Choir Visit to Speyer

In 1984 the choir was invited to visit our twin town of Speyer, in Germany.

Marie Theres was an inspirational musician in Speyer, and wanted our choir to visit, and sing in St Joseph's Church, and also sing in Speyer Roman Catholic Cathedral - something that was slightly complicated to arrange.

Preparations for the visit took several months, and involved all choirmembers that were available and a number of parents and helpers.

We stopped for a break and refreshments at Reims, where there was time to look around the Cathedral.

Prior to arrival at the hotel I had been given a kind of room plan to show how many could sleep in each room. I had therefore allocated people according to the plan, with the relevant room numbers.

However, on arrival at what was a very large hotel, the manager had completely re-arranged the rooms that were available, and the number of people that could be allocated in each room. He then proceeded to take groups of people to various rooms - of which I now had no record - so in other words, I had no idea which rooms we were using and who was in each room.

The next thing was to go round knocking on every door to find out who was where, and try to make a list .. there were quite a lot of unhappy French guests answering doors - as we had to knock on every door ...

That night after we had eaten, and everyone went back to their rooms, I naively assumed everyone would remain in their rooms until morning.

It wasn't until breakfast that it transpired that a group of the teenage boys had gone out of the hotel into Arras to the late night fair - and had not come back until the early hours of the morning.

We also discovered later that day that the hotel rooms all had televisions which allowed adult viewing after 11pm ... As everyone arrived safely for breakfast, I felt it was probably best not to investigate either of these events any further ...

On arrival in Speyer it became apparent that once again my best laid plans had been in vain. Those of you who know me well will know that I like to be in control, and everything planned well in advance - and what happened next was completely out of my control.

Photos

Photo below:-

Top left: Myself with Marie Theres Brand

Top right: Jennifer Chappell and David Bishop (our organist)

Bottom left: The church hall where we ate our meals

Bottom Right: Ken Barker; Betty Pitts; Enid Bishop; Jennifer Chappell and Rev Les. Acklam

Boys were whisked away by host families - in what I seem to remember was a chaotic scene - with only David Jones being able to speak German. Once again I was left not knowing where anyone had gone, and had to just hope that everyone was safe and would re-appear the following day. (Those were the days before mobile phones - and before Health and Safety CRB or DBS checks ....)

Thankfully all was well, and over the next couple of days a busy itinerary had been planned by the hosts, which included a Civic Reception, a concert at St. Joseph's Church, an outing into the forest, a visit to Heidelberg Castle, a tour of Speyer, visits to the outdoor swimming pool, as well as allowing time for rehearsals for a service at St. Joseph's Church, and a service at Speyer Cathedral, where Rev. Les Acklam totally illegally celebrated the Mass, and Father Hubert had to read out a denunciation of himself in St Joseph's Church before we could start our service there.

(This was all due to issues with 'Inter-Communion' between the Roman Catholic Church, and the Church of England).

Marie Theres had asked if I could explain to the congregation why St. Joseph's Church really needed a new pipe organ. This was something that she had been working on for some time, and hoped that I could add some weight to persuading the congregation that the old organ was worn out... And if you listen to the recording in St Joseph's Church you will agree it does not sound too good ...

One of the days out included a visit to Heidelberg Castle....

Click below for previously unseen footage taken on cine film during this trip ...

Scenes include:-

• On the ferry to France

• Picnic in France

• Scenes in Speyer

• Cake ...

• Heidelberg Castle

• In a very cold lake in the forest

I am very grateful to everyone who took part in this trip, and all those who organised events and hosted our boys.

This visit was the start of a long association between Marie Theres, David Bishop, Les Acklam and David Jones, as well as forming friendships with host families from Spalding and Speyer.

The following year, in 1985, the Choir from Speyer came to Spalding, and we were the hosts. I don't have many photos from that year - so please send me any if you can!

Whilst in England the group visited Cambridge, Brancaster, Lincoln, Peterborough and Burghley House, as well as attending services and taking parts in various services and concerts.

If you have any further information or photos that you would like me to add to this page, please email them to me. (burteyfen@yahoo.co.uk)