Click for a larger (95KB) version.

(Andrew Goodwin is now Organist of
Bangor Cathedral.

I recall my mother "telling Mr Lees off" after the concert for having coins jingling in his pocket while he was conducting!

Source unknown, but probably the West Bromwich News.)

Well over 100 music lovers took the opportunity of hearing Handel's church music played and sung in a church last Wednesday. The occasion was the third concert given by the Wednesbury Boys' High School choir at St Bartholomew's Church.

The first item sung by the boys - who were accompanied by an orchestra made up of  West Bromwich teachers, pupils, and members of West Bromwich Youth Orchestra - was Zadok the Priest. This stirring piece of music was later repeated, to the obvious enjoyment of all present.

The choir then went on to sing Rejoice in the Lord alway by Purcell, and another coronation anthem by Handel, The King shall rejoice.

In the middle of the concert, Handel's Organ Concerto in F major was played by 19 years-old Andrew Goodwin, a pupil of Wolverhampton Grammar School.

Mr Timothy Lees, the conductor and music teacher at the High School, told the "News" that Andrew had been called in at the last moment after Mr David Johnston, an organist from Derby, fell ill. "He has really made a wonderful job of what must be his biggest concert engagement, and we are very grateful to him, as we are to the other instrumentalists who have taken part," he said. "It is not often that a school choir has the chance of singing with an orchestra capable of playing such difficult music."

The Rev G Owen, Vicar of Wednesbury, said he was very  pleased that the boys - who have previously performed Messiah and Mozart's Requiem in the church - had come along to give another concert. "I welcome the opportunity of the visit by the school, and I hope the close contact between church and school will be kept up," he added.

SCHOOL SONG
Click for scanned copy of the handwritten music  (98KB)
  Click for Capella copy of music  (75KB)

Click to hear first verse (878KB)
(best to right-click this and save the WAV
file on your computer - very jerky otherwise!)

Inspire us, Lord, that we may tread
They way, not turn aside,
To seek some easier path, misled
By greed, or sloth, or pride.

Guide us by fearless love of truth
In all our conflicts here;
Help us to fit ourselves in youth
For manhood's sterner sphere.

Instill in us the will to serve
At school, at home, abroad;
To work and play without reserve,
To seek not vain reward.

Lead us by knowledge of the word,
With heart and hand and soul;
Out tasks, fulfilled, ambitions spurred,
To realise our goal.

Come raise a song - a paean of praise
To Wednesbury's seat of learning,
Where we devote our salad days
To wisdom - all discerning.
Arte, Marte, Vigore,
Arte, Marte, Vigore,
Arte, Marte, Vigore,
We're Wodens all aspiring.

We struggle hard with verbs obscure,
Irregular, deponent;
With Maths applied, or maybe pure,
With chemical component.

We map each mountain, river, plain,
Our minds with contours graven,
And Europe's past we live again
With rulers good and craven.

We cultivate the written word,
Declaim in tones resounding,
We learn that facts may be inferred
From philosophic grounding.

In sun we toil on court or pitch -
In rain, when bud bespatters;
On field or track, o'er fence, thro' ditch
We strive - that's all that matters.

So raise a song - a paean of praise
To Wednesbury's seat of learning.
Long may she thrive in all her ways,
New laurels ever earning.
Arte, Marte, Vigore,
Arte, Marte, Vigore,
Arte, Marte, Vigore,
We're Wodens all aspiring.