I must be mad – at least, my family thinks so. On Saturday I completed a seven hour round trip for a three hour choir rehearsal. And what is more, this craziness is likely to be repeated at regular intervals! Some time ago, I auditioned for a new voluntary choir that was being set up by the Royal Air Force. Now of course, with the Defence budget severely overstretched, anything as frivolous as a choir is not about to be funded. Indeed, even the existing professional military bands across all three services are facing an uncertain future, so the second piece of madness is to try and set up an RAF choir at all in the current climate. But with the support of some very able musicians and bags of enthusiasm, the RAF’s latest secret weapon is being honed to perfection at a secret airbase deep in the heart of Lincolnshire (well – at the RAF College, Cranwell, to be precise – hence the seven hour round trip from Wiltshire!). It seems strange that the RAF has been without a choir for so many years, especially when you consider the numerous occasions upon which an RAF Band plays at a function where the choral input is provided by a civilian choir. So the fledgling choir seems to have gained at least tacit approval from on high as it may help with the RAF’s “engagement strategy” which seeks to raise the profile of the RAF around the United Kingdom. What is an "engagement strategy" I hear you ask? Well, in recent years, RAF personnel have been mistaken for RAC patrolmen, largely because most people’s image of the RAF is gleaned from World War 2 films or from Biggles books, where “Ginger” and “Biggles” sported outrageous moustaches bigger than the pilots’ wings emblazoned on their chests, talked in posh-accents, smoked pipes, owned black Labradors with politically incorrect names, drove MGs recklessly, and used industrial quantities of Brylcreem to keep their hair in place even during high-g manoeuvres! Even now, it seems that anyone who claims to be in the RAF and wears a funny grey-blue uniform but does not match the stereotype is clearly an RAC patrolman having a Walter Mitty moment! Things have moved on a bit since then (“gadzooks Ginger, there’s a female type over there wearing pilots’ wings and a DFC! What ho?”), however, the choir’s name - The Spitfires - possibly sends the wrong message! I wonder what was wrong with “The Royal Air Force Choir” as a name? It does what it says on the tin!
The (eventually) sixteen-strong mixed choir is drawn from serving RAF personnel and MOD employees who work with the RAF. The (civilian) Musical Director is Nigel Hayward, formerly the Choir Director at Wells Cathedral School whose enthusiasm is extraordinary. (He travels to Lincolnshire from Cornwall to run the rehearsals, making my seven hour round trip pale into insignificance!) It is encouraging that we are not rushing into things. Nigel will make sure we meet his exacting standards before we perform our first “gig” sometime next year. After all, if we are in the public eye and representing the RAF at a national level, then we have to get it right. Besides which, it will take at least until May for all the sopranos to grow decent handlebar moustaches.
This weekend also saw the first concert in this season’s highly-regarded Swindon Recital Series. The recital, at the Arts Centre in Swindon’s Bohemian Quarter (otherwise known as Old Town - presumably because it was built before 1960), featured the amazing viola player, Philip Dukes (described by The Times as “Great Britain’s most outstanding solo viola player”). Having heard him play, I am not about to disagree. He was awesome. His CV is impressive too (if you don’t believe me, take a look at his website). Accompanied by Swindon’s very own hugely talented pianist, Paul Turner, this was an afternoon concert that should have been sold out many times over, but sadly was not. The programme included a charming Fantasie by Hummel, Brahms’ Sonata in Eb Major, and a piece I had never heard before by Berlioz, the oddly named Harold en Italie, with a Liszt transcription for piano of Berlioz’s richly textured orchestral score, requiring the most incredible virtuosity on the part of the pianist.
For a while now I’ve been involved with helping to run the Recital Series (indeed, even finding myself accidentally promoted to the position of Chairman!) and one of the most vexing problems we face is getting people to come along to these superb concerts. It really irritates me when people say that “Swindon is a cultural desert” (it irritates even more if they can’t spell and accuse Swindon of being a cultural “dessert”). We have world-class chamber music going on in Swindon. I just wish that more people would get off their backsides and come to hear it! (By the way, if you’re a publicity guru with spare time on your hands and an inclination to support the arts, then please get in touch!) This season we have some really superb musicians lined up. For example, oboist Nicholas Daniel (appearing at the Arts Centre on Sunday 15 November) was described in a Sunday Times review as “one of the greatest exponents of the oboe in the world”, and harpist Claire Jones (Official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales) will be performing at the Arts Centre on Friday 19th February . So if you’re near Swindon, do please try and come along. You can find more information about the Swindon Recital Series on the website (which is still a “work in progress” while I try to get to grips with “cascading style sheets” and other such dull matters!)
The ever-patient Memsahib was also delighted that, despite my busy weekend, I managed to find time to mow the lawn, talk to the kids, watch a bit of Strictly Come Dancing, and do some scraping on my ‘cello. (Okay, I lied, she wasn’t “delighted” about the latter – the Force of Destiny overture probably sounds better with a full orchestra and better still when I’m not playing it.) With a busy concert and performance season ahead, I hope the grass stops growing very soon otherwise I shall have to “scramble” the Flymo….
