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75 Years as a Chorister
 Since June of this year I have been an active member of St Andrew’s Church choir in Gorleston for 75 years. I am extremely proud of this anniversary and feel privileged that for the majority of my junior and adult life I have had such a close association with what I call MY church
People say to me surely you must get bored with going through the same rituals week on week, but my answer to them is that if anything I enjoy the renditions of choral music, and the rehearsals that precede them, even more now than I did when I was an 8 year old probationer, waiting to be awarded my first surplice and eagerly anticipating entry into the stalls proper, rather than sitting on a chair behind the established choir members
When my mother first took me to church it was to see whether I would like to become a boy scout or a chorister. Thankfully I chose to become the latter but in those days there was a waiting list to get into the choir (how things have changed) and I had to wait for a year before the Choirmaster, at that time the renowned Redge Durrant, rang my parents to say that there was now a vacancy and I would be welcome to attend my first ever choir practice on a Monday night (for boys only) and also one on a Friday night where the men joined the boys
I hasten to say that in those days the choir in total numbered some 50 people with the boys themselves contributing over 30
My first practice involved me being put through a ritual of being literally thrown into a holly bush and then the contents of a fountain pen being drip fed into my face whilst I was held down on the ground by what I later learned were the senior choirboys. Every boy at that time had to endure this treatment and I suppose I was all the better for it, and in fairness meted out the same treatment when I became a senior boy
I absolutely loved everything about the choir and rehearsing choral music. By the age of 11, as well as the church choir, I was in the Grammar School choir and seemed to do ok, judging by the amount of solos I was given. I became head boy at Gorleston and very proudly took my place at the head of the stalls. There were services for the choir to attend on a Sunday morning and evening, and guess what we got paid? I was therefore paid for two practices and two services each week, and the quarterly payment for full attendance was about 15 shillings and a bag of apples at harvest. In addition the choir was paid for attendance at weddings and funerals so I was well pleased
I made some really good friends in the choir, some of whom I still see today. There was a tremendous bond between us and rivalry against other churches with choirs, particularly in those days St Nicholas Church in Great Yarmouth. Gorleston had and still has a reputation for producing fine choral singers, and as well as being affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music, on at least three occasions I can recall deputising for the choir in Norwich Cathedral when their resident choir was on holiday
I can recall when still only 11 that a man called Hubert Crook conducted a choir school and workshop in St Andrew’s. As a result of this I was invited to attend a choir school at Addington Palace which was then the headquarters of The RSCM. There were 60 boys at the choir school from churches all over the country, and as well as feeling homesick (I had never been away from home before) I felt somewhat overawed by the quality of the voices. I need not have felt this way for in an examination at the end of the five day course I came second with the examiner saying that my renditions of Psalms was as good as he had ever heard. This was entirely due to the training that all choristers received at Gorleston in those days, which was the envy of choirs around, and not particularly down to whatever ability I may or may not have had in those days. Hubert Crook asked me to attend a seminar where choristers were to be selected to sing as a resident at St Paul’s Cathedral. I was selected but my parents were not prepared to let me leave home! How different my life would have been if I had upped sticks and gone
The problem with all sopranos is that at the age of around 13-14 the voice starts to break. This happened to me but I was able to join the altos and later the tenors when my voice finally settled down
Had it not been for Gorleston Church Choir my later life in music could never have taken place. Through pursuing musical activity wherever possible, I joined and later became The Secretary of the now defunct Great Yarmouth Chorale Society under the inspiring conducting of John Roper and latterly John Stevens. Four members of St Andrew’s decided one Sunday morning, whilst having a drink in The Cliff, to form a separate group which was to be known as The Breydon Chorale. There were 16 really experienced singers in this group and it lasted for over 25 years, offering all genres of music which require SATB arrangements (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass). Our last conductor was Brian Blake (a headmaster at Cliff Park School) who I am pleased to say is still alive and well
Previous to all this going on, aged 16, I was asked to play the tenor lead in a Grammar School production of HMS Pinafore. This spawned my love of G&S and I went on to play tenor and baritone parts in the majority of G&S operas put on in full scale by the Great Yarmouth Gilbert and Sullivan Society under the direction of another legend Jeannie Gunn. This Society ceased performing in 2008 but I am proud to say that the society morphed into The G&S Singers for which group I have had the pleasure of being Chair for over 15 years. This group is still performing to this day, and yes, we do still include some Gilbert and Sullivan items, but now with a much more varied programme
On the back of the Breydon Chorale another festival sprang up known as the St Andrew’s Festival. I did become Chair of this group for a while and to the best of my knowledge and belief it is still operating. I wish them continued success
As to the present, of course I still sing in St Andrew’s Church choir, brilliantly led by Tony Jaye, each Sunday but during lockdown when Gorleston chose not to have a choir I was invited to join as a guest singer at St Nicholas Church (now known as the Minster) under their esteemed conductor Michael Nicholas, the organist emeritus of Norwich Cathedral. I also guest sing with the choir of St Margaret’s Church in Lowestoft who have a wonderful choir ably led by their choirmaster Jonathan Williams
From this you can see that Church Music has been ever influential in my life and I would not have had it any other way
Robert Boardley
courtesy of St Andrew's Church in the Gorleston Community Magazine
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