September: We are approaching the end of an event-filled year. Saddest was the loss of Mavis Brown, who died unexpectedly in the spring. She and Mike, a very welcome pairing of low alto and high tenor, were very much part of the Lacock landscape and had been coming to courses for over two decades. An organizer herself, she understood the problems of keeping thirty or more people happy for a week at a time and was a great moral support. She was also an astute spotter of potential leaders, and it was through her that, for instance, Justin Doyle joined the Lacock stable. At Mavis’s memorial service June, Justin introduced me to Will Carslake, which turned out to be another fortunate connexion: Will was able to step in at short notice when Justin had to cancel his appearance in Jimena because of ill health. The week turned out to be a ‘classic’, in which the repertoire, singers, director and venue all worked together to produce a very happy result.
Why are men more reluctant than women to join choirs? With our extensive contacts and now the Lacock Scholars we like to think we do better than most at achieving a workable balance of voices, but we rarely have to go looking for sopranos or altos. For 2016 we would like to make this offer: if you enrol for a course you may bring a male singer not already known to us free of charge, as long as he fulfils the criteria for that course. This may seem like foolhardy largesse, but so many Lacock singers become addicts we are confident it will pay dividends. (One is reminded of the Indian restaurant whose slogan was: ‘Just one visit is enough to make you regular’). Of course, if things get out of hand we may have to withdraw the offer at some stage.
The Lacock Scholars continue to flourish. In addition to providing excellent young voices on most Lacock courses, they now have a twelve-part consort which has just started a new series of performances under Greg Skidmore in St Cuthbert’s church in Earls Court in London. They are continuing the novel presentation developed last year. As they say in their welcoming leaflet, “this sequence polyphony, chant and brief periods of silence is neither a service nor a concert, though it has elements of both. Make of it what you will: perhaps an interlude of stillness in a noisy world; a stimulus to meditation or prayer; or an opportunity to let one of London’s most dramatic church interiors and music of the centuries overwhelm the senses.”
The Cantax House flood saga is almost at an end; the restoration is now finished and we will move back there very shortly, having been unhoused just over a year. Thank you for all the messages of support.
August: In March we reunited our now dispersed family with a holiday in Tobago – Henry is in Los Angeles and it seemed only fair that for once the rest of us should cross the Atlantic. I was immediately struck by the thought that where we stayed would make an ideal Lacock course venue: an idyllic Caribbean fishing village with two glorious swimming beaches, surrounded by virgin jungle – the whole north east end of the island has been a nature reserve since the eighteenth century – a community hall to sing in and no large-scale tourist development. I was sure any of the Lacock conductors would jump at the chance of going there, so which one to choose? We’d want somehow to engage with the local music-making and gradually I decided that because of his time in Africa, the ties of his new family and his genius in coming up with brilliant choral arrangements of music from all over the world, Justin Doyle would fit the bill very well. Then in the cafe on the beach on our last day I was told I must meet that couple over there because their family was musical. Indeed they were: their daughter was a soloist with Opera North and her husband was a conductor. What, I asked, was the name of the conductor (wrong question!). I was so shocked to hear the name Justin Doyle that it took me a few seconds to realize what they’d said.
You may not have heard that Cantax House was flooded in the Great Storm of Wiltshire on 19 September last year. Since then we have been living up the road in Corsham while the house has been in restauro. So while Corsham has many things that may be said in its favour, life has been a little disjointed for the last twelve months. The work is almost complete and we’re planning to moving back in next month.
