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History A choir of Boys and Gentlemen has existed in the church St. Thomas-on-The Bourne since the early years of the church’s foundation in the 1860s. The separate Bourne parish was created in 1875 and musical fame was soon at hand in the shape of the Children's Hymn book. Mary Sidebotham, sister of the first Vicar and organist at the church, became its musical editor and the first edition was published in 1881. By 1898 one million copies had been sold and an early copy is proudly displayed to this day in the choir vestry. In 1911 the new parish church of St Thomas was built to accommodate the rapidly increasing population of The Bourne. A choir photograph of 1912 (below) shows 23 boys and 13 men - not very different from today's numbers.
The longest serving organist was Walter White who directed the music from 1911 to 1937 - a total of 26 years. Recruitment of organists and choir men during the crisis-ridden and war-torn years of 1937 to 1947 proved difficult but, with the appointment of Leslie Cooke in 1952, musical standards at the church improved rapidly. The arrival of Vincent James in 1959 proved to be significant: he was closely involved in the major organ rebuild of 1964 and in a considerable widening of the choir's horizons. It has been suggested in the choir that the secret of success to being a director of music here is to be called David. The first so named, David Victor-Smith, directed the music from 1970 to 1984 with notable distinction and now directs the famous Farnham Youth Choir. He was succeeded by David Gabe, who held the post until 1991. Musical successes during David Gabe's directorship included one of the choirboys, Duncan Watts, winning the BET Choirboy of the Year competition and occasional radio broadcasts for the BBC. David also supervised the 1990 organ rebuild, resulting in the fine instrument heard today. Nicholas Woods took the reins for a year from 1991 to 1992 and then we returned "temporarily" to David Gabe for another 2 years. David (Gabe) has clocked up three retirements from the music of the church - twice as director and finally as organist in the summer of 2001. On David's retirement as organist one of our former choristers, Brian Cotterill, returned to play for us. In 1994 a new director, David Swinson, was appointed. David's time with the choir saw a number of exciting events including the recording of three CDs, overseas and UK tours and even the occasional performance on stage. His (usually) relaxed style endeared him to the choir regulars and visitors alike. Kevin Jacot, formerly assistant director, ably took up the conductor's baton between 2002 and 2004. Under Kevin's directorship the choir grew in number, had the chance to learn many new pieces (often penned by Kevin) and enjoyed singing at a number of "away events" most notably in Austria in 2002. Jonathan Lane took up the reins between January 2004 and August 2008: Jonathan worked hard to promote a large number of initiatives to open the choral singing up to more people, notably founding the Girls’ Choir. Our new director, Philip Viveash, took over in September 2008. |
