Recognition Of 70 Years Service To The Choir
Monday 19th April, 2021 - 11:49amDerek
Harvey is the elder statesman of Mousehole Male Voice Choir. He joined
when he was 17, on 19th October 1950, before many of us were born.
In
honour of his 70th anniversary – surely unprecedented in the history of
the choir – five of us (the maximum allowed under the present
restrictions) went to the Solomon Browne Hall to present him with a
Nigel Hallard print of the harbour. The five of us were very glad to
represent the choir and show Derek how much we value what he’s put into
supporting Mousehole over such a long period. The label on the back of
the picture says:
“Presented
to Derek by his fellow members of the Mousehole Male Voice Choir as a
mark of their affection and in recognition of his outstanding and
remarkable 70 years of service to the choir.“
It
was also good to put on choir uniform for the first time in more than a
year, not since our concert in February 2020 in Chapel Street Chapel to
help raise funds for Julyan Drew’s memorial seat in Newlyn. Getting
dressing up wasn’t as easy as you might think – buttoning up a shirt
collar, remembering how to knot a tie, wondering why the trousers had
shrunk so much, and dusting a pair of black shoes took some doing.
But
it was worth it to stand in the sunshine in Mousehole with Derek and to
thank him with a gift that shows how attractive the village is. We hope
it will also bring back happy memories for him. Derek brought along a
big album of choir photos going back many years and we spent some time
looking through them and putting names to some of the faces – Cecil
Blewett and Garfield Ladner, Sidney and Tommy Waters, Ivor George and
Edgar Wallis, and many more.
Derek
has sung under five Musical Directors, and he could probably tell you
exactly how many concerts he’s performed in and what pieces each one
contained. In all these years, he missed only two Summer Festival
Concerts and he sang at another despite hurting his back after falling
off a roof. He’s been Attendance Officer for over fifty years and, with
the late Harry Pender, was awarded the annual Achievement Cup at the
last AGM.
Hopefully
when the choir is back together, we can in person thank Derek for his
dedication to Mousehole Male Voice Choir and wish him even more years as
a member.
