Creativity in Music

Singing or playing an instrument has long been a part of family and community life. The Heritage Open Days sought to tell something of Music in Turvey in the past and showcase creativity in the present.

Bells of Turvey

An audio-visual presentation included excerpts from ‘Bells of Turvey’. Produced by TATS in 2017 and written by Poppy Hollman with music by Tim Brewster, both Turvey residents, this told the story of a family and a village,

The memoirs of Joseph Bell, father dying when he was just 6 months old, sent to work in the fields age 7, sent to the Bedford Workhouse age 12 when his mother died too and eventually making good, form the basis of a story of grinding poverty in Turvey’s agricultural community in the 1850s. Sisters Sarah, Mary and Betsy were sent to lace school age 4 or 5 and then helped to support the family. In the play, the harvesters sang ‘The Gleaning’ and the lace makers sang ‘Bobbins and Pins’ as they worked.

Choral Singing in All Saints’ Parish Church

The tradition of choral singing in village church life began in the 18th century and, largely through the encouragement and energy of Charles Longuet Higgins reached a peak in the 1860’s as All Saints was filled by up to 700 choristers from churches all round Turvey. Charles, who was the choirmaster here and also gave the church its splendid organ, organised an Annual Choral Festival each July from 1862 to 1877. Singers came from Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire as well as Bedfordshire. In 1872 there were 27 choirs including the Turvey choir of 60 voices. You can read more about this here.

In the 1900s a Rural Deanery Choir Festival was organised in conjunction with the other churches in the Deanery.

Excerpts from CDs made by the All Saints’ Church Choir in more recent years were included in the audio-visual presentation.

CDs for sale

Cut out models of choristers dressed in choir robes sat in the choir stalls throughout the weekend together with the figure of Charles Longuet Higgins.

Charles Longuet Higgins and the ‘choir’

The original organ at All Saints’ was presented by Miss Ann Maria Higgins of Turvey House in 1838. In 1847 a more elaborate 3 manual organ was donated by Charles Longuet Higgins and then, following the remodelling of the church, he had the present organ installed in 1855. It is reckoned to be an exceptional organ for a village parish church.

Music in the other Turvey Churches

In the Wesleyan Chapel there were no generous benefactors to provide a fine organ – the singing would be unaccompanied, each line of the hymn sung by the leader and then repeated by the congregation. It was not until 1842 that the Harmonium was invented in Paris by Alexandre Debain and affordable reed organs became widely available. A harmonium provided the music for the chapel until its closure in 1965. Read more here.

In the early years, music in the Congregational Chapel was provided by a band of musicians. A poem by Thomas Andrew who lived in the Barton Homes almshouses in 1928 and had been connected with the chapel for many years speaks of

The music in that church alone
Was music one cannot forget
Will Johnson with his large trombone,
Will France with his sweet clarinet.
Perhaps the people now might smile
Were that same music with us still,
George Andrews with his big bass viol
Who came from Newton Blossomville.

The music changed when the old Barton Homes was pulled down and the organ which had previously stood in the Memorial Hall in the Barton almshouses was transferred to the Congregational chapel. When the chapel eventually closed in 1985 the organ was sent to Australia to replace one destroyed by vandals. (Kent, E 1992: Turvey Chapels. Article in Turvey News, Turvey)

Turvey Mysteries

A Group of Turvey people, Tim Brewster, Jo Spray, Jane Brewster and Cathy Swift came together in 2005 to recreate Tony Harrison’s celebrated cycle of mystery plays, as originally staged by the National Theatre with music by the band Home Service. The plays were community productions, in the wonderful historical setting of All Saints’ Church. The Nativity was staged in 2006 followed by the Passion in 2007 and Doomsday in 2008. The cycle was repeated in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Display of the Turvey Mysteries

The Turvey production attempted to be as faithful to the original as possible, drawing on the available recordings, and filling in the gaps which remain from similar sources. A key part of this was the use of a large live band, with a line up very similar to the original. Parts of the production were included in the audio-visual presentation. Further details are available here.

Outside the churches there was other musical activity.

From 1958 to 1960, Turvey had its own Skiffle Band, ‘Buddy Cones and his Blackjacks’

The Turvey Ladies Choir. Between 1950 and 1964 Deidre Edwards was the Choir mistress of The Turvey Ladies Choir which regularly participated in the Annual Musical Festival held in the Corn Exchange, Bedford.

In June 2023 the Turvey based folk group ‘Jack in a Barrel’ presented a Day of Folk including a concert in the All Saints’ Church, a Ceilidh and Morris Dancing. Jack in a Barrel are a seven-piece acapella group. They have been performing regularly at folk clubs and festivals since forming in 2018, and recorded their debut album, “I Know Not Where I Live” in 2019. Jack in a Barrel sing a range of traditional and “sounds traditional” songs from standards like John Ball to more reflective numbers like John Tams’ Devonshire Carol, taking in the odd shanty and music hall number along the way. Songs from the group were on the audio-visual presentation.

Performances by current Turvey choirs

Two choirs gave performances at the Heritage Open Day event. The first was the Barton Community Choir. The choir was started in 2018 by Mrs Sylvia Matthews who had moved back to Turvey after many years away. Sylvia, a Voice Coach and Piano Teacher, got together with eight residents of the Barton & Royle Homes to meet in their Community Hall every Monday morning to practise. Soon after, Christine Watson, another Piano Teacher, joined, closely followed by other ladies and two gentlemen from the village. The choir now numbers 24 members including four gentlemen. The ages of the Choir range from 60 to 93.

Barton Community Choir

Later the Turvey Community Choir performed under their leader Polly Gough. Polly says ‘The Choir began in September 2010 after a chance remark from one of its founder members. A group of us had attended a concert at the Corn Exchange where our children, who were at Turvey Lower School, were singing in a massed choirs’ event. Anna said, “Why do our children have all the fun? Why couldn’t we do something like this?” and the choir was formed three months later with around 7 members. This grew to over 20 members. Then COVID struck and the choir was unable to meet for over a year. Eventually a small group of us started singing again and we now have 13 regular members.’