[Congratulatons To Richard And Colin In Winchester]

Those of us who receive the RCO News will have noticed that both Colin Harvey and Richard McVeigh passed the ARCO exam in the summer. Hearty congratulations to both. Perhaps they should get together for a celebratory pint in one of the excellent local hostelries that we have mentioned before. Perhaps they already have!

 

Well done to both of you.

 

Malcolm Kemp

 

Hear hear, very well done! Hopefully it won't be long before we can congratulate two new FRCOs...

[Pubs And Churches]

It really must have changed then. The time I was working on the organ (hopefully, that hasn't altered too much!) we used to say how nice it was to find a pub with no music and not centred around food. (but that was in 1980 ish.) Another thing I remember from that time (off topic, sorry) was a wonderful old boy (verger?) in the church who used to state the obvious. For example he pointed out to some visitors a fantastic armorial panel with the date of 1680 painted on it and said "That's over 100 year old yer know". I heard this at least twenty times whilst working on the organ and had a job not to laugh. Also, whilst we were really struggling down a ladder out of the organ with a large scale 16ft open metal pipe he shouted out "Are yer doing a bit of carpentry?" I wont repeat our muttered replies! A new topic here could be "some funny remarks heard in churches - organ-related of course.

 

It's still there and under new management, although they recently had a failure of the ovens meaning that they had to stop serving food - more's the pity. It's a pleasant little pub!

 

As far as I can tell, no-one from the Church (apart from me) tends to go there nowadays. The Choir Men prefer The Wheatsheaf across the road, where the beers are more varied and the atmosphere is more lively. I wouldn't recommend eating in there other than on a Sunday, however...

 

We have an intriguing tradition of playing a "Middle Voluntary" at Matins and Evensong, which originated over a century ago when a wealthy lady in the congregation bequeathed a sum of money to be added to the Organist's salary in order that he might play a piece between the Psalm and the First Lesson. The idea was that she and her friends could have a quick natter whilst the Vicar, Men and Gentlemen of the Choir repaired to the Ring o'Bells for a swift half before continuing with the service! Mercifully the nattering and trip to the pub have long since died out, but the voluntary remains. An opportunity for the congregation to reflect - and a good way of ensuring that they are used to listening to organ voluntaries as music, rather than as something to talk over...