Monkstown Church Choir

Carole’s Diary

Monkstown Parish Choir trip to Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire

FRIDAY 22ND AUGUST – SUNDAY 24TH AUGUST 2003

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Some cherished memories of our choir trip to Tewkesbury – the first sighting of the largest and finest 12th c Romanesque tower in England; processing with the clergy through the glorious abbey up to the choir stalls the strong sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows; walking though the conserved Tudor & Jacobean streets of Tewkesbury; listening to Diane Bauman our soloist

Peter Bauman listening to his mother Diana rehearsing the Benedictus from Haydn’s Little Organ Mass

rehearse the Benedictus from the Haydn’s Little Organ Mass; enjoying English honey from the apiaries of J. S. Luard of Tewkesbury; the Georgian staircases of our guesthouses; the mulberry tree in the abbey grounds bowed down with ripe berries and the heat the heat the heat. Well the heat the heat is one of our bad memories too – the almost unbearable heat wearing our choir robes on one of the most humid Sundays of a hot English summer; the shock when Charles a curate tells the sopranos they are not singing ‘together’; the marching and bowing rituals for the Procession at the Sung Eucharist requiring military precision; dining in The Grandfather’s Clock (sic); the lesser know songs of Tom Jones accompanying us loudly all the way from Anglesey to Tewkesbury and back in the CYMRU coach.

FRIDAY

We arrive to a different climate – instead of just visiting our neighbouring island it feels temperature-wise as if we have arrived in the tropics. It also feels as if we have dropped into a film set. We are staying in two hotels set in a medieval street in front of the abbey. Walking through the twilight to our evening meal we are struck with how quiet it is; coming home it is humid and eerily empty. Everything on the street, bar the Abbey Clock (which chimes the quarter hour), ceases at midnight. We decide to gatecrash the British Legion club - (more Tom Jones) - but that stops at 12 a.m. too. It is light years away from Dublin. Come on, its Friday night, and we’re in carousing mood. Fortunately the landlord of the Abbey hotel has provided an “honesty bar” in and certain thirsty members of the choir make very good use of it.

SATURDAY

The morning is spent in a very hot market where electric hand fans are purchased along with face wipes /sun glasses/sun-hats and bottles of water. By 3 pm we are off to the Abbey to rehearse for Evensong; the hard work begins.

Anita Readman and choir members walking to the Abbey for Rehearsal

We walk into the magnificent abbey and are filled with awe. That we are to sing at three services in this place, consecrated in 1121 is indeed a privilege. We are introduced to Charles a curate who is to instruct us in very high-church ritual, and the Archdeacon of Tewkesbury The Ven. Peter Bishop – a darling man - (has Irish relations). Needless to say the rehearsal for Evensong is fraught and frazzled. We gratefully repair to the Abbey refectory where refreshments are offered. Robing in our fine wool burgundy red gowns we wonder how ever we will survive the humidity? Siobhan Kilkelly our leader and organist inspects our footwear and is impressed. In a side nave of the great abbey, Charles intones a prayer and instructs us to the mystery of abbey rite. Following our solemn staff bearer we file in and peel off into the choir stalls. Standing in this venerable place we admire the 14th c vaulted ceiling painted in red and blue and gilded with Yorkist badges of the Sun in Splendour. Simon Stroughair our assistant organist plays the magnificent Milton organ and the Preces of the Evensong commences. Later, winding our sweaty way home we feel happy enough with our ‘performance’. However we hear later that Charles was not happy - the sopranos who were “not in time” AND EVEN WORSE plastic water bottles were left in the choir stalls during Evensong. We must certainly sharpen up for tomorrow’s Procession and Sung Eucharist.

SUNDAY

The great day arrives and we once again marvel at the fact that we are to sing in this ancient place. We are really nervous and really hot. We have another rehearsal in the choir room and things get more complex. How Simon and Siobhan understand the instructions I will never know – suffice to say the choir has to handle over 6 pieces of paper as well as their song-sheets (Kevin all is forgiven). Assembling in the North Aisle we follow the very difficult processional instructions. I am taken back to my schooldays when every saint’s day our school processed with banners around the Abbey Church of St. Albans. Following the verger who is now a ‘thurifer’ and an army of clergy, we process around the abbey and up to the high altar, to the accompaniment of “Mis Sancti Johannis de Deo” by Haydn. There are over 25 of us in Monkstown Parish choir today and we will never ever forget this experience. Processing up to the high altar with the light streaming through the coloured glass, the incense steaming from the thurible, we feel humbled. The rituals and sacraments continue and the choir has to step in to one side of the stalls and then step out again to the other side – when we get back to Monkstown there will be sprightlier step A highlight - the singing by visiting chorister Diana Bauman (ex Monkstown now Guilford) who sings with great beauty the Bendictus from Haydn’s Little Organ Mass. We leave to the strains of the organ voluntary expertly played by Siobhan Kilkelly – “Carillon Sortie” by Mulet. The ‘Milton’ organ in Tewkesbury Abbey dates back to the Jacobean period and is reported to have been played by John Milton (then Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell!). A photo call for the choir, organized by Catherine Hamill outside the abbey precedes a welcome afternoon’s respite.

Photo of Monkstown Parish Church Choir at Tewksbury Abbey

We finish our services that evening with Solemn Evensong, and no water bottles are in evidence. We are old hands now and Charles even praises the choir especially Diana’s solo singing. In celebration the parish treats us to evening dinner in Holohans Pub (a home from home); Alex Cathcart assists the barmen. We miss Kevin who is unable to accompany us, and toast him in absentia. Ronny Elder gives a great speech thanking Siobhan and Simon for their sterling work and a mighty cheer is raised when we hear that a return visit to the Abbey has been extended.