Christ Church Organ & Choir

Nothing is known of how the music was provided for services between 1861, when the church was dedicated and 1886 when a pipe organ made by the firm of Harrison & Harrison of Durham City was installed in Christ Church.

In 1984 the P.C.C. found that they were unable to afford the considerable costs of repairs and maintenance of the Harrison organ and considered replacing it with a modern electronic "Allen" church organ. In June 1984, after failing to receive a faculty for the organ, the P.C.C. agreed to pursue the request in the Consistory Court, having accepted that they needed to find a home for the Harrison organ, whilst it was still in working order. The Consistory Court hearing on 24th September 1984 was successful, i.e. in favour of the Christ Church P.C.C. petition!

After advertising the Harrison organ, it was offered to All Saints Church in North Wooton, West Lynn, Norfolk, for £500. Their organist visited Christ Church in April 1985 and agreed that West Lynn could dismantle and transport the organ and make a donation in the future*.

The new organ, a two -manual, Allen Digital Computer Organ, Model ADC-520c, was delivered on 15th November 1984 and dedicated on 25th November 1984. The old Harrison organ was used for the first part of the service. An organ recital by the vicar, Rev. Leo. Barron replaced the sermon and the new Allen organ, played by our current organist Joyce Taylor, was used for the rest of the service.

On Tuesday 14th May 1985, the Harrison organ was dismantled and transported to West Lynn where it was installed. Thereafter the vestry was extended into the old organ loft and refurbished.

* A cheque for £250 was received some years later when the organ rebuilding had been completed at All Saints, North Wooton.

The Harrison organ in it's new home at All Saints, North Wooton

The Allen ADC 520-C organ, similar to that in Christ Church Lumley

Christ Church Choir

Memories of Christ Church Lumley Choir by George Hood, member 1952-1968.

Choir Membership

The choir was a traditional all male choir (men and boys) with a joining age of around 8 years. The "route in" was either being encouraged by the vicar, pushed in by your Mum or simply following in the steps of your older brother.

After an initial 3 month probation period, during which a cassock was worn, boys were accepted as full members and given a surplice as well as a choristers medallion. Two teams of about 5 boys were formed, one either side, in the front row with each team being lead by a senior boy. The men sat in the back row with one side accomodating the tenors and altos, the other the basses (back to the organ).

Some of the names recalled as being members of the choir include:-

Men - George Peart (lead tenor); Henderson Lowerson; Eric Burns (lead alto); Harry Graham (lead bass); Ernest Ramshaw; Dennis Hood; Derick Bradford; Neville Henderson; Robin Lowery.

Boys (rough age order) - George Hall; Harry Graham jnr.; David Allan; Ronnie Tindale; Colin Crossley; Colin Tindall; George Hood; Peter Curry; Alan Stark, Eric Doxford; Roger Bishop; Walter Scott; Geoffrey Doxford; Robert Bishop; Jim Blakey; Raymond Fenny; Richard Laidler; David Beresford; Trevor Laidler.

Commitments

Being a choir member came with a very significant commitment. The choir was required to sing in both morning and evening services, i.e. 10am and 6pm. Although the 8am holy communion was a "said" service, members of the choir took turns to serve at the altar for this service.

Friday night was choir practice night and this became a very unpopular night as it clashed with the Friday night hop at the Empire Ballroom.

Most of the choir were members of the Servers Guild, which involved singing at special services in other churches. These services were seen as being "high church" and always took place on a Saturday. Most of the singing for these services was "plainsong", and services were often followed by refreshments provided by the local M.U., which were well received!

Places visited by the Servers Guild included Coundon, St. Georges Cullercoats, Hunstenworth, Blanchland (with tea being provided in what is now the White Monk Cafe) and many more.

The choir was also involved in mass choir events which took place in Durham Cathedral and York Minster.

Choir Masters and Vicars

Charlie Baxter, from Rainton Gate, was the choir master for most of the reference period, being replaced by Reg Basting.

Mr Cheshire was the vicar for the early years of the period, being replaced by Mt Hackett and then David Webster.

Special Occasions

Several memorable visits were made by the choir to mark special occasions-

On Ascension day, after attending the 6am Communion Service, the choir were invited back to the vicarage for breakfast, prepared by Mr Cheshire's housekeeper, who plied us with rounds of toast produced from an electric toaster and stacked in a silver toast rack - very novel to us at that time!

The choir also joined other church choirs to sing Ascension Day evensong in Finchale Abbey. The scary task of getting robed in the dundeon at Finchale was balanced by having your picture taken during the procession and being featured in the Durham Chronicle.

Many members of the choir joined Mr Cheshire in the annual pilgramage to Holy Island, as well as the St. Cuthbert's walk from Lumley to Durham Cathedral via Finchale Abbey and the river route.

A big event occured around 1956 when the Bishop of Durham (Bishop Ramsey) came to Christ Church Lumley to carry out the confirmation. Any unconfirmed members of the choir aged over 12 years were confirmed on that occasion. What made this even more special was that the Bishop had been part of the crowning ceremony at the Queen's coronation a couple of years earlier.

Many of the choir would rush down to Houghton after evensong to join the community Hymn singing on Broadway, which used to take place as part of Houghton Feast. This event was attended by hundreds of singers from the chapels and churches around the area. It was at this event when you realised that the Methodists were the very best hymn singers.

Social Events

The choir were occasionally asked to sing at weddings and funerals, and the extra pocket money came in very handy. Whether we were invited or not, we regularly got to attend the church socials and enjoyed dancing the Bradford Barn Dance and the Gay Gordons etc. with our Sunday School Teachers such as Mary Richardson and Jenny Young.

The star of the social scene was the annual garden party held on the front lawn of the vicarage. The choir was involved here with putting the stalls up and most can remember enjoying Miss Trixie Swinney's home made toffee! Derick Bradford always ran the best stall for boys by providing his air rifle target shooting range. Derick was an expert shot and was well able to domonstrate this.

Church Youth Club

The friendships formed by members of the choir continued on after the Sunday services. It was quite common for the choir members to go for walks to Finchale or the Riverside after the service. Many a game of football or cricket was had on the football field or on the Derwent Crescent green. The football hero of the time was George Peart who played for Lumley Rovers.

The choir was given free range of the church hall on Sunday nights after evensong which resulted in the church youth club being formed with board games, table tennis, snooker, billiards and singing around the piano. The club was open to boys and girls and fielded a very strong table tennis team for competions with Fence Houses YMCA and others.

Musical Ability

As with any choir, getting the best out of it requires effort and determination as well as musical skill. We were very lucky to have Charlie Baxter as choir master who kept the choir in shape. Prior to Christmas, he would organise additional practices in his house in Rainton Gate. The choir would get there on the 5A bus and Charlie's wife, Elsie, would provide us with sandwiches, biscuits etc. for the half time interval. These additional Christmas practices enabled us to sing complex carols found in the Oxford Book of Carols and one suspects that the standards of singing of Lumley Choir in that era was way ahead of many church choirs in that area. The opportunity was also taken to prepare solos, which were snapped up by those with good voices.

Over time the choir would gain a good insight into music, again thanks to Charlie, and this would enable us to tackle any new hymn, psalm or chant, mostly in four part harmony.

The best boy singers in this period were David Allen and Bill Laidlaw, the latter going on to enter singing competions across the northern region.

Two members, David Allen and Alan Stark, went on to play the organ and indeed were organists in this church before they moved away.

Girls, Girls Girls

In this reference period, girls were never considered for membership of the choir, probaly because of tradition and that there was an adequate supply of boys ready to join.

There were, however, always good-looking church girls in the congregation which attracted the choir boys attention, and indeed helped to keep the choir attendence figures up.

Many friendships were established between the teenage choir men and church girls, some resulting in marriage, e.g. Eric Burns and Elaine Patterson; Colin Crossley and Ann Blenkinsop; Derek Bradford and Frances Ramshaw; Susan Crossley and myself. Church activities would also feature in courting venues, with my own first date with Susan taking place at Houghton Feast Community Hymn Singing.

Conclusion

It is quite easy to look at the past with rose coloured spectacles, however, most past choir members I know have good memories of their time in the choir. Good friendships were formed, especially in the younger years.

Occasionally, boys joined the choir and left soon after - however, most stopped on until finally having to leave to go to university or to work away, or indeed meet work commitments, i.e. being employed in local businesses, factories, or working underground at Lumley Sixth Pit.

Clearly all of the activities the choir were involved in did not just happen without several key members giving their valuable time and effort to make them happen. It certainly was the time and effort of the key members such as George Peart, Eric Burns, Dennis Hood and Charlie Baxter who made the difference. They went out of their way to organise things, get us to different venues safely, and indeed, back home again.

It is not known what part the choir played in establishing and developing the Christian faith of it's members, however, at the very least, every past member will clearly know that the church door is always open to them.

Christchurch Choir c.1953 - included are:- Peter Curry; George Peart snr. (3rd from left); Charlie Baxter (organist ); Trevor Laidler; Colin Laidler: George Hood; Raymond Ferry; Alan Stark; Geo. Peart jnr.; David Rodham; J. Curry; J. Wilson; Steven Robson; W. Laidler; J. Comby.