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Normandy Tour 2006
The
whole choir (boys, girls and men) have recently returned from a
week-long tour to Normandy. Based in Caen, we also sang concerts at
Mont St Michel, Rennes and Argentan.
Here follows a diary of
the tour... click on the pictures to see them in full size.
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Friday
20 October
 It
was cold, wet and very dark as we all gathered at Sheffield
Cathedral at 3.30 am… the inordinately early start caused by a
ferry cancellation a few days beforehand. Nevertheless, despite the
lack of sleep, most were in good spirits as we boarded the coach
which was to become very familiar over the coming week! So the tour
party of 9 boys, 13 girls, 8 songmen, Neil Taylor, Anthony Gowing,
Jonathan Eyre, Canon Howard Such & a handful of adult helpers (mainly parents) set
off on their great Norman adventure.
The
first day consisted mostly of travel, and in total 13 hours were
spent on the coach or ferry, arriving in Caen at about 6 p.m. local
time (a diet of sleep and films ensuring that it passed fairly
quickly). Our hotel - the Étap hotel opposite Caen railway station
- was exactly what we needed & expected, and we all ate together
on the first night in the restaurant next door, before retiring for
some much needed sleep!
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Saturday
21 October
A
nice antidote to the previous day - one with virtually no travel at
all! In fact, we had a free morning to explore the city of Caen,
which surprised a few of us with its pleasant, quiet feel and
splendid architecture. One of the more impressive sights was the
church where we were to sing - the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, which despite
not being a Cathedral certainly felt like one in stature. It is also
the final resting place of William the Conqueror - who was to
feature a few times on the tour, in different ways!
 We
rehearsed in the Abbaye in the afternoon - not only for the Sunday
morning service, but also for the concerts later in the week, as we
did not know how much rehearsal time we would get elsewhere. It also
gave us a chance to enjoy the fantastic acoustics within the church:
making unaccompanied music (in particular) highly enjoyable to
sing.
Following
the rehearsal, the boys and a few songmen headed off to a local park
to burn off some energy in a fiercely competitive game of football;
meanwhile later in the afternoon some other members of the party
were treated to a demonstration of the fantastic Abbaye organ by the
titulaire, Alain Bouvet. A chance to sample the delights of Caen
followed that evening; Mr Harvey (right) can be seen obviously enjoying his
birthday at a “theme” night in one local bar!
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Sunday
22 October
 Back
to serious business today. Our main engagement was to sing motets at
Mass at the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (left). One surprise about this was that we
were performing “in the round” - members of the congregation
close on all sides, far more so than is ever the case in England!
Nevertheless, we acquitted ourselves well, and the Abbaye choir (who
sang the liturgical sections of the service) seemed impressed - to
the extent that they asked us to sing an extra motet just before the
voluntary (Sortie)! The Sortie itself was another highlight,
not least for Anthony Gowing, who was invited to play it by M.
Bouvet - a great honour, and one which he took with aplomb.
After lunch at a bustling local market, we headed off to the Caen Museum
of Peace. Despite its title, most of the content related to the
terrors of war - predominantly the Second World War (in particular
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy), but it also included sections
about the Cold War and the current “war against terror” - four
fragments from the wreckage of the World Trade Center in New York
were particularly poignant. Fortunately we were able to spend the
entire afternoon there taking it all in, at the end of which we gave
in impromptu performance of Bairstow’s “Let all mortal flesh
keep silence” for the museum staff.
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Monday
23 October
 Today
was spent mostly at the Mont St Michel, a 90 minute coach journey
from Caen. Like its smaller Cornish cousin (St Michael’s Mount),
the Mont St Michel (right) is practically an island, separated from the
mainland by a small strip of land which is sometimes covered by the
tide, but one which looks mightily impressive from near or far. We
gave a lunchtime concert at l’Église St Pierre, which is a small
church towards the foot of the island; an audience made up mostly of
passing tourists certainly appreciated our efforts! Particularly of
note in this performance were the sheer volume created by the choir
in such a small church (particularly in the Kyrie of Widor’s
mass), and a tremendous effort by Anthony Gowing to cope with an
electronic organ which had him yearning for even the worst organ he
had ever played in England!
After
the concert we ascended to the top of the Mont, and visited the
impressive Abbey. The acoustics were so wonderful inside that the
Songmen spontaneously (!) gave a rendition of Duruflé’s Notre
Père, and were about to follow it up with some Tallis when we
were given a stern lecture by a disapproving French guide about not
singing “sans authorisation”.
So we moved on to view the rest of the Abbey in comparative silence!
Before our journey back we ate en
masse at a nearby restaurant which seemed very happy to feed 46
hungry English mouths, and even provided some of the adults with
some free Calvados as a thank you!
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Tuesday
24 October
Another
change of scenery - this time venturing outside Normandy into Rennes,
the capital of neighbouring Bretagne.
Thanks to some decidedly poor communication from our French colleague
in Rennes, there was a mix-up over the venue for our performance, and
a distinct lack of publicity, which led to one of the more bizarre
experiences of the tour…
 Nevertheless,
after lunch and a quick look round Rennes, we rehearsed at l’Église
St Etienne, which was a fine place to sing (with another superb
acoustic). The only real problem here was that the organ (the only one
of three organs in the church to work) was situated immediately behind
the altar, facing East, leaving Mr Gowing with no way of seeing the
conductor! A hastily arranged plan, involving the organ scholar
relaying Mr Taylor’s beat, was devised to ensure that organ and
choir stayed together. I am pleased to report that this worked well!
After
a leisurely tour of the shops, squares & cafés of Rennes, we came
to the evening’s performance (left)… only to find the smallest audience
imaginable. Strictly speaking, it consisted of one person plus tour
party members, although one other person did witness part of the
concert! The lack of publicity had led to what could best be described
as a personal performance for Régis Hovelaque, the sacrist of the
church. Despite this, we gave a fine recital, and were even rewarded
with a standing ovation at one point! We would sincerely like to thank
M. Hovelaque for his kind assistance with the concert & rehearsal,
and salute him for doing his utmost to uphold the good name of the
city of Rennes!
Because of the tradition of late concert times in France (8.30 pm), it
was around midnight when we arrived back in Caen, slightly sleepy, and
hoping for a larger audience the next day…
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Wednesday
25 October
After
two longer trips on the previous two days, today’s travelling was
relatively light. First we went to visit Falaise – known principally
for two historical reasons, being the location of William the
Conqueror’s main French castle, and being the last Norman hold-out
of the Nazis in 1944 before the Allied Forces besieged them. We took a
tour of the castle – the only remaining Norman castle with its
internal structure largely intact – which was well geared to
tourists, with interesting audio guides and excellent displays. After
some lunch we headed south to the town of Argentan.
 Our
final performance of the tour was a concert at L’Église St Germain
in Argentan (right), a church which had suffered severe damage due to World
War II bombing, but has been restored splendidly. Having effectively
had a dress rehearsal for the concert the previous night, the main
purpose of our rehearsal was to get used to performing with the organ,
which was at the back of the church, causing Mr Gowing to have to
anticipate the beat by what seemed like several seconds! After a few
teething problems this worked well, and we headed off across the town
for a civic reception hosted by the Mayor of Argentan. We were very
privileged to be welcomed in this way, and would like to thank both
the church and the town for the greeting, and the food and drink
provided!
Fortunately
it transpired that we had a very good audience for our final concert
– many thanks indeed to Pierre Sillière for arranging this. More
standing ovations, and encores, followed the concert… and a request
for us to return there in the future! Thus the musical part of the
tour ended on a very high note (not literally – a bottom E for the
basses!), and we headed back to Caen.
On behalf of several of the adult members of the tour, I would like to
recognise the extraordinary generosity of one local bar owner (several
gifts including bottles of wine, CDs, food, and other things were
bestowed upon us that evening), and apologise for my karaoke
efforts…
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Thursday
26 October
This
morning we made the short trip to Bayeux… famous, of course, for its
70m tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings and events leading up to
it. We were all awestruck by the tapestry, but some of us just as much
by the majestic Cathedral (for which the tapestry was originally
intended), especially the crypt.
 In
the afternoon the party split into two: most of the girls, and some of
the adults remained in Bayeux for further sightseeing and shopping;
the rest of the party ventured to Arromanches, in the heart of the
D-Day landings beaches, where we watched a 360° cinematic depiction
of the landings themselves. Poignant though this was, it was surpassed
by a visit to Juno beach, where Canadian troops had landed on June 6,
1944 and prevailed despite heavy losses. Plenty of intact physical
reminders – including a bunker on the beach, a large piece of German
coastal defence artillery, and a Canadian tank (left) that had been pulled
from the sea in 1971 – began to bring home the enormity and reality
of what really happened 62 years ago.
Our last evening in Caen involved a meal all together at a restaurant
adjacent to our hotel, at the end of which prizes & presents were
dished out… not only to the choristers and organists, but to the
various adult helpers who had worked so hard throughout the week! Our
thanks go to Corryne Osborne, Sarah Lester, Yolande & Malcolm
Quickfall, Jim Shore, Laura Jellinek, and Carolyn Jones for this.
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Friday
27 October
 As
with the previous Friday, the vast majority of this day was spent on
the coach back to Sheffield… one aspect of the trip back deserves
special mention, however. We would like to congratulate Yolande
Quickfall on putting together a fantastic picture quiz that kept
everyone on their toes… and after some health competition at the
back of the bus, I must report that team “That’s Numberwang” defeated
“ACP3O” by the narrow margin of 45-44½ … sorry guys! We
eventually arrived back in Sheffield just before 10pm, exhausted but
thankful for a weekend to recover before school or work.
As a final note I would like to say four more “thank you”s – to
Paul, our coach driver (from Andrew’s of Tideswell) who went above
and beyond the call of duty to help us have a successful tour; to
Louis Romegoux, who acted as translator not only throughout the tour
but also in the planning over the past few months; to Neil Taylor for
his hard work and flawless direction (both musical and otherwise); and
to Anthony Gowing – not only for planning the tour from the start, but
also for coping with some of the most difficult organs of his playing
career!
Story
by Jeremy Dawson
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