David Briggs

Bruce did in fact go back to Birmingham on Thursday to get more stuff. I went to chorus and we rehearsed Merlin 3 with Debbie. Emails about the low B flat for the tenors! Friday I did December music list and Christmas music draft, Darren and John organised a skip to get rid of the unwanted stuff from upstairs and Glyn Close. Dennis's old room looks much larger and will become my study. We set off to Paddington via London Bridge and Baker Street and arrived early. Train journeys went smoothly and at Newport we met Fr Barry Angus and Eric. Barry used to be parish priest at South Norwood but had to retire because of cancer. He is an oblate of Belmont. At Hereford we stood in fog for an hour as 3 taxis had crashed on the bridge and there was gridlock. Our taxi took an hour to get there and we arrived for dinner having missed session 1. David Briggs gave a splendid recital on the new Nicholson organ. He played Franck 3, Bach Toccata in F (pedal reed too loud for upper work) Dupre, Haydn, Vierne, Boellmann and improvisation on the Magnificat sung by the monks. It was splendid!