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A recent visit to Stavanger for a music festival brought back happy memories of the Clayesmore Chapel Choir tour to Norway in the summer of 1962. I have been asked by Nicholas Zelle, who was the organist for that tour, to pen some lines which might roll away the years for a few, now middle aged Clayesmorians who were members of the choir at that time.

The choir tour was the first of well over twenty visits I have now made to Norway in the 37 years since we set sail on "Leda" from Newcastle. It was said to have stabilisers. If it did, the North Sea versus the said stabilisers was clearly an unequal contest. However, entering the quiet waters of the Byfjord and tying up on the open wharf of Stavanger harbour (long before the swish terminal building was built), one soon forgot the discomfort of a stomach-churning night. The welcome by our hosts was unforgettable and the seeds of many lasting friendships were sown that first day as we strolled along the deserted beach at Sola alongside what has now become a busy international airport.

The tour came about through the good offices of Tore Moldung's mother. I well remember Tore joining the school. This shy boy from Bergen, who, unusual for one so young, showed a special interest in the music of Wagner, went on to become Head Prefect in 1961. Perhaps because it was the first port of call, I still have a very special affection for the small city of Stavanger, though we went on to give concerts in (among others) Oslo Cathedral and at the lovely church of Fana near Bergen (where the adjoining photograph was taken), the latter followed by a traditional Norwegian party. But, despite these prestigious events, I suspect what remains more firmly in the memory of many will be the day the mock pillars collapsed in the television studio when Humphrey Moore used one to assist his ascent of the staging causing total shambles just as the cameras began to roll.

Inspired by Zelle's unfailing enthusiasm, we have had two immensely enjoyable choir reunions in the past two years, reinforcing for me what an important part the chapel played in my life (and I trust in others too) during my six years as Director of Music at Clayesmore. Perhaps that can serve as the excuse for recalling three of the incidents relating to the chapel which especially stick in my memory. On my first Sunday at the school the choir was scheduled to sing an unaccompanied anthem at the morning service. Imagine the scene. At the appropriate moment, the D of M takes the long walk down the aisle from the organ loft to conduct the choir and gives a discreet signal to the student organist to play the chord for the choir .......but, oh dear! the chord is an octave too high! D of M thinks quickly, should he risk starting, or call for his pupil to try again (albeit in front of 200 boys and a highly critical band of colleagues no doubt waiting for the new man to fall into a big hole at his first service). Wisely, I'm sure, the latter course was taken, but, at least, it gave Scad, Humph, Spinney, Appleby et al something to talk about over coffee at the 'Third Programme' table.

Life would certainly be dull without these little hitches, but the next was hardly a little hitch. I wonder how many recall the performance of Benjamin Britten's St Nicolas Cantata when the printing club managed to print different verses in the programme for the congregation to sing whilst the choir merrily sang their version as per score. Chaos, but I think the choir won in the end! And, I ask, how many Clayesmorians ponder the past when they see the name Sir Harrison Birtwistle on television or in the papers and associate him with Mr Birtwistle, the woodwind teacher in the late fifties. He it was who wrote the piece, "Crescendo Diminuendo" (the second half the reverse of the first) for a chapel concert featuring the girls of Cranborne Chase.

I once had the audacity to ask 'Birtie' if he could hear the music in his head before he wrote it. "No", was his simple, but, at least, honest reply. That could explain a lot listening to (or was it enduring) his piece 'Panic' as played at the last night of the Proms in 1997. But, for all that, the man who bought Spinney's Ford Prefect for £100 (though, it was said, never paid) is undoubtedly today's leading British composer. As David Johnstone sadly reflected recently, "why didn't I keep all those squiggles he wrote for my bassoon lessons?"

Sadly, Moya, my wife, who taught piano to no less a person than Nick Zelle, and many Clayesmore Prep boys, died in April. We often used to talk about our happy days at Clayesmore wondering what had happened to so and so, and made regular visits to Iwerne after we left, including using the school during the summer holidays for music courses which I organised in my capacity as County Music Adviser in Bristol and the surrounding district. From 1983 to 1993 I spent my last ten years before retirement as Chief Executive of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. It is quite a thought that hundreds of Clayesmorians of the eighties will have received music exam results little realising that for six years (1957 to 63) this 'bod' signing their certificates had been Director of Music at their school entering reluctant candidates for the same exams which he was later to direct. One might say, we have come full circle.

Ronald A. Smith. (Director of Music 1957 - 63)

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