A brief history of Staxton Singers
Chapter 1 |
Beginnings |
Soon after Sue Parker moved from Saffron Walden to Staxton village in the summer of 1984 she was soon visited by the Vicar, the Revd Alfred Mackensie, who quickly learned that Sue was a talented musician and she readily accepted his invitation to play the organ at the local church, St Peter's, Willerby. After getting to know people in the area she suggested starting a choir and so Staxton Singers were born.
At first there were just seven singers who rehearsed in Sue's home and they sang at the church services. Then, on October 5th, 1985, the Choir, already by now numbering twenty-two, sang at the wedding of Jacqueline Margaret Hardy and Anthony Gibson and there's a photograph of the choir on that joyous occasion in our Gallery.
Immediately Sue started on the festive programme, and on December 15th the Choir was singing "carols and frivolous songs" in Staxton Village Hall (still a precious annual event, and still with coffee "to soothe your tonsils"), and touring seven wards and the entrance hall of Scarborough Hospital just five days later.
On Good Friday, March 28th 1986, the Choir, now 32 strong, performed Stainer's Crucifixion with John Lambert (tenor) and Frank Lee (bass) (two of Sue Parker's former music pupils from London), and Sydney Pickles - Sue's father - played the organ at St Peter's, Willerby. They had rehearsed through the winter in the church which had been "freezing cold" despite the heating: the following winter's rehearsals, to their great relief, moved to the Old Vicarage by the kindness and generosity of Janet & Eric Bowles, parents of Jacqueline Hardy whose wedding had occasioned the Choir's first public outing.
Other performances during 1986 included joining Filey Junior School, Filey Harmony group, the Gristhorpe and Lebberston ladies Choir and Marion Whittow (oboist) in a fundraiser for Filey Rotary Club. Their set that evening included a 'selection from the Merry Widow (Lehar)' and a 'selection of Strauss waltzes' with soloists Nancy Plunket, Ralph Birks, Wendy Zohdi, Sidney Holdroyd and Barbara Brown.
Carol services were then, as now, popular engagements. The carol service at Westborough Methodist Church caused the choir a small problem: most could not see their conductor, Sue Parker, who was perched on "a much lower level"! Westborough didn't appear on the 1987 list of engagements! But several other Methodist chapels did: Burton Fleming, Cross Hill (Hunmanby), Seamer and Filey, as well as Queen Street and South Cliff in Scarborough. These were just some of the Choir's twenty singing engagements that year. Two of the highlights were the Easter performance of Charles Wood's St Mark's Passion: Hilary Watts (tenor), Frank Lee (bass) and Frank Wardle (organist); and the grand Staxton Festival on 11th July 1987. The Choir's contribution was an evening concert - sadly I don't have a programme - after a day's celebrations which included live radio broadcasts by Radio York, displays by the Royal Marne Commandos, Royal Corps of Signals (who also manned the public address system), a parachute drop, a martial arts display, a celebrity cricket match (again, sadly, I don't have a list of the celebrities...) as well as an ox roast, fun run, afternoon teas, open gardens, commercial stalls as well as games, tombola, children's gymnastics... the list is huge, and the evening's concert was "sparkling entertainment!"
The organ at St Peter's Church was badly in need of £3,000 worth of renovation, and Staxton Singers rose to the occasion with a very special concert. It was held in a converted grain store used as a barn and decorated for the evening with flowers flown in from Jersey. Joining Staxton Singers were barbershop quartet 'Take Four' (a reference, perhaps, to Dave Brubeck's 1959 classic jazz piece, 'Take Five'?) - and the Bridlington Brass Ensemble. The 300 guests received a glass of wine on arrival, and they enjoyed a finger buffet - champagne cocktails, nibbles, strawberries and cream! - during the interval, and "a splendid evening, a potpourri of comedy and choral and classical music." And all for £3.50 a head! But the event raised £700 towards the renovation of the organ, and Staxton Singers sang at its rededication on November 15th, 1987, then went on to sing a Christmas concert at the Grand Cinema, Filey, two weeks later!
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intermezzo |
Logos |
The first recorded posters for Staxton Singers were for the Easter 1986 performance of Stainer's Crucifixion and (left)the Easter 1987 performance of Charles Wood's The Passion of Our Lord according to St Mark. These handwritten posters - personal computers were very rare in those days! - featured traditional blackletter calligraphy, very suitable for such serious church music, by Edwin Cooper, and his style continues today in the logo which has now been adopted for the heading of these web pages.
Handwritten label on cover of José's first scrapbook
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repertoire |
As soon as a new singer joins Staxton Singers, the Librarian hands over a huge bundle of music: the repertoire! An entry in the scrapbook for late 1987 lists pieces from Ave verum to You'll never walk alone, some 69 in all covering the musical spectrum from sacred cantatas and Requiem masses ti light opera, musical show favourites and folk songs in English (and American), French, Russian, German, Italian and Hebrew!
The library has expanded in numbers since then, and reflects an even more eclectic delight in choral music in all its guises. So whatever your musical preference, Staxton Singers can - and would very much like to! - sing it for you!