DQB123

Ermmm well, they can give you a credit card.... and the financial advice would be NOT to use it!

So what would be the onerous duties of the President (as decided by the Council) that would cause the President-elect to say thanks, but no thanks?

Curiously the President-elect has decided to stand down due to some decision pertaining to the responsibilities of RCO Presidents.... Doesn't sound too happy in the hallowed cyber-corridors of PO Box 56357 London n'est ce pas?

Beloved Brethren Since this thread commenced on 1 November 2006, I checked back on the RCO website today, and I notice that the membership sub has increased and is a snip at a mere 76 quid! Our best efforts to bring the annual sub down to an affordable price have fallen (alas) upon ears deafened no doubt by endless persons desperately seeking to acquire letters after their name. Now don't get me wrong. I'd love to belong to the jolly old RCO; but being rather (ermm) tight-fisted, I am still wondering what I'd get for the dosh. Are there any developments since the Birmingham debacle to encourage one to remember the college in one's will? In short, what news the RCO?

I guess that you need to ask yourself who you are doing all of this for. Is it for the church, the clergy, the laity, the two organ scholars in question, for Malcolm; or is it perchance for Almighty God? If it is the latter, then I suggest that you need not worry about all of the former... because the rewards for what you are doing/have done will be OUT OF THIS WORLD!! Q

Well all I would say is just try running a parish and see what you make of it.... And I'd bet that it wouldn't be too long before you too were rushing out for Mr Mayhew's new ipodthingie! (not that I have Mr Mayhew's ipodthingie.... )

Or maybe most organists and most clergy are awkward old b*****s. But I'm not... Q

But not all churches (or clergy) fit into the stereo-types you list and seem to take for granted as typical. For example I wouldn't mind music at our mid-week service and at our 8am service when no organist is available, but I'd sooner fly to the moon than get rid of a real live (capable) organist if one were available. And yes, we do allow free use of the organ to learner organists. I think that it is the endless snipes at clergy (assuming that we are all tarred with the same brush, that we all preach dull sermons, and walk roughshod over our parish colleagues) that do more harm than anything else and cause offense when it really is so un-necessary. Perhaps it's time for the clergy to start whining about ALL those organists who hate us, and who in any case don't bother to practice, and who insist on playing their Victorian hymns too fast or too slow or too high or too low. And who do all their power to be awkward when a <whisper> more modern hymn</whisper> is requested

Hi Tony. I couldn't agree with you more! Q

Hi Tony. I couldn't agree with you more! Q

Ermmm.... aren't you saying here what others have observed??? I re-ran the Sky+ recording just now and the final chord was held for about thirty seconds. Whilst I wish that I could play 100th as well as WM - it just seemed a little odd to me that the final chord was so lengthy.

I'm glad it wasn't just me who found that last chord curiously long. Very bizarre methought. A sudden thought - - maybe WM discovered the lost chord.....

I once visited the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California and as there was a guided tour thought it would be fun to tag along. Eventually the group reached the Aboretum where the Aeolian-Skinner (Opus 1141) - 1951 of 4 manuals, 82 ranks plus 6 digital voices had been installed. This had come from a Christian Scientist Church (I think) which had been severely damaged in the Northridge Earthquake. Quite clearly visible are a couple of 90 degree mitred pipes, and one of the number spotted them and asked why they were different to the other pipes. The tour guide had no clue - but happily told us that birds had made a nest on top of them - so perhaps that was the reason for it being done in that way! A charming idea, no doubt, but I could not resist letting the cat out of the bag and telling them the real reason why!!

Lucky escape for the organ - shame about the chapel .... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7501781.stm

Was it Nicholas Kynaston at RAH?

I can't say that has been my experience. In no way were the NPOR people a waste of time, and correspondence was good, courteous and co-operative. From what I know there is a huge amount of work that has to be (and is being) done. Am I to understand that the NPOR is staffed by volunteers? And if so, then I'm not sure that any of us is in a position to snap fingers at them.

I love it!

Tsk Tsk dear Father! There's so much to be said for getting the faithful to look up from their books and sing with lungs full of air - unlike those nasty people who frequent weddings and mumble through Praise My Soul, Make Me A Channel of Your Peace and Now Thank We All Our God! You could screw the fittings for the screen quite nicely to those organ pipes in the picture attachment to your emails (just as they did in the Pentecostal Church (once a proud Welsh Calvinistic Methodist conventicle) in Colwyn Bay .... I'm just looking for a place to put a screen in our Parish Church.

Mine was a full half hour late - no apology. :angry: When 25 past the hour came round I went back to The Vicarage - to simmer in peace! After having kept the bellringers ringing for about 50 minutes, I told them to stop. The silence was SCREAMING!!! When the service finally got going I was so vexed sore, that I forgot the first hymn! But I did calm down after a while, and they all went away with a smile.... Service was through and I was home in 20 minutes!

I would think that was not unreasonable. Another thought would be to put on a CD. That way you could go and make a cup of tea, and return to the console in time for the bride - and some cream cakes would make the whole event entirely more enjoyable. Q

I used to play the organ at Holy Trinity Church in Llandudno where the Rector, one Derek Richards was a former Major in the army and a stern bachelor to boot! Fed up of late brides, he announced in the Parish Magazine that if the bride was 10 minutes late, the choir would be sent home - if 15 minutes late, both Rector and Organist would go home. This hit the local newspaper headlines, and e'er long a stream of journalists were buzzing around. The Bishop was visited by television camera crews with cameras rolling and Granada Reports came to interview said Rector (with organ playing in background). When asked about the bride's prerogative to be late, he snootily replied "the bride has no prerogative in this matter". It was a week to remember! There was also a confetti deposit - forfeited if said stuff was used! I don't think that he ever had to put his threat into action - the threat of it was enough. But every once in a while there can be a genuine reason for lateness. Two weeks after my own wedding, I was on duty for a wedding in Rhyl. I noticed that there was a huge traffic jam outside, but didn't pay too much attention to it. Stuck in the jam was the flower arranger-people who had the wedding flowers. The wedding had to be delayed until the flowers arrived! (A fortnight earlier and I would have blown my top -- but then I found out how expensive flowers are!) And then there was the occasion where my training incumbant had a wedding at which the bride arrived 25 minutes late in spite of a request for her to try to be punctual. Though he was less than pleased he never showed it, and after the wedding the father of the bride came to him to thank him for being so kind and patient. He added that his daughter had epilepsy and that as they were leaving their home (in good time) she had experienced an epilieptic fit and they had to deal with that... So I guess that whilst there are obnoxious and rude persons, there can be other things going on too.... Q

Presumably this thread has gone all quiet because the voicers and fine tuners are at work...

Since no one else has mentioned it, I see that Jennifer Bate has been awarded OBE.