To all Former Choristers of the St Albans Abbey Girls Choir
and Cathedral Girls Choir
From
Andrew Parnell
Vice President of the St Albans ECA
Director of the Abbey Girls Choir (1996 to 2001)
I would like to encourage you all to cast your minds back to being in the Girls Choir and reflect a little on what that experience meant to you.
I recently heard from one of the former boy choristers whom I had seen only rarely since he was in the choir two or three decades ago. He found my details on Linked-In and emailed to say that he had recently been thinking of his choir days “triggering many wonderful memories and embedding life skills I only could comprehend many years later.” He was particularly grateful to have been part of “such a wonderful and professional community” in his formative years.
I am sure that all of you will have more than a few positive experiences of being in a Cathedral choir. Many will look back fondly with gratitude and appreciation, as your years in the choir will have given you a unique outlook and set of skills to help you steer your career and other paths through life.
I hope you meet up with your peers from choir days and chat about those experiences, whether they be the trips away, the recordings, the people you’ve met through the choir, or some memorable performances in the daily round of services. In any case, please remember that the St. Albans Ex-Choristers Association (ECA) can also keep you in touch both with your peers, but also with former members of the Girls Choir since it began 24 years ago. Girls from other generations clearly have different memories of their time, but they also share your experience of regular singing at the Abbey.
Our ECA continues to support both Cathedral choirs as well as the Abbey’s music in general and would really appreciate your involvement in events – a small way in which you can bring your skills back to the place where you sang in your ‘formative years’.
If you can offer a bit more time, you would be most welcome to join the ECA committee and enhance the representation of the Abbey and Cathedral Girl choristers – helping to plan occasions, share ideas and inspire former choristers both recent and not so recent.
Please get in touch by emailing secretary@stalbanseca.org and consider joining the team which will shape those events.
Thank You