Music
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Music |
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A Century of Music-making The Parish Church of St Augustine has a strong musical tradition dating right back to the beginning when the church was built and consecrated in 1907-1908. It is a tradition which carries on unbroken to today. John Betjeman was a regular visitor to Choral Evensong at St Augustine's.
The Organs The pipe organ was built by Hele in 1911 and opened Hubert Hunt, organist of Bristol Cathedral, Hubert Hunt. In 2003, following years of very little maintenance, the end of the pipe organ’s life was evident, and got to the point of needing many thousands of pounds of repairs. It would have been a burden on the congregation to try and find this amount of money.
A plea was placed in the Swindon Evening Advertiser. The plea was seen by Ann Coventry, wife of the late Macdonald Coventry, a former local organist. Ann, kindly donated his practice instrument from home to the church. The new organ is far superior to the old pipe organ and is extremely versatile - and is capable accommodating most musical styles.
It is fitting, that as with the pipe organ, the new organ was officially opened by a cathedral organist! The opening recital given by Professor Ian Tracey of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral was a very worthy addition to the musical history of this church.
The Choir In the early days, the choir consisted of only men and boys, often numbering nearly 50, carrying on a centuries old Anglican choral tradition. Our oldest member of the choir, Arthur Done, has been a part of the musical life of St Augustine’s for 90 years, and still remembers the first days of his life as a chorister! It is a wonderful achievement to commit oneself to a cause for this period of time.
In the 1960’s, the choirboys from this church presented the nameplate from the steam engine “Westminster Abbey” to the choirboys there. The boys joined the abbey choirboys for evensong – surely, a great occasion! In the 1970’s women were eventually allowed to join the choir
The Organists The organists here have also held their positions for lengthy periods, and there have been only five officially appointed since 1908! The organist (Director of Music, Organist and Choirmaster) is responsible for the organ, music for services and training the choir.
There is a story that an organist was asked to resign because he played the recessional hymn too quickly and the choir had not time to finish processing round the church before the hymn finished! This seems somewhat a harsh punishment these days!
The first recorded choirmaster and church organist was Mr Gustavos Curnow, who worked in the Railway Record Office. He was replaced by Mr Clayton West, who worked in the rail workshops as a progress chaser or Materials inspector. Mr Bill Williams, Mr Geoff Webb and the Rev David Woodhouse followed on.
As with many people connected with the history of St Augustine’s, there is obviously a strong link with the GWR Railway works, for which the town is so famous.
The Future The future of the musical life of the church is essential, and is currently in a fairly healthy position.
We are grateful for the gift of the new organ which has enabled us to expand our repertoire, both for choral and organ music. The choir is small, but enthusiastic, and we are now beginning to see more children join the choir. We need to build on the tradition to ensure the survival of music at this church for another century. We are planning links with local schools and hope to form a music group for All Age Worship services, where we try and move away from traditional music played on the organ.
The music at the church is endorsed by the PCC who support the work of the Director of Music and all those in the music 'department'.
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