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Venetia Hardy, one of St
Andrew’s longest serving, but ever youthful, choristers, throws some
light upon what members of the choir have got up to over the years as
they wait to enter the church..
Those of you not
especially prone to lurking in draughty corridors may not have yet
considered pausing a few moments, to study the very well preserved piece
of history on the wooden panelling behind the organ.
It’s an interesting
thought that as choristers, on average we walk through the ‘tunnel’ at
least seven or eight times a week (the slype door usually saves us one
or two trips) which over a year amounts to quite a few. Multiply that by
the number of years you’ve sung and it amounts to a pretty big number!
Some names and
dates are more easily read than others, but amongst the more prominent
you can find some dating back to the 1930’s.
Last Sunday evening
I met with Peter Ruffles in the church where we spent a fascinating hour
chatting about the people whose names he recognised from the panelling.
I gave Tim & Mark the task of finding names & dates; Peter held us
intrigued with colourful anecdotes about past parishioners, all
encompassed in a mini history lesson, made all the more poignant by the
fact that these people had worshipped and sung in the very same choir
stalls.
From the wall:
C.Dickins ( no date )
Peter recalls there
were three generations of the Dickins family who lived in Hertford; the
family ran a barber surgeons shop in the town and were commonly known as
‘bleeders’- in years gone by, barbers were ‘surgeons’ and their trade
sign was a bandaged arm seeping blood. If you look in the choir stalls
on the cantoris side, you’ll find a discreet brass plate in memory of
Alfred, father of C.Dickins.
To the glory of God
and in the memory of
ALFRED CHARLES
DICKINS
Chorister in
this church
1864 – 1916
Died January 14th
1917
Aged 77 years
Other names from
the wall :
C.Walter 1920
S.Wheatcroft
1932
P.Ruffles
1949
B.Mole 1960
D.Wench 1932 –
1937
R.Darton 1933 –
1940
Douglas Wench ,
chorister between 1932 and 1937 worked as an engine driver. His wife
still lives in Hertford and is a member of the Sele Farm church group.
Other well known
names include Eddie Roche and Derek Walls – unfortunately there are no
dates alongside their carvings but Peter tells me they were both
choristers of some status.
The boys noticed a
gap in the dates, with very few entries being made in the 1940’s. Peter
explained that after fighting in the war, many chose not to return to
the choir stalls having been deeply affected by their experiences. We
learnt of R.Darton, who left the choir in 1940 following his RAF
call-up. His mother Georgina had a strong soprano voice and regularly
sang at evensong – then hot footed swiftly to The Dimsdale Arms where
she continued her beautiful singing in the pub, entertaining the
gathered on the piano. Sounds like my kind of evening!
More from ‘the
tunnel’ next time – please do let me know if you have fond stories of
your own you’d like added.
Venetia
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