Living The Dream
We returned from our summer break, refreshed and ready, beginning our year by greeting an old and cherished choral friend- Handel’s Messiah. Although The Messiah is associated with Christmas and winter months, the many light semiquaver runs fluttering round our practices seemed to fit well with September’s still balmy evenings and pale lemon light.
But, just as the trees began to turn crimson, orange, and gold, so did the colours in our rehearsal room as we began to bring Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius to life. We have sung in scarlet as a chorus of demons and sung glorious and gilded rich chords of praise. It has been such a vibrant and exciting interlude in the preparations for our Christmas concert!
New members
Our ranks have been swelled and our sound enriched by no less than eight new members following this term’s auditions. As is now customary we asked them all to tell us a little about themselves:
Helen Leon, S1
I studied Music and Drama at university, voice being my specialism. I enjoyed singing in light operatic societies throughout my 20's and sung lead roles in Patience, The Gondoliers, Sweeney Todd and The Merry Widow. I sung with the BBC Symphony Chorus for 7 years, performing in concerts at both the Barbican and Royal Albert Hall, highlights including First and Last Nights of the Proms. I took part in a recording back in 2014 of The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Andrew Davis and Sarah Connolly so it will be brilliant to sing alongside her again in 2026! I am excited to join The Wayns and am looking forward to getting back into a singing routine. I am a Production Manager with the BBC's Music On Demand team - we commission music content for BBC Sounds and iPlayer. Alongside singing and work, I enjoy yoga, the gym, gardening and spending time with family and friends.
Molly Bertram (S1)
I’m currently taking a gap year after completing my A Levels, before heading to Birmingham University in 2026 to study English. At the moment, I’m working in a local pub to save up for a three-month volunteering trip to Sri Lanka, where I’ll be teaching English! I’ve always loved singing, having recently completed my Grade 8 with distinction and planning to complete my diploma in university, so joining the Waynflete Singers felt like the perfect opportunity to keep music in my life - and to enjoy being part of such a vibrant and talented choir!
Lydia Pearson (S1)
I was very fortunate to have been raised in Paris and Hampshire and grown up around music from day dot. Music has always been an integral part of family life. My mother has raised money at The Grange Festival for as long as I can remember and my father was a passionate musician and Cambridge chorister. I followed in his footsteps and joined choirs at an early age and found a whole new inner confidence and hobby and haven’t looked back. I was Head of Choir at school and while I wasn’t confident socially, I found I could always find my ‘people’ in the world of music. While completing my music degree, I joined the London Philharmonic Chorus and discovered the joy of singing with others in larger venues with world-class orchestras and fantastic music that I grew up hearing and singing along to. I am delighted to be joining the esteemed Wayns and am ecstatic to be singing the heavenly Dream of Gerontius with you all.
Elizabeth Poobalan (S2)
I joined St Andrew's Cathedral Choir in Aberdeen in 2012 at age 10 and slowly progressed my way up, obtaining an RSCM Gold medal in 2017 and becoming head chorister in 2019. Following on from COVID in 2021, I took on the role of treble trainer and conducted the treble choristers. I continued conducting the trebles up until this summer when I graduated with a degree in neuroscience and moved 550 miles for a new job in a pharmaceutical company!
Catherine Bowstead (S2) and Mike Bowstead (B1)
We recently moved to Winchester from Wokingham. Catherine has just retired as a Methodist minister, and Mike retired last year after a career in HM Revenue & Customs. We both enjoy a wide range of music, whether singing, playing or listening. Mike has sung in various choirs for many years, most recently with Wokingham Choral Society, while Catherine has not sung regularly in a choir since schooldays, but is really appreciating being part of a large choir once again. We have two adult children, both of whom are keen singers and musicians. We're looking forward to the exciting challenges of singing with the Wayns, and are grateful for the warm welcome we've received.
Cathy Birch, A2
I'm really looking forward to being a member of the Wayns, having sung with choirs a lot growing up and through university they've taken a bit of a back seat over more recent years. Previously I have been a Music Therapist in hospital paediatrics, but took a break from that career about 18 months ago and am now a Registrar - registering the births and deaths of the people of Hampshire, as well as marrying them! It's a lot of fun, but I find I miss music being such an integral part of my everyday life and am enjoying the Wayns bringing some of that back. As well as singing, I'm a flautist with Winchester Symphony Orchestra and can also occasionally be found wielding various squeeze boxes with considerably less skill, but great enthusiasm, in pubs and at ceilidhs.
Sam Sharpe (T2)
I've lived in Winchester on and off since 2004, moving recently from Fulflood to Abbotts Barton. I've worked for various international development organisations, and am currently working as finance director of a charity. I am delighted to be joining a choir again after very many years. I did lots of singing through school and university, but my last proper choral singing was with the Alexandra Choir in London under the baton of David Hill (before he was promoted to Winchester and the Wayns in 1987!!) - so I'm very rusty and looking forward to getting back up to speed.
More competition success for Tim Cain
The composer Tim Cain (who for those who don’t know is also a member of the Wayns tenor section!) has recently enjoyed yet more competition success, this time with his composition Du Dunkeldner Grund (“You Darkening Ground”), written for a competition whose theme was Großwetterlage (meaning something like 'overall climate’).
Over to Tim himself now to tell us more…
You might remember that last Christmas, the Waynflete Singers sang my prize-winning Carol, Let us now go to Bethlehem. Encouraged by that experience, and by the many kind and generous comments from various Wayns, I entered another composition competition. So last month Ann and I caught the train to the mediaeval town of Regensburg in the south east corner of Germany, to hear this latest composition performed during their chamber music festival.
The piece combines an innocently tuneful folk song harmonisation with a setting of a poem by Rilke, which speaks of the Earth reclaiming, at the end of time, everything that humans have constructed. The upper voices sing the folksong while the Rilke rumbles menacingly underneath; the result is somewhat unsettling. As one of three finalists, I was expected to give a short introduction to the piece, which I chose to give in German, out of respect for my hosts. I don’t speak German – most of what I know comes from singing – but when you’re a Wayn you don’t have to worry about such things and sure enough, Caroline Wainwright (S1) and Anne Steer (S2) gave me not only an accurate translation but also a verbal reading of my short speech…
… which, on the evening of the concert, I left in our hotel room. But I still had the text on my phone, so when the time came I read it slowly and carefully and was rewarded with warm applause by a generous audience. The performance itself was beautifully heartfelt and I was delighted to be awarded Third Prize.
And there was a coda. On our way home, I received this email from one of the singers:
'Dear Tim,
I have the urgent need to tell you that I loved your piece very much and think it would have deserved the first prize. I have talked to several other singers and musicians yesterday after the concert and they all have the same opinion. I could give more evidence to my opinion, but that's too much for this email :)
Wishing you all the best and have a great time in Regensburg.’
How lovely is that?
Congratulations, Tim, from all your proud choral colleagues!
See you all at the AGM - there’s clearly plenty to toast beforehand!
The idea behind our Wayns Augmented blog is to increase our connection as choir, share relevant news, features and experiences and boost our musical camaraderie! If you have an idea for a future blogpost then please don’t hesitate to contact Sarah Jones sj@luminaconsulting.com or Jacki Donnellan jacki@donnellan.org.uk