St Michael’s College Society

The President’s Message 2002

It was good to see so many members of the Society at last year’s reunion. This year’s programme will be more or less the same except that on the Sunday after the Parish Eucharist there will be a short lecture on the Three Choirs Festival and its origins. This will take place in the church. Tony Hull, whose father was organist of Hereford Cathedral (1918-49) and a Fellow of the college, has organised this.

I am grateful to the members of the Society who formed the choir for Evensong. It was a moving service and thanks to Ben Turner who brought along some strong (voice-wise) sopranos we were able to sing 4 part music throughout including another Ouseley setting and the anthem ‘Jerusalem on High’ from the Founder’s oratorio Hagar. This year I want ‘Thy Tents’ which he composed in 1851 on seeing Milan Cathedral bathed in moonlight.

Members of the Society raised £736 towards the restoration of the Founder’s portrait which now hangs in the baptistery in church. The Ouseley Trust is most grateful for this generous donation.

The restoration has been completed and the painting has been returned to the church. The five Fellows boards which used to be in the college dining hall have now been individually framed and hung in the passage behind the organ.

I have asked Tony Penn to write a short article about the present state of the church building, what work has been done since the college closed and what work still needs to be done.

The parish works very hard to raise money for the upkeep of the building and the organ which still sounds magnificent. Tony is an architect and has worked tirelessly for the church over many years.

We welcome Brian Demaus as our Guest of Honour at this year’s reunion dinner. He was appointed to the college staff in 1946 and spent the rest of his working life there until his retirement in 1984. Nearly all the Old Boys and Girls who attend the reunion were either taught by him or were his contemporaries when he was a boy at the college in the 1930s.

Finally my thanks to Tim Coles, our secretary, for all his administrative work and to John Pepper for looking after the Society’s finances.

Reunion 2001

       
Click on image to enlarge

A particularly strong Village side, boosted by two junior County players posted a "reachable" but testing target for the Old Boys side, lacking more than one of the key regulars. After a steady start, as the afternoon sun set in, and the beer started to take it’s toll on the early batting capability, the Old Boys side "did an England" and collapsed in startling fashion. Plans are afoot for coaxing a stronger Old Boys side onto the field this year and revenge is planned. In winning the game, the Village have tantalising levelled the series at 2-2.

With controversy surrounding the handicapping system, Society Captain Ian Holland emerged victorious to be the first to take home the new SMC Golf Society Trophy.

Played on a bright day at the testing Sapey course, barely a few miles from the College, 12 entrants battled for the mounted crest trophy that has been hand-made by former Warden Andrew Walters specially for the event.

The players retired for dinner and presentations at The Talbot at Knightwick, sampling the in-house real ales.

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The new name on the block has broken a long held tradition at St Michael’s College, where new buildings and rooms are usually named after notable worthies. However, in a remarkable acknowledgement of the long and loyal service of the college groundsman and caretaker, a new residential block has been named Lanman House.

For 50 years Derek James Lanman, aged 65, has dutifully maintained the beautiful Victorian building and spacious campus, and to celebrate his golden jubilee on October 1^st, the day he joined the College team, he proudly

unveiled a plaque by cutting a gold ribbon with a well used pair of garden shears.

Delighted with the honour Mr Lanman said, "I can’t really believe I have a building named after me, it is usually for the bigwigs like Canon Alderson, who always kept his dog collar showing in case he was caught speeding across the common".

From the age of 15, young Derek became left hand man to one-armed gardener Harry Piper, which caused him to become left handed too. Over the years he worked up to his current position but it nearly didn’t happen; the job was temporary cover for a national serviceman who chose not to come back, something the College is eternally thankful for.

“Friday Hero”

Derek was named the Times Education Supplement “Friday Hero” to mark his 50 years at the College and was presented with flowers, champagne and chocolates. Headmaster Stuart Higgins said of Derek: “He is a real gentlemen who is loved and appreciated by staff and students”

Thanks From Us Too

The St Michael’s College Society would also like to put on record our admiration and thanks to Derek for the marvellous contribution that he has made to the College for over half a century.

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Website Update from William Jenkyns

The website, stories of St Michael’s, and you.

The Society website continues to grow.  As well as providing a focal point for those interested in the college and its history, the site is there for those with questions to ask about SMC and the society. There are stories of life at SMC, and we have also quite a sizeable collection of music to listen to, including a new recording of Ouseley’s Praeludium and Fugue in D.

Did you know that there is a fully-fledged discussion group on the site? With cor-respondents in different countries, topics raised include; memories of being in the choir; were the baths always cold in your day?, and stories. One which I shall relate here is the schoolboy story of the ghost of Quarry Pool:

As a 7-year-old boy, I recall that one of many things I was told upon starting at St Michael’s was about Quarry Pool.

This was the pool, surrounded by a high fence, in the woods that grow on the south west side of the Old Building , woods known as ‘The Quarry’ which we would use for recreation. The pool was formed, so legend would have it, as a result of the quarrying of stone with which the college was built. Legend also said that the pool was ‘unfathomable’ despite several attempts to test its depth.

However, the tallest tale surrounded the ghost that lived in Quarry pool. This was said to be none other than the ghost of the founder, Ouseley, or “FAGO” as we called him. The apparition was supposed to appear on the eve of Commem, the anniversary of the college’s founding.

I remember, I remember (as another old boy once wrote) standing in the cool of a September evening, after the curfew bell has sounded, with a group of other boys, staring into the dusky gloom of the quarry, scaring each other with thoughts of what we might see. Would the ghost of the founder appear tonight?

What would we do if it did?

The event was always helped along by the older boys, who said that they had heard, from their older peers, that there had been a sighting, albeit a long time ago. The rustle of early autumn leaves, a bit of moonlight, and the odd owl hoot from the trees beyond all helped to instil a feeling of delightful fear in us.

As the darkness fell, with the cool air on bare, short-trousered legs, we realised that we were not going to see anything after all. And then the bell would ring, time for dry bread, a glass of milk and head for the dormitory, convincing ourselves all the way that we had perhaps, after all, caught a glimpse of something in the shadows. Off to bed, off to sleep, a big day tomorrow, a lot of important people would be coming, most of whom we didn’t know, but the most important thing was that we would be let off lessons. Commem. Good old FAGO, perhaps his spirit did live on after all.

I would very much like to collect stories about your time at SMC. If you would like to share your memories of what life was really like at SMC, visit the website at www.smcsociety.co.uk. or why not jot something down in time for the Re-union?

William Jenkyns (72-78)

Please note I have updated the email address:

Info@smcsociety.co.uk

www.smcsociety.co.uk

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Since the closure of the College the PCC have embarked on an extensive programme of restoration work with the help of English Heritage. The building is Grade II* listed and it is understood that this is likely to be changed to Grade I in the not too distant future. The first major item was reinstatement of the West Window following storm damage. The feramenta (supporting metalwork) and stone tracery had deteriorated so badly that the painted glass had become displaced. Next came replacement of all the cast iron guttering at high and low level. Most of the joints had failed so the walls were literally being eroded away and the high moisture content was endangering the structural timber and internal plasterwork. The PCC then undertook the stripping out of the deteriorating plaster of the aisle walls and their re-plastering without help from EH as it was not grant eligible work. It was well worthwhile as it improved the internal appearance enormously, but it still has to be painted.

In 1995 another massive tranche of work was undertaken. The Victorians’ design enthusiasm was not always matched by their building ability and this was proving to be the case with the buttresses. The Bath stone facings were separating from the sandstone ashlar and the internal fill because of the structural thrust of the massive high-pitched roof. The only answer was to drill holes into the buttresses and insert stainless steel rods together with stone dust and resin to stabilise the structure. You have to look very carefully to see any evidence of this work today. A further part of this work involved the re-slating of the South Aisle roof together with re-plastering the underside, again, a huge improvement visually. Additional work undertaken at this time involved clearing the storm water drains for which no grant aid was available. The electrical installation then became the next matter of concern. Standards had improved over the years and insurers get very nervous if you do not keep installations up-to-date. The work was not grant eligible. However the PCC embarked on the provision of a completely new distribution board together with the re-wiring for both power and light of the South Transept containing the Father Willis organ and also the boiler house. These measures now provide safety protection against failure in the lighting circuits still to be re-wired.

Most recently another phase of restoration work has been undertaken with the re-slating of the North Aisle, Lady Chapel and Vestry roofs and re-plastering the underside. The Baptistry ladder to the roof space and walkways within that area have been made safer and access out onto the parapet gutter around the apsidal east end of the Church has now been made possible. Stonework in the vicinity of the boiler flue has been taken down and re-built and a liner has been fitted to reduce problems from emissions and condensation. At the same time the main lighting on the north side has been updated.

Unfortunately matters do not end at this point. The Quinquennial Report indicates the need for a further on-going programme of major fabric repairs. A separate geologist’s report has also highlighted the reason for a worrying deterioration in the stonework involving a chemical reaction between the Bath stone and sandstone used for the construction of the Church. This is caused by an unusually high moisture content in the walls and work will have to be undertaken to alleviate the problem otherwise the core will literally turn into mud. In some areas the face of stonework has now eroded by as much as three inches! During the recent work the lead parapet gutter above the Chancel was found to be full of holes and paper thin, a matter of major concern. A grant aid application for help in this respect is now being put in hand. It is interesting to note that the work outlined above has cost around £195,000.

Nevertheless, the PCC are determined to push on. We owe it to the Founder, Sir Frederick, who created this magnificent building and to the small but lively community of St Michael’s. To add insult to injury, the clock has now stopped…. And it’s not Derek Lanman’s fault! Fortunately, moves are underway to correct this particular situation. An old boy of the College has bequeathed a generous legacy to St Michael’s and the PCC are hoping this will go some way to getting the clock ticking and chiming again. A report from the clock’s manufacturers has been received outlining what needs to be done and this will be given full consideration at the June meeting of the PCC.

Music at St. Michael’s 2002

The talk traces the origins of the Three Choirs Chorus. Why did it need to expand? Who were they – gentry, artisans, workers? Who were the Larks of Dean? From where? Northern Baptist Weavers?! Had they patrons or sponsors? Contributing factors: the enormous interest in good music, inspired by the arrival of Handel’s works. Opera v Oratorio.Glee clubs. Dearth of trebles. Were these outsiders talented gate-crashers or recruited?

News of Old Boys

Taken from www.friendreunited.co.uk

Mark Jenkins 1972 Hello Old Friends, I've done many things from
Ski-instructor to Diver. Policeman To restaurateur.(see picture right)

Tim Wackett 1975 Corporate trainer, living in California. (see picture left)

Henry Milner 1979 Got married, have daughter called Emily (3 months
old). Working in London, living in Richmond.

Sebastian Freeman 1981 Married, living in Fareham, Hampshire. Work for
military boat building company.

Claire Northover 1985 Just returned from a year and a half travelling
around Australia and South East Asia. Best thing I've ever done. Now
back to reality and working as a Recruitment Manager in London. Still in
contact with loads of people from Wally and Eggi from SMC.

J. M. Johnstone (bequeathed £1,000 to the Church)

I was sitting next to CE Winn at the Varsity cricket match. We were reminiscing about St Michael’s. He was four years a cricket blue and a rugby blue and International. He claims he had an awful voice but I remember him in the choir.

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‘Peter – The Adventures of a Chorister’ by Sir Sydney Nicholson

This is perhaps a book of curious value, but then, we Old Boys are a curious lot. Booker Prize short list it is not, but to anyone interested in the history of English Church Music, or history, or England, churches or music, it is as essential as the Gloria at the end of a psalm.

The purpose of the book was to explain as entertainingly as possible, the historical background of belonging to a choir, and to encourage the interest of choirboys by explaining their heritage.

It is an imaginative fictional account of a young boy, Peter, who leads a succession of lives as a chorister between 1137 and 1937. The idea of this ‘unbroken song’ of English Church music passing from one generation to the next must have had its birth in the first two chapters of Sir Sydney’s Quires and Places Where They Sing where he describes the historical background of choirs.

The idea appeared next as Peter the Chorister, a pageant he wrote whilst at St Michael’s, and which was first performed at the school in 1942. I remember Peter the Chorister well, as do all my contemporaries because everyone was in it, and I mean everyone. The set was in the Dining Hall, with the Choir singing from the Gallery.

The college magazine review lists all the scenes and highlights all the Peters – Hollis in Episode 1, MacMahon in 2 and 7, DWP Davies in 3, and Creswell in 6. It says ‘Mr Littlejohn was forbidding as Merbecke, and amusing as William, the old-fashioned choirmaster’. ‘The Warden (Dr Billen) struck the right note of dignity in the Prologue and moved well’. Derrick Jenkyns was, I think, a small priest, but his makeup would have been politically incorrect today; he looked like a juvenile Bishop Tutu.

I digress. This latest edition of the book is published to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the founding of the RSCM by Sir Sydney in 1928. It is finely pinted with full colour drawings by Hans Tisdall. Copies can be ordered from the RSCM, Cleveland Lodge, Westhumble, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6BW. (ISBN 1-902918-08-6).

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The agenda for the weekend is as follows,

10.30am Cricket College Cricket Field

1pm Lunch Picnic / Fountain Inn

2pm Cricket Resumes

4.00pm Cricket Finishes

4.30pm AGM College Library

5.45pm Choir Practice St Michael’s Church

6.30pm Choral Evensong St Michael’s Church

7.30pm (for 7.45pm) Reunion Dinner Fountain Inn, Oldwood

Sunday Golf Challenge TBC

11.30am Talk by Barbara Young St Michael’s Church

Please let Michael Hart know if you will be singing in the choir. Michael Hart, The Threshing House, Bockleton, Tenbury Wells, WR15 8PP, 01568 750544

Jenson Jones is intending to show archive film of the choir / College in the Library during Saturday, for anyone who wants to watch.

As ever we are keen to hear from anyone who would like to join the SMC Society team. Players of all abilities most welcome.

Course not yet selected but we can promise a fun day and a fine dinner.

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Reunion 2002 Booking Form

Should you have any questions about any of the arrangements please get in touch with me on 01584 823 209.

The number of the Tenbury Wells Tourist Information Centre is 01584 810136, and they can provide details on accommodation in the area. If you would like any advice on accommodation I would also be delighted to help.

PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN YOUR RESERVATION SLIP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!