From all of us here at Cathedral Music Trust, congratulations to Lay Vicar Steve Abbott on his retirement after 40 years service in Salisbury Cathedral Choir! As we wish him all the best for the future, Chris Barnard (Local Ambassador for Salisbury) shares this article on Steve’s career and future plans:
This month sees the retirement of Steve Abbott after 40 years of service as a Lay Vicar in Salisbury Cathedral Choir. His father had been a chorister at Chichester Cathedral in the 1940’s and then, when Steve was seven, his father came to the theological college in Salisbury as a late ordinand.
Steve first joined the choir at St. Thomas’, where one of the members suggested he auditioned for the cathedral choir. He had a successful audition with Christopher Dearnley, and joined the choir in September of 1968 under Richard Seal. (Christopher Dearnley had by then moved to St. Paul’s as Director of Music). One of Steve’s brothers later followed him as a chorister.
Steve was a chorister for four and a half years, with his last service on Christmas Day in 1972, and he then went to school in Cranleigh, Surrey, where he took his O Levels. He then returned to Salisbury and entered the Sixth Form at Bishop Wordsworth’s School to study for his A levels. He actually got engaged to Kate on the evening of his final A Level!
He studied for his degree at Royal Holloway College, and then did a PGCE at King Alfred’s College, Winchester. During the year he was at Winchester, he was Choral Scholar, singing Bass in the cathedral choir. In 1980, the year he and Kate married, he returned to Bishop Wordsworth’s as an assistant in the music department, later becoming Head of Lower school, and spent 32 years there before retiring some ten years ago. Teaching Monday to Friday and then having to be in the cathedral for Evensong on time wasn’t always an easy balance, but after retirement it was much easier.
Steve joined the choir as an alto in 1985 when he replaced Richard Shepherd, which also coincided with David Halls coming to the cathedral as Assistant Organist. I suggested to Steve that there must have been many highlights during these past 40 years, and he told me about individual visits such as when the then Prince and Princess of Wales launched the Spire appeal, the wonderful occasion when Desmond Tutu came to preach, and Edward Heath’s funeral.
The introduction of the Girls’ Choir in 1991 was a massive event, and of course, there are annual services such as Darkness to Light. Steve sang at the very first one in 1970, when Cyril Taylor, the Precentor, and Richard Seal introduced it, and it is now, of course, for many the highlight of the church’s year at Salisbury. Steve describes it a real privilege to be at the centre of the procession as the Choir and ‘light’ moves through the cathedral. If he is not singing next Advent, he thinks the ideal position to sit for the service is in the Quire close to the Dean’s stall, and I have to agree with him there.
I was interested to know what Steve intends to do once he retires from the Choir. Not surprisingly, it will continue to include a great deal of music! He will still be conducting the St. John’s Singers, and the Cathedral Youth Choir, which has some 30 members. Earlier this year, he started a Cathedral Staff Choir, with 25 on the books, from all sections of the staff, which has been interesting as many of them did not know their colleagues from other departments! By Christmas they hope to be ready to perform but that won’t necessarily mean putting on a full concert.
Steve will also continue with his gardening, as he has a number of local clients, and later this year some of his family will be returning home from abroad, so he expects he and Kate will be on grandchildren duty, though not on Mondays and Tuesdays, as they are rehearsal evenings!
Steve admits he will miss the daily routine and says he will have to be disciplined to maintain his alto voice. He walks his dogs twice a day and on the early morning walk, he tells me, the dogs have to put up with his humming! If Steve didn’t hum and sing, Sunday morning Mattins would be a write off!
A top tip for any singer – keep humming, and sing every day!
By Chris Barnard, Local Ambassador for Salisbury
