The Chairman’s Report

Issue 13 | Summer 2013

This report to the Fitzhardinge Society membership is my last as Chairman of the Cathedral Trust. Time passes and under the rules which apply to such things I stood down in the latter part of May. I warmly welcome my successor, Stephen Parsons, to the post. (Continued. p.3)

Wendy Wilby (See p.2)

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Main Contents

Front Cover/Page 2: Wendy Wilby

Page3: Chairman’s Report

Page 4: The Dean Writes…

Page 5: Stephen Parsons

Page 6/7: High Sheriff ’s Concert

Page 8/9: The Fitzhardinge Annual Dinner

Page 10: The Cathedral Website/Cathedral Shop

Page 11: New Organ

Back Cover: The Garden

I have had the pleasure of being involved with the affairs of the Society since it was set up in late 2006. Certainly, recent years, particularly since 2008, have not been ones in which the raising of funds for our purposes has been easy. Economic conditions have had the effect nationally of bringing about a substantial reduction in charitable giving. This makes what we have achieved all the more impressive, and it is all due to the loyalty and constancy of our members, friends and other supporters.

The Fitzhardinge Society was set up with the aim of raising funds to maintain the fabric of Bristol Cathedral and support the work of the Cathedral in our city. In these difficult financial times it has met with considerable success in both areas. Much has been achieved, and at the end of June what has become known as The Fitzhardinge Endowment, which we have been consolidating and increasing during the past two years in a ring-fenced investment portfolio, stood at £332,000. It has grown strongly, and as it does so we now contemplate the next phase of activity, which is likely to be support of the appointment of a full-time administrator/fundraiser working to both the Trust and the Cathedral Chapter.

It has been a privilege to act as Chairman of the Trust and of the Society. I thank everyone for their support, and I wish my successor well, in full confidence that the progress we have made will continue.

I would like to add my warm thanks for the generous gift from the Society which has procured several days’ fishing on the River Test. I will greatly enjoy them.

Brigadier Hugh Pye OBE Chairman, Bristol Cathedral Trust

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Brigadier Hugh Pye OBE, Vice-Chairman and Chairman, Bristol Cathedral Trust., 2005-13

Cathedral Eucharist, July 14th – Valedictions to Choristers and Precentor

Wendy Wilby

With a keen regret and sense of loss the Cathedral has said goodbye to its Precentor, Canon Wendy Wilby, who together with her husband, Professor Phil Wilby, has made such a difference to its life since their move to Bristol in late 2006. Wendy has also served as Dean of Women’s Ministry in the Bristol Diocese.

A graduate in Music of St Hugh’s College, Oxford and of the Royal College of Music, she came to Bristol from a background of ministry in Yorkshire, serving as Chaplain of St. Aidan’s Church of England High School, Harrogate and subsequently as Area Dean of Harrogate and Halifax. In their retirement she and Phil will live in their converted mill in the village of Skelton-on-Ure, a beautiful part of Yorkshire.

Asked how she will look back on her time with us, Wendy says that it has been a great privilege to her to be part of the life of a cathedral in a ‘vibrant and diverse city such as Bristol.’ For our part we will miss her many qualities, particularly the discernment, warmth and charm which she brought to her dealings with all those she encountered.

Wendy has edited The History of the Music of Bristol Cathedral in 100 Objects, just published (Redcliffe Press of Bristol, pp 192), a ‘little book’, the foreword states, ‘designed to introduce, inform and stimulate’ on the subject of the history, the traditions and the personalities contained in the long story of music at the Cathedral. It is excellent value and is available from the Cathedral shop, price £10.00.

The Chairman’s Report Cont’d

In the latter part of May Stephen Parsons succeeded Hugh Pye as Chairman of the Trust.

Stephen has been associated with the life of the Cathedral for over 50 years. An alumnus of the Cathedral School, he joined the Choir of the Cathedral in September, 1962, when Clifford Harker was Organist and Master of Choristers, Cecil Rich was Headmaster of Bristol Cathedral School and Douglas Harrison was Dean. He was made Head Chorister in 1966. He graduated in Law from the University of Leeds and attended Bradford Business School.

He worked in the Defence and Nuclear Sector with Vickers and the rocket manufacturer Bristol Aerojet, becoming Managing Director of the latter in 1990. He led a management buy-in of Redcliffe Magtronics in 1996 and holds the non-executive chairmanship of the company.

He stayed in touch with BCS via the ex-Choristers Association and became President of the Old Cathedralians in 1988. He became a governor of the school in 2002 and Chairman of Governors in 2004. He led the transition of BCS to that of an independent academy, Bristol Cathedral Choir School, in 2008 and was much involved in the redevelopment of College Square. He is also Chairman of Governors of the Cathedral Primary School, due to open in September, 2013.

Stephen is a Merchant Venturer and a Deputy Lieutenant for Bristol. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals in 2009/10. He has many other interests, which include being a Commandeur de Bordeaux and Chairman of Quartet Community Foundation. He has recently been invited to become both a Lay Honorary Canon of the Cathedral and an Elder of the City of Bristol.

Recreations are being a grandfather, theatre, wine, music and rugby.

Stephen Parsons Chairman of the Cathedral Trust

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There is a wonderful wartime poem, by Henry Reed, recalling a hypnotic lecture on the different parts of a rifle

This is the lower sling swivel. And thisIs the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see, When you are given your slings.

The poet was clearly staring out of the window as the lecturer droned on. No such luxury here. We have spent the last few months in focussed debate about how to describe the Cathedral and all its constituent parts in the new signage which is now being introduced to the building. You might think that after nine hundred years we have achieved some clarity about what we have and what we say about it. In fact, we have all been slightly surprised to find that there are clear differences of emphasis in the way we describe the purpose of a Cathedral and what within it is most important. Which windows, or which memorials matter most? Which are

the events that really signify? Are we here for bishop, city, diocese, or Sunday congregation? In our new signage we have celebrated the famous things, the Saxon carving of the harrowing of hell, the night stairs. We have also paid tribute to some of the lesser jewels in our crown, the bell of the aircraft carrier HMS Argus, the memorial to the splendid Sub-Sacrist William Phillips who held the door against the rioters in 1831. So, in the naming of parts, we have been served a reminder of the riches within a glorious building and the great sweep of our history. The story goes on in the new signage, a shop re-fit, a new website and the appointment of a new Precentor. It is a story that those of us closest to the cathedral are still learning and it is a story strong and deep enough to offer back to city and diocese a glimpse of its dignity and character.

The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle Dean of Bristol

The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle Dean of Bristol

‘The Dean Writes...’... The Naming of Parts

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New Trust Chairman

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High Sheriff’s Concert

Variety was the aim and feature of this year’s High Sheriff ’s Concert in the Cathedral on 14th June, under the theme ‘East meets West.’ The programme, in the words of Professor Philip Wilby, sought to illustrate ‘the cultural diversity which has characterised the City of Bristol for generations.’

Thus the music of Beethoven’s Overture and Turkish March (The Ruins of Athens), Elgar’s March of the Mogul Emperors and Handel’s Zadok the Priest (reminding us that 2013 is the 60th anniversary of our Queen’s coronation) exemplified the western classical tradition; RSVP, a group of Asian musicians based in Bristol, gave a quite different flavour with its brand of Bhangra, a rich and colourful mixture of classic and contemporary Indian music; songs from Britten’s Les Illuminations marked the centenary of that composer’s birth; Liz Lane’s Spirit of Africa, receiving its orchestral premiere, expressed in five movements a journey through the day in an African landscape; and the well-loved Indian

Love Lyrics by Amy Woodford-Finden and Ollie Speaks’s setting of Kipling’s ‘The Road to Mandalay’ gave voice nostalgically to relationships of the past.

Accompanying this unusual and attractive programme was the invariably first-class musicianship of Bristol Ensemble, Bristol’s own professional orchestra, under the Leadership of Roger Huckle and the baton of Ian Holmes, Musical Director of the UWE Singers and Chamber Choir. Josephine Goddard delighted the audience with her third consecutive appearance at this annual concert; RSVP demonstrated the reason for their fast-growing reputation as exponents of Bhangra; and the UWE Singers themselves, 100 strong, brought enthusiasm, expertise and panache to Zadok the Priest and Spirit of Africa.

The evening raised over £5000.00 for equal division between the High Sheriff ’s Fund and the Fitzhardinge Society.

Next year’s Concert will be in the Cathedral on Saturday, 7th June, 2014 at 7.30 p.m. Details to be announced. Tickets will go on sale in April, 2014.

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Thank you

RSVP

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Nick Bury, Guest Speaker

Fitzhardinge society annual dinner

121 members and guests, including a party attending the wedding of two Society members the next day, sat down to the Fitzhardinge Annual Dinner in the Cathedral Nave on July 11th.

Before the meal the Very Rev. Nick Bury, Dean of Gloucester, 1997 – 2010, gave an address entitled ‘Jesus had no home. Wot’s this ‘ere Cathedral for?’ a light-hearted review of the modern role of cathedrals with some serious questions underneath. The title derived from graffiti once scrawled on the wall of Liverpool Cathedral.

A combination of a good turn-out for the dinner and many generous donations from members and other friends in support of the occasion led to over £2,000 being raised for the Society’s funds. Brigadier Hugh Pye presided in the absence of the Trust’s new Chairman, Stephen Parsons, on a long-planned trip abroad.

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New organ - upper casework carvings and doors before polishing and staining

New Cathedral Website

The Cathedral Shop

The shop is in transition. With the financial assistance of the Friends of the Cathedral it is being refitted over the summer.

As a result of a highly generous gift, the Cathedral is to receive a new chamber organ, which is being constructed at the Northampton workshop of Kenneth Tickell and Co. The instrument will be placed in the quire. A chamber organ creates a particular sound, well suited to specific pieces in the

choral repertoire. It works particularly well with the music of the early modern period. It also allows an organist to play and conduct from within the quire. There are chamber organs in several of the English cathedrals. The Bristol instrument will be in no sense a replacement for our wonderful Cathedral organ, soon due for some expensive and very necessary renovation. It will be played at some services of evensong and perhaps at some concerts.Layout is to be revised, with improved

space and new stock. Staff from Aslan Christian Books at St Stephen’s are

joining and working alongside our volunteers, for whose continuing work we remain ever-grateful.

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A new website went live in July. Plenty of work remains to be done on it, but it is hoped that the new site represents a substantial improvement.

The Cathedral Website

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New Organ

Society Membership FormI would like to renew my membership / join the Fitzhardinge Society

The Fitzhardinge Society c/o Bristol Cathedral Trust, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TJT: 0117 946 8184, fitzhardinge.society@bristol-cathedral.co.uk

NameAddress

PostcodeEmailTel Mobile

Single* membership £100 Dual* membership £150 Other amount* £

I am a UK tax payer, and would like you to claim Gift Aid on all donations I make until I notify you otherwise.

* Must be over 18 years

BANKERS ORDERTo the Manager Bank LimitedAddress

Postcode

Dear SirPlease arrange for the payments to be made and charged to my account per the following details.

Credit: Bristol Cathedral TrustAccount No: 41184989 Sort code: 40-14-12At: HSBC, 24 College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TD

The annual sum of £ on

And thereafter on the same date for three further years, unless cancelled.

SignatureNameAccount No: Sort code:

Please return this completed payment order within an envelope to:

The Fitzhardinge Societyc/o Bristol Cathedral Trust, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TJ

Registered Charity Number 801008

Under the attentions of our enthusiastic and expert volunteers the garden goes from strength to strength. The Cathedral has been awarded a grant of £1000 towards the purchase of new tools and plants, and the garden was recently inspected by the judges of South West in Bloom.

The Garden

The Cathedral garden in bloom

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