stephen's Church. By now he had developed into an outstanding composer of music firmly rooted in the English pastoral and romantic idiom; much of his most popular output was created on the St. Stephen's organ during his five years there. He also wrote a symphony for organ and large orchestra and many choral pieces (motets, part-songs and service settings) but he was at his most inventive and original on the organ, reflecting his passion for the instrument. In 1932 he was appointed Civic Organist at Bournemouth Pavilion, a post he held for fourteen years. Unfortunately, most of his life was dogged by ill-health, culminating in his death on 1st May 1946 at the tragically young age of 42, possibly before he reached his peak. Since 1980 his music has undergone a revival, due to the endeavours of the Percy Whitlock Trust and in particular Robert Gower, who has arranged the publication and promotion of his music. Now it is receiving the recognition it so richly deserves.