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Scroll down the page to read accounts of our 2007 trip... In 1983, we invited the Chorale des Amis de l'Ecole from Niort, Wellingborough's twin town in France, to Wellingborough for a joint performance of Bach's Magnificat. This was an ambitious project, with each choir rehearsing individually and coming together for just one rehearsal with the orchestra the day before the concert. The event was a great success and it was followed by a visit by the Orpheus Choir to Niort in 1985. On this occasion we were also joined by the Bach Choir of Coburg, Niort's twin town in Germany, for a performance of Handel's Messiah. Those who took part will never forget singing the Hallelujah Chorus as an encore, with the great doors of the magnificent Church of St Etienne flung wide to the street beyond. The exchange visits have continued regularly since and strong friendships have been forged between the members of the three choirs. Two other concerts stand out in particular: a performance by all three choirs of the Brahms Requiem (sung in German) with an orchestra from Hungary, in Angers Cathedral, France in 1988; and a concert at the Castle Theatre, Wellingborough with the French choir - now renamed the Chorale André Léculeur in memory of its founder - and the English Sinfonia in 1996, when the programme incuded Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine (in French), Schubert's Mass in G and Purcell's Come Ye Sons of Art. During the visits to France we stay with members of the Niort Choir and their families, and there are usually visits arranged to the nearby Marais Patois and the historical coastal town of La Rochelle, as well as opportunities to socialise at formal receptions and less formal group meals. Even those who do not speak French have a wonderful time! And of course, we act as hosts for the return visits.
Orpheus on Tour in 2007 to celebrate 30 years of twinning between Niort and Wellingborough An account by Pat Waller A good number of choir members, partners and friends set off from Wellingborough very early on Friday 25th May to travel by coach to London. It was a warm, bright morning and we had an unexpectedly quick journey down the M1 to arrive at Waterloo over an hour early for our Eurostar check-in. ( As our journey progressed, the French Eurostar announcements became more pronounced as “Eurostar Chicken” than “Eurostar check-in”!) However, the time was great for peace of mind and after a relaxed time for coffee etc. we were able to board our train and soon we were on our way, very comfortably and, of course, very fast once we were through le Tunnel. Lille, where we left Eurostar, was warm and airy, but a certain frisson was felt as the departure board did not show the train for Poitiers on which we were booked – through the Eurostar Travel Office – that train did not exist! Poor Maureen was very perturbed but she and Cath quickly established with the SNCF staff that a train for Poitiers would leave after a two-hour connection at Lille and that our tickets would be valid for that. Having spoken to the Niort organisers, to inform them that we would arrive at Poitiers later than planned, we became very French and enjoyed a very leisurely lunch - pas de probleme ! Getting aboard the TGV proved a little less relaxed as the escalators to the platform were out of action, tickets inserted into barrier machines were sometimes spat out, and with a very long train which divided after Poitiers to two different destinations, there was some hassle and confusion as people tried to board, and some were redirected by railway staff. However, a head count showed that we were all on the train and despite unnumbered seats on our tickets, everyone found somewhere to sit.
After a very welcome sleep and renewal of old acquaintances, we headed off to the Town Hall for a civic welcome from the Mayor – amid torrential rain and flood. The Albanian coach brought the orchestra and, surprise, surprise, the Coburg coach arrived after the overnight journey from Germany on the dot of 11a.m. for the reception! We all stood and dripped on the carpet of the very lovely Mairie while the welcome speeches took place, translated variously from French, to English, to German and Albanian, before we all shared a toast – in a variety of fruit juices, as civic ceremonies in France are now trying to set a good example by serving non-alcoholic drinks - how times have changed! Maureen also celebrated by telling us that the Niort railway station staff had been brilliantly helpful and our return journey was confirmed as planned and seats assured – and she herself could begin to enjoy the visit. The remainder of Saturday was wet but relaxing before we assembled for the combined choral and orchestral rehearsal, led by Peter Stenglein, the Coburg director. As usual, it was an amusing mix of the highly organised (seats were pre-allocated by order of height) and the chaotic tuning up of language, instruments, voices and interpretation of how Peter wanted to present the Messiah).However, four hours later we were all singing the same tune, as they say! After a leisurely start on Sunday, we assembled to get on board buses to take us to Bressuire, half-way between Niort and Angers to the north, where the first concert was to be held. The concert venue was at the Salle de Bocapole – a purpose-built concert hall in a most unlikely location on the outskirts of the town, set amidst a rather isolated light industrial estate, and as we passed a travellers’ encampment in an adjacent car park, we rather wondered what kind of event might unfold! However, despite its outward appearance, the building inside was a superb, red-plush seated concert hall and we were quickly installed for a rehearsal before the evening performance.
The French Bank Holiday Monday (Pentecost coincided with Britain’s Spring Bank Holiday this year) was typically British! It was very cold, cloudy, extremely windy and threatened to rain. Undaunted, most Orpheus members went to La Rochelle where some chose to do a tour on foot, guided by Anne-Marie, to see many of the historic and interesting parts of the centre of this port town, whilst others who have been before did their own “pottering”. The cool weather gave everyone a hearty appetite to enjoy some of the seafood temptations all too readily available in the local restaurants, so it was a very relaxing day before the final “piece de resistance”. The Niort concert venue was at the Noron complex where the Orpheus have sung before – it, too, is on the outskirts of the town and is not particularly striking aesthetically but is well-equipped for the purpose. A rehearsal preceded the concert and we were fortified by the local tortoise-shaped cheesecake and other delicacies before the concert itself, which was very well attended and to which the Mayor came too. Fortified by their afternoon’s visit to the supermarket, the Tirana orchestra played better than ever, along with the seemingly very youthful French student on the chamber organ, and the Coburger Bachchor, La Chorale Leculeur and Wellingborough Orpheus Choir sang with the usual harmony and enjoyment of these exchange visits – it is always amazing that with so little combined rehearsal, the performances together really work. Messiah was very well received and an encore of the Hallelujah Chorus was greatly appreciated.
Various invitations have evolved – the Chorale will come from Niort to Wellingborough in 2009 and the Orpheus Choir has been invited to join the Niort/Coburg twinning celebrations in 2010, not to mention an invitation from Albania to go there for a three-concert tour……. The euphoria continued as we had an excellent return journey, a welcome cuppa at Waterloo and a smooth drive to Wellingborough on a delightfully tranquil and sunny summer evening. When the travel connections are correct, the rail trip makes Niort and Wellingborough surprisingly near and easy, so that when St. Pancras becomes the UK Eurostar terminal from November there will be no stopping us! A huge vote of thanks to Maureen is due from the Orpheus Travellers as, despite the Messiah chorus, all her hard work in making the travel arrangements, other preparations and care on our behalf paid off – we were like sheep, but none went astray after all! Let’s keep singing and let’s keep travelling …….. to wherever………..!
An account by 'The Flying Aspidistra' Maureen asked for volunteers to write a report, summary, inquest or post mortem on our recent trip to Niort; if this should be selected, then you know what to do next time. First, may I apologise if I write in the first person singular, but this is what I thought, although I am sure it represents, generally, the feelings of everyone who went – whether hosted or hoteled, by train or by their own transport. We left Jackson’s Lane car park just after 7 am as arranged – not bright but early, and had quite an enjoyable journey to Waterloo. (The driver/courier gave us a very informative talk on the numerous points of interest, geographical, historical, political, agricultural and social etc – no extra charge.) After the necessary Customs clearance we boarded Eurostar, left at 10.45 am and arrived at Lille at 13.25 without anyone being seasick under the Channel. All we had to do then was to go up an escalator to a different platform for the TVG to Poitiers. This was when we had our first hiccup; they said we couldn’t go on this particular train because we didn’t have reserved seats – Maureen sorted this out, and we arrived at Poitiers on time at 7 pm (French time). Françoise was there to greet us with the coach and we reached Niort at 8 pm which I thought was excellent in both time and comfort. Our hosts met us and we all went to various places in the Niort area – or the hotel to have a meal and settle in for the night. I understand the hotel was very comfortable and good value, but with a manager from Fawlty Towers. On Saturday – the second hiccup. It poured with rain (torrential) on our way to the official reception at the Hotel de Ville at 11 am with the French and German choirs and Albanian Orchestra. The Germans arrived at 11 am - straight from Coburg (we understand they did have two toilet stops on the way). After the usual speeches (all of which had to be translated into the other three languages, for which Paul Skinner was once again invaluable –he also sings with the tenors, but I do not know which is most important) we had a rehearsal at 5 pm with the other choirs, orchestra and soloists and this lasted until about 9 pm when we returned home for a meal and bed.
At 10 am on Monday we were taken to the coaches for a half-day trip to La Rochelle, where, after a tour around the ‘Old Town’ conducted by Anne-Marie, we went our separate ways to sample the piscatorial culinary delights of the port area restaurants. (not everyone had fish and chips!) We were fortunate with the weather as it managed to keep fine, although very windy – I understand one of our more adventurous members actually tested the waters of the Bay of Biscay, but after emergency treatment, recovered sufficiently to take part in the evening’s concert. We returned to Niort at 5pm and had a short rehearsal before the concert at 8.30 pm. During the rehearsal, there was a standing ovation (or acclamation) for those whose birthday it happened to be – including Gill Timpson. How wonderful – three choirs and an orchestra – I would have been very proud. The concert proved to be even better than Sunday’s with a capacity audience who again insisted on an encore. After the concert, all the participants, as well as our hosts, were entertained with a quite magnificent buffet reception – this time there was an excellent supply of wine. There were the usual speeches, again translated by Paul, but they were not inordinately long, and we were then allowed to enjoy each other’s company. I even had a friendly chat with a German whose name was Klaus – I have arranged to write to him at Christmas. An impromptu item was provided by the Albanian Orchestra – mainly by their strings section – of a beautiful selection of their National folk songs and music. We eventually ‘hit the sack’ (as the Americans say) in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Incidentally, the Monday edition of ‘La Nouvelle Republique’ (the local Evening Telegraph) published a full report – with photographs – of the Sunday concert. It was extremely complimentary. I have mentioned the choirs and orchestra, but it would be very remiss not to include the soloists, all four of whom served us very well. It may be unfair to single out any one of them, but the Bass was ‘really something’. Then the one who had to put it all together, the ‘Chef du Choeur’ Peter Stenglein, managed to get everyone to sing and play better that they ever thought thy could – with a smile in four different languages. Last, but by no means least, I am sure all our thanks should go to Jonathan, who had made sure we didn’t let the side down. On Tuesday at 11.30 am we said our au revoirs and left for ‘Blighty’, where, after another excellent journey, we arrived in Wellingborough at 9 pm. We had renewed old friendships, made many new ones and had a thoroughly marvellous time. The organisation by Maureen was quite exceptional – any mistakes were by other parties and these were corrected, mostly without our knowing anything about it.
The choir owes Maureen a big ‘THANK YOU’.
Archive photos below...
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The Wellingborough Orpheus Choir always
welcomes new members |
The French Connection
As
the train flew towards Paris, the sky darkened, as did Maureen when the
ticket collector explained that we did not have the correct tickets
(reservation of seats was necessary, and in addition to Maureen paying a
forfeit supplement, we would find that seats were allocated to people
embarking en route, especially around Paris where it became very busy). A
few members were able to retain their seats but many moved several times
before retreating to the bar – where we realised that the French railway
system was not infallible after all (what had the Eurostar office been
doing with our booking?) However, the ticket collector was very helpful
and explained what Maureen and Cath needed to do on arrival at Poitiers or
Niort to sort out our return journey. At least we were on the move towards
Poitiers at great speed. We travelled through very heavy rain and
thunderstorms but arrived in sunshine at Poitiers, later than planned, but
the French and our coach were there and we were soon on the road to Niort.
Once there, introductions to hosts, reunions and the usual French welcome
awaited us and we were soon in our homes or hotel.
After
a break, from seemingly nowhere, a very good-sized audience appeared and
began queuing for the concert - and we were in business. For the concert
the ladies wore black, as did the men, who felt quite relaxed as they did
not have to wear jackets or ties (food for thought for the Orpheus,
perhaps?) The four soloists were excellent – Celine Boucard, soprano, who
sang beautifully despite being significantly pregnant: Emmanuelle Biscara,
alto, already known to many of us, both in Niort and here where she sang
in “Elijah” at the Castle in 2005: Eric Tremolieres, tenor, and Matthieu
Lecroart, baritone, whose voice was simply magnificent. Everyone seemed
well-pleased by the performance and looked forward to Monday.
Afterwards, at about 11p.m. everyone relaxed and enjoyed the international
company over a delicious buffet meal, plenty of wine (permitted - as it
was the Chorale providing the hospitality!) and spontaneously some members
of the Albanian orchestra produced wonderfully lively music, to which
everyone responded and the party had begun! Amidst some dancing, choral
offerings from each choir, the speeches of friendship and exchange of
gifts, the evening finally came to a close, with happy memories,
satisfaction of another lovely musical event shared internationally and
friendships renewed or established.
Sunday
morning was relatively free, and after a light lunch we took the coaches
to Bressuire (about 40 miles from Niort) at 1 pm. After a rehearsal in the
afternoon, the concert commenced at 5.30 pm. This, I thought was extremely
successful, according to the audience, and I found very moving, especially
the Hallelujah Chorus – we had to sing it again for an encore.
