BACK TO NEWSLETTER 1998 CONTENTS
Letters 1998
December 31st.
Dear Nicholas,
I have just received the OC Newsletter. It was quite first class - best ever. I was completely absorbed for an hour and have been dipping in since. Mackie's(27-35) article on E.M.K. is a masterpiece. Warmest congratulations.
I was sorry to have missed the Chris Irby((45-47) Concert but am glad it was well supported. We were contemporaries and did lots of trio and quartet playing both during term and in the holidays. Not that I could have come even if I had known about it. Ipswich is a long way from Blandford and I feel I need to kill several birds with one stone to make the journey worthwhile. This was the trouble with the 100th anniversary celebrations. Each one on its own seemed hardly worth the effort. Had several coincided I would have made the effort.
My wife and I were staying in Wareham in May and I took her up Hambledon Hill - for the second time in fact. It was magic, as it always has been whenever I have been up. I have discussed with Tony Bright-Paul(43-48) going to Iwerne together for an OC week-end but we have yet to fix a date. I have noted your choral day but also that all your singers at the last one were much younger than I; indeed my singing days are really over so I fear it is a non-starter.
In case some personal details are of interest here are a few. I am a guide in Norwich Cathedral. I do a good deal of lecturing, mostly to Women's Institutes but also to Probus Clubs, Arts and Historical Societies and NADFAS groups. Subjects at present are: "Preserving the past for the Future", "Rafting the Grand Canyon", "Through Europe by Canoe" (with John Fettes(46-52) and Tony Paris, both OCs mainly), "Andes, Amazon and Incas", Norwich Cathedral", "Paradise Lost", and Canoeing on the Zambesi". In a desultory sort of way I play the flute and the cello - both very badly, still play a bit of tennis, read for a blind persons' newspaper, edit our village magazine, co-ordinate our village Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, together with Juliet (my wife) more or less run the village tennis club, and sit on various committees - all of which sounds much busier than it really is. My Clayesmore dates were 1941-1946.
I came to last year's dinner - very got apart from interminable speeches - so will not come to this year's. Ipswich School, incidentally where I started my teaching career, holds reunions for particular generations. On July 11th they were holding one for those who left between 1951 and 1963 so I shall try to go to it in the knowledge that I shall - or should - know everyone who will be there. Would it be worth trying something similar with OCs? What mainly discourages me from making the journey is the probability that I would not know a soul there. If there were a reunion for those at school between 1940 and 1955 - say - there would be much more point in going.
Enough. The point of this letter was to say how very much I enjoyed the newsletter and - as editor myself between about 1950 and 1955 - how much I appreciate all the work you have put in to produce such an excellent and fascinating magazine. Well done indeed.
Yours sincerely
Derek Thornbery (41-46)
Dear Nick,I must thank you for organising and running that quite fabulous singing day at Iwerne. It was joyous from beginning to end and I arrived home today quite elated by it. It seemed to me you got it just right with minimum work and maximum reward - familiar pieces so that little actual learning had to be done; not aiming at a higher standard than the group was capable of; funny stories to provide breathing space between the anthems; the whole thing relaxed yet exciting; drink or food occurring at regular intervals throughout the day; and your own personality infusing the rehearsals and the concert with bubbly champagne-like quality that was absolutely appropriate to the occasion.
I have a principle of "Work/Reward Ratio" which I apply to the various enterprises I am involved in in our village. There are some things that involve a vast amount of work but the reward (measured either by the number of people who benefit or the amount of pleasure derived) is almost nil; and other things which give much joy for comparatively little labour or anxiety. The former, in my opinion, are things to be avoided and I discourage them all I can; the latter are to be welcomed and I back them to the hilt. Your choral day was a prime example of the latter kind, even when taking into consideration the long haul from Ipswich down to Clayesmore. The weather and the incomparable beauty of Clayesmore and the excellent dinner were all part of it of course but it was the singing that was the heart of it. I just hope that for you the "work/reward ratio" was satisfactory. If it wasn't you are a very good actor as well as musician.
It was nice to hear the various stars, too - Linda, Crabbe and that genius of a lad on the violin - beautiful performances by them all. Wisely I stayed at the Talbot so I could walk back after the dinner.
Many thanks and congratulations.
Yours ever,
Derek Thornbery