Altrincham
Choral Society Newsletter

July 2005

Following the tragic death of Alison Lumsden in March, the choir were asked to sing at her
Memorial Service last month. Just under thirty members
attended the service at which we sang the Lacrymosa
from Mozart’s Requiem, followed by Mozart’s Ave Verum,
with (an un-rehearsed) Jesu Joy of Man’s
Desiring at the close of the service. The church was packed with family, and
friends, and afterwards we were thanked by her family for attending and
performing the Mozart pieces, which had been particular favourites of
Alison’s.

Alison had been a member of
ACS for 9 years but wasn’t always able to sing in all concerts owing to
family commitments. During the eulogy given by her brother we learnt a lot more
about Alison – she had studied French and the History of Art a
University, before joining Sothebys in London as an
Art Specialist. Later the family moved from Esher in Surrey
to Antrobus, when Alison was involved in setting up Sothebys Chester Auction House. As an Art Specialist she
travelled extensively and also gave lectures on the subject. We were told that
she was always the life and soul of the party, and as well as singing was a
very keen bridge player and was a very active and involved member of Bowdon
Lawn Tennis Club.

Unfortunately, it is only at
occasions like these that we find out more about each other as we have so
little time to chat at rehearsals (or during the tea break!). It is only when
we travel away to Cartmel or abroad, that we have the
time to learn more about each other and what we get up to outside of ACS.
It’s not too late to book a ticket for the Cartmel
coach!

_____________________________________

On
a more up-beat note it is a great pleasure to welcome 10 new members to choir
this term. Please introduce yourselves to:

1st Sopranos – Lucy Harrison and Rosemary
Hurley; 1st Altos – Joy
Anderson; 2nd Altos – Katharine
Carter, Elizabeth Lawrence, Jan Lees and Elaine Van Der Zeil;
1st Bass – Bob Harris and John Lees

We also welcome back Dave Williams and Keith Lewis
who have been missing from the Tenor ranks owing to ill health, but are now
back singing with us again.

Membership now stands at 108 members with 2 new ladies
awaiting audition as we go to press. As everyone who is eligible has gift aided
their subscriptions, we can look forward to receiving £2000 back in tax
relief from the Inland Revenue.

Congratulations to Helen McBride on the safe arrival of baby Lucy Chiara (8lbs 4oz) who was born on the day of our last
concert – what a feeble excuse for not singing that day! Congratulations
too to proud grandfather John Mulholland. Baby Lucy
is joining us in Venice
so will be our youngest member. It will also make the Mulhollands
the first 3 generation family in ACS! (Come on the Mottram’s!!)
Baby Lucy apart, the average age of choir members is now 57.

Singing in Harmony? To date we now have 11 married
couples in the choir. This also means we have 68 other ladies who could
introduce/drag in their partners (or just a man off the street) ….. preferably tenors to come along and join us. Seriously
though, we do need to attract more gentlemen – please have a think who could swell our numbers.

Subscriptions – all monthly standing orders
should now have finished – please check your bank accounts to see (particularly
NatWest customers whose staff are
undable to count). Of course, if any over payments
are made we will refund them or use them to reduce next year’s subscription.

Pat Arnold, Membership Sec.

From the Librarian: Spring concert – Haydn and
Schubert. Cost of book hire, including orchestral parts came to £305.88. i.e. £3.09 per member.  Without orchestral parts
the cost per member was £2.79

Maestro’s Musings

Choosing a
programme is no easy task, but even harder is choosing one that will travel
from Manchester, to the Lakes and finally to Venice.

So, how did
my choices come about? The easy part was to think Italian; it would be very
remiss not to perform music from the wealth of repertoire left by the plethora
of Italian composers.

I wanted a
work to open each of the concerts that would grab the attention of the
audience, and would be representative of the kind of concert on offer. It
didn’t take me long to settle on the surprisingly still fresh and
energetic setting of the Gloria by Vivaldi.

Both at Cartmel Priory and in the splendour of our Venetian venues,
I wanted to have some a cappella
music which would undoubtedly be enhanced by a naturally rich acoustic.

Music again
by Italian composers Ludovico Viadana
and Giovanni Pierluigi di
Palestrina

provided settings of Psalm
33 Exsultate justi and
Psalm 81 Exsultate Deo,
both energetic and vibrant in style.

In contrast I
wanted something slower and more reflective, the Adoramus
te, Christe
provided exactly the contrast I was looking for, alongside the short, but
moving Locus Iste by Bruckner.

Equally
contrasting was the choice of music from a variety of well known composers and
equally well known works. None of which need introduction, but each in their own way are timeless and representative of each composer.

Piano music
by Bach and Liszt provide an opportunity to hear solo performances from our
accompanist Lydia Bryan who has an innate ability to capture every nuance
required of each piece.

I
hope you enjoy our concert and that we have performed at least one piece which
is either an old favourite for you, or maybe for some
a new experience.

Brian Whitehouse MBE

Brian, a steadfast second bass
for many years, would disclaim even a moderately exotic persona. However, he is
not only a southerner, but a man of Kent  ( for you uninformed Mankies that means he comes from west of  the Medway, which is a river ) His place
of birth was Aylesford  and his school Maidstone Grammar School. When he started there,
every day featured an air display, later to be styled the Battle of Britain. Maidstone was full of London
evacuees, with only 150 boys allowed in the school at any one time, and for a
time Brian and his peers went to school in an air raid shelter half a day a
fortnight. Some people have all the luck!

National Service in the RAF
took him well north of the Medway viz. to Padgate , Warrington  where recruits were taught how to bash
squares. He obviously learned more than this, because service took him to Tripoli, North Africa
where he was technician in charge of a Forces Broadcasting Station.  Yes - he was the  Uncle Brian you listened to
in  Children’s Hour on Sunday afternoons, if you
were a youngster in Tripoli
in 1949.

After demob
there was Bristol
University , a degree in Biological Chemistry and a  PhD for a thesis on an enzyme. Brian
sang in the university choir which  numbered about 500! The Professor  of
Music  obviously had a Mahlerian yen to hear the whole world singing.

On graduation Brian went into
the chemical industry
in Birmingham
where he met Helen, equally known and popular in ACS where she graces the first
sops. Moves to London, Liverpool
and Barry followed.  By 1963 there
were four children , named  Stephen, Richard, Martin and Gillian (
now augmented by two grandchildren ). At this point the famille
Whitehouse felt the call of the north
west again for Brian to live in Bowdon and work in Trafford Park. In 1969 Brian had earned a period
of residence in decorous
Guildford where he and Helen joined the
Guildford Singers, a choir about 50 strong.

They came back to Bowdon in
1975 - a toe in the water with ACS, but didn’t enjoy getting frozen in St.John’s church  on an infamous occasion when we
sang the Dvorak Stabat Mater and  Haydn Paukenmesse!
They decided to join the Manchester Cathedral Cantata choir as much for the
singing standards as the central heating. Subsequently, Brian took himself off
to Brussels for
ten years where he and Helen were in the  Brussels Choral Society, about
ACS size but with 17 different nationalities.

Brian came back to Bowdon and
to ACS in 1994. He became chairman in 1995 and served with distinction for 4
years. An important move in his term of office - and one that has not been
regretted - was from St. Peter’s Hale to RNCM for
our main concerts. We hope he is cured of the wanderlust.

Few in the choir will know about the MBE, conferred in 2000 for services
to food safety. The man of Kent
is surely concealing his deep love for the North West and for Altrincham
Choral Society when he says that he has spent 42 years in these parts with a
reprieve of 15 years for good conduct