JAGS CHORAL SOCIETY

RECOLLECTIONS OF JCS
BY DUNCAN PRATT (JCS MEMBER 1987 – 2024 and Chair 1993 – 97)

Our daughter started at JAGS in September 1987, as did the newly appointed Director of Music Rupert Bond. So when a note came in the satchel post from Rupert, inviting interested parents (particularly those with lower voices) to join the new JAGS Choral Society, I thought it would be nice to do something I had not done since my own school days and (hopefully) do it in tandem with my daughter. The latter hope was soon dashed, but I found Tuesday evenings were a highlight in my week, however tired or time-pressured I felt: using that different part of the brain is so reviving of the mind and spirits.
Looking back at the programmes we tackled from the beginning, Rupert’s ambition with what was a mixed bag of (often untried) voices was astonishing. True we had Sue Moody, a soprano with the BBC Singers, who also taught Maths at JAGS, but we also had the likes of me. Our first concert (a programme of Rubbra, Handel and yes, Bond) was at the end of our first ever term, in the old St Barnabas, well before the devastating fire and rebuild. It also featured 6 JAGS girls as soloists in the choral items, a policy which persisted for quite a few years and, if not of professional standard, showcased some lovely young voices and built up young singers’ confidence. By summer 1987 we felt we should support the Blackheath Music Festival, entering and winning the choral singing section with Matyas Seiber’s Three Hungarian Folksongs.
An important milestone in the development of the character of the choir was the appointment of Hilmary Quarmby as Chair in 1989. She was a much-loved and energetic Chair, keen to foster a friendly atmosphere with social activities. Her enthusiasm was infectious. We organised parties: sometimes outdoor picnics with fiercely contested rounders in the summer, or indoors in the winter with “party turns” performed by members of the choir, often humorous, not always musical, or quizzes contrived by the indefatigable Barbara Kley, whose love of JAGS and music was in equal measure. She also did a great deal of behind the scenes work to facilitate our efforts, both before and after her retirement from the staff.
I cannot remember when the Committee started delivering its report to the AGM in song, but I have some lyrics covering most of the period 1991 to 1997. Barbara Kley, then Stephen Johnson (whose lyrics were a hoot) then me, were our bards. Others followed for a while. They were usually, but not invariably, sung to tunes from one or more of the works we had sung in the preceding year.
On the musical front, by 1990 Rupert felt confident enough to include a challenging work by the contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Part in our programme. There followed a Messiah in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Easter 1991 and a performance of the Vaughan Williams G Minor Mass (soloists drawn from the girls, music staff and JCS members) at St Paul’s Cathedral in May. Both those performances were in celebration of the 250th anniversary of JAGS.
Marilyn Harper had also joined the Music Department in, I think, 1992, and became our wonderful repetiteur, accompanist and occasional conductor. Apart from her keyboard skills and profile as a sought-after organist, she helped us with vocal technique when opportunity arose.
I succeeded Hilmary as Chair of JCS from1993 until 1997. During much of that time Robert Royce (later a Chair himself and now sadly deceased) was an energetic and imaginative Social Secretary. Highlights of that time included a choir outing to Rochester in June 1995, when we performed a movement from the Bach B Minor Mass , the Bruckner Locus Iste and an arrangement by Rupert Bond of Now Thank we All Our God after morning service at All Saints Maidstone, before going on a riverboat cruise on the Medway singing madrigals and folk songs as we went.
On a more serious level the outstanding musical memory during my time as Chair was a performance at Blackheath Concert Halls in March 1996 of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. His widow, Lady Walton, accepted an invitation to attend and gave us a fascinating short introduction before the performance, helping settle our nerves by turning to us and saying “It’s difficult. But go for it. It will be fine. Good luck!”. It must have done the trick because the performance was very well received by the audience and commended by Lady W. She joined the committee for supper and held the table in thrall with a fascinating series of anecdotes starting with how she met Walton in her native Buenos Aires and was pursued with a proposal of marriage every night for a week before she agreed.
In 1997 I was succeeded as Chair briefly by Catherine Smith, but she had to relinquish the job because of work commitments and Michael Brooke took over, being formally confirmed as Chair at the AGM in 1998. Michael has set out his own recollections elsewhere, and later Chairs can cover subsequent history. All I will add is that my 37 years with JCS were a lovely part of my life, have given me some wonderful musical experiences and many friendships, and the choir has been extraordinarily fortunate in being directed, after Rupert’s departure in 2003, by Leigh O’Hara from 2003 to 2012, then Peter Gritton from 2012 to 2023. Their musicality and very different but complementary styles have helped forge the choir. Tommy Foster now brings his own style and will no doubt continue to coax some outstanding performances from JCS.

DP 20/6/25