13/09/2016
Oxford 2016, just ended, was a great success. We made two half-day trips to Broughton Castle and to Coventry Cathedral. Broughton is a lovely private stately home, used in the film Shakespeare in Love as the home of the Gwyneth Paltrow character. It has a moat and a most wonderful garden and beautiful rooms. It's on a very small scale compared to a place like Blenheim Palace but that's part of why we like it so much.
Coventry Cathedral is the new one, now over 50 years old, built to stand beside the remnants of the old one bombed by the enemy during WWII. Our friend Kerry Beaumont, the Cathedral organist and his wife Leslie gave us a wonderful afternoon. Leslie gave us a tour of the Cathedral and Kerry gave us a mini-recital and demonstration of the magnificent organ and how it works. I think a good time was had by all.
Roger Simmonds, our English conductor, taught the group Haydn's Little Organ Mass. Tim did his usual repertoire of pieces representing some of the great choral music composers. Mary especially like the selections from the Bryant Mass. Son Marcus Elia worked with the choir on two numbers for his first conducting effort with OCM. We had a terrific lead soprano in Elspeth Piggott who ably led the sopranos and gave a beautiful solo of the Benedictus from the Haydn Mass. We had a very well-attended recital at St. Michael-at-the-North Gate Church the day before departure.
All in all, a great two weeks. Our accommodation was great and the food at the University Club around the corner was more than adequate. Lovely to have the option of using our meal voucher there towards either lunch or dinner. And of course everyone liked the great prepared take-away meals from Tesco, Sainsbury's or Marks and Spencer. It gave many an opportunity to relax with their self-cooked meal and to chat with their cohorts over a nice glass of wine.
We'll keep you posted on our next venture which will happen in either the late Spring or Summer. Looking at lots of options.
