![[Biographies]](biohead.gif)
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This page was last updated on 01 May 2008
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Colin Ashworth [TOP]
Colin Ashworth was born in 1958, in Peterborough and he took up the organ in 1971 having left the Cathedral Choir. He gained his A.R.C.O. whilst in the 6th form at the King's School and was organist at two churches in the area. He studied with Andrew Newberry until 1977 when he went to Bristol University as Organ Scholar. Colin gave recitals in the University Great Hall and at Bristol Cathedral and gained his F.R.C.O. in 1980. Having graduated he moved to Reading to take a Post Graduate Certificate in Education and he was appointed Head of Music at Westfield Boys' school, Wellingborough, in 1981. In the same year, Colin was asked to participate in the week-long recital series at Peterborough Cathedral following the rebuilding of the organ. He became a Fellow of the London College of Music in 1985.
Colin was Head of Music at Sir Christopher Hatton School, Wellingborough from 1983 to 2005. In September 2005 he took up his current post as Director of Music at Maidwell Hall.
Colin was organist at Kettering URC from 1981-1985 and Higham Ferrers from 1985-1989 but he then took a break from the organ world to study for an Open University degree. 1994 was a significant year as Colin was awarded his B.Sc. by the O.U., and was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at All Hallows, Wellingborough. He also gave a recital in Wittlich, Germany on behalf of the Twinning Association. Colin was Organist and Choirmaster at Holy Trinity, Rothwell, from July 2002 to July 2005. He was also the Musical Director of the Open University Chapel Choir from 2001 to 2006.
Colin is married to Susan (whom he met in Reading) and has two daughters, Jennifer (b. 1989) and Charlotte (b.1995). Towards the end of the last century (!) Colin rekindled his interest in bell ringing, a hobby he took up in his youth. Having also been a composer in his youth under the name William Smarte, he has, of late, been putting pen to manuscript-paper for pleasure again though he remains modest about his achievements in this field. When he is not teaching or playing the organ Colin spends far too much time in front of his computer often playing 'Canasta' with friends around the world. He has recently begun to play Spite and Malice.
Sue
Ashworth [TOP]
Sue was born in Bristol in 1959, the daughter of Richard and Mervyn Burt, and sister of Chris and Nick. From the age of seven, she grew up in Reading, Berkshire, where she attended Alfred Sutton Girls' School. The family was a musical one and Sue learned to play the flute under various local teachers. She developed a love of choral music as a teenager singing, with her family, in Pangbourne College Choral Society under Ralph Allwood.
In 1982, she qualified as a Diagnostic Radiographer, and worked for a short time in Battle Hospital X-ray department in Reading before getting married to Colin in 1983, and moving with him to Northamptonshire. She continued to work as a Radiographer in Kettering General Hospital X-ray Department until 1989 when she left to be a full-time mum. Sue and Colin have two daughters, Jenny and Charlotte
Having dabbled in musical composition over the years, Sue began composing for Mallard Music in 1998. Her work has been extremely well-received in Northamptonshire and she was commissioned in 1999 by Glapthorne school, Oundle, to write a new carol, 'The Best Gift'. She also won a competition to write a new hymn on the theme 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever'. This hymn, 'Here and Now' , was first performed in July 2000 at the Millennium 'Songs of Praise' at Rushden and Diamonds Football Stadium, and aired on BBC Radio Northampton.
Nicholas Burt [TOP]
Nick Burt is a composer, conductor, organist, pianist and jazz musician. For 15 years until July 2002, he was Director of Music at Bilton Grange School in Rugby. Nick is a graduate (B.A.) of Bristol University and also holds an M.Mus in composition. As a composer he has over 60 works to his credit, including choral, orchestral and chamber music, several children's musicals and an eight-movement "Magnificat" for choir and orchestra, which he conducted in Coventry Cathedral and the Colston Hall, Bristol in 1998. Nick is currently Director of Music at St Andrew's Parish Church, Rugby, a visiting tutor in jazz piano at Uppingham School where he also teaches the organ and an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
Elizabeth Clay [TOP]
Elizabeth Clay was born in Hong Kong and educated in Surrey. She had lessons with Rosalie Kersey and then studied at the Royal College of Music under, Helen Just ('cello), Ruth Dyson (piano) and Dr Ruth Gipps (harmony). She has taught 'cello and piano throughout Berkshire and Surrey in independent and state schools.
Elizabeth is married with 3 children and, in recent years, she has been following her other interests: she is currently teaching at Bruton part-time whilst studying for a degree in textile design at Bath. In the Spring of 2000 Elizabeth will spend 4 months in Oslo researching weaving, felt making and printing.
Mosaic was written in a weekend and received its first performance at "Jackdaws", a centre in Somerset providing weekends of intense musical study at a very high level.
David Drinkell [TOP]
David Drinkell was born in Colchester, Essex, England in 1955 and was organist of local churches from the age of twelve. He studied at the universities of Bristol and Cambridge and is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, Associate of the Royal College of Music and one of the forty holders of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Diploma in Church Music.
In 1979 he moved to the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland, where he was Master of the Music at St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, and in 1988 he was appointed Organist & Master of the Choristers at Belfast Cathedral.
David came to Newfoundland in February 2003 as Organist & Choir Director of the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, St. John’s. He has played or conducted throughout the British Isles as well as in Paris, Norway, New York and Ontario. He is the only organist to have played in all 31 cathedrals of the Church of Ireland and, in 1993, was one of eight Essex-born cathedral organists taking part in the Essex Man Organ Gala at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Shortly after arriving in St. John’s he commenced weekly lunchtime organ concerts at the Cathedral, which are now an established feature of the music life of the city. In 2007, he was invited to give concerts in the Cathedral of St-Pierre and to direct the Cathedral Singers of Ontario on a visit to Norwich Cathedral, followed by concerts in Belgium and Holland.
John Goodrum studied Music & Drama at Bristol University. He has composed incidental music for a variety of plays, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Macbeth"", and Alan Ayckbourn's "Intimate Exchanges", and he has researched and arranged the music for productions of "Moll Flanders", "A Christmas Carol", "Around the World in Eighty Days", "Lark Rise" and "Candleford". John has been the musical director for many of these as well as "Adrian Mole", "These Foolish Things", and Willy Russell's "Our Day Out".
John began his acting career at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, and has since worked at theatres in Leatherhead, Northampton, Hornchurch, Lancaster, Basingstoke, York, Colchester, Worcester, Salisbury and Southampton. Parts he has played include Scrub in The "Beaux' Stratagem", Tom Pinch in "Martin Chuzzlewit", Fancourt Babberley in "Charley's Aunt" and Menzies in "Another Country". His tours have included parts as Frank in "The Entertainer" and Troppo in "Salad Days". In the Spring of 1999 he played John Smith in "Run for your wife" at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford, and, in the summer, he completed a season for the Bridge Theatre in Sheringham which included playing Trotter in "Journey's End" and Bobby in "The Boyfriend". His television appearances include the BBC serial "Johnny Jarvis". He has also played James Miller in "The Archers" for BBC Radio 4.
As a director, John’s productions include "Murderer", "Duet for one" and his own adaptation of Charles Dickens’ "The Signalman", all for Rumpus Theatre Company at the Pomeganate Theatre, Chesterfield. "The Signalman" was produced recently by Bill Kenwright at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. John’s writing also includes the thriller "Blood Relations", which has been produced both in Sheringham and Chesterfield.
Vernon Hoyle [TOP]
Vernon Hoyle was born in 1948 at Hatfield, South Yorkshire, and, at the age of nine, began piano lessons with Hubert Piper, Organist and Choirmaster at Hatfield Parish Church where he was also a chorister. Although his education was hampered by a serious visual handicap, he studied at the Huddersfield School of Music, the City of Birmingham College of Education, and the Open University.
From 1969 until his retirement in 1998, he taught music in secondary schools in West Yorkshire. In his various capacities as chorister, organist, choral director, composer and editor he has been active in Anglican church music for over forty years. He has held posts at several churches as organist and choirmaster, but since 1979 has chosen to hold no regular church appointment. In 1983 he became Musical Director of the Danensian Choir, a Doncaster-based group specialising in the performance of English cathedral music and, in this capacity, has conducted the music at services in many Anglican cathedrals and at other prominent foundations including Westminster Abbey, Beverley Minster and St George's Chapel, Windsor.
His compositions and arrangements include educational works and music for the Anglican church. With Dr Jonathan Wainwright (Lecturer in Music at York University and Assistant Choir Trainer at York Minster) he is co-editor of a major collection of psalm chants, collections of anthems for Holy Communion, Ascensiontide and Pentecost and a book of seven modern settings of the Preces, Responses and Lord's Prayer, all featuring the work of contemporary composers.
Outside music he enjoys cycling, photography and walking his dog. He is married to Margaret and they have a son, Matthew (b.1992) and a daughter, Alison (b.1995).
Siân Jewell
[TOP]
Siân Jewell was born in the Rhymni Valley in Wales in 1957 and gained her B.Mus. degree at Cardiff University in 1978. She followed this with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, again at Cardiff.
In addition to studying piano and violin while at University she also studied voice with Margaret Tann Williams at the Welsh College of Music & Drama, and was a member of Cardiff Polyphonic Choir for several years.
Siân is currently working as a peripatetic music teacher for Caerffili County Borough Council, where she teaches violin, voice and piano, covering 15 schools each week. She has pupils ranging from Infants through to Year 11 students in comprehensive schools. She began composing in her early twenties, writing short pieces for her pupils to perform. Over the last 25 years these have formed quite a substantial collection including about 40 songs and ballads, and 18 Christmas songs and carols (one of which was televised when it reached the final in the HTV Wales carol competition in 1990). Her cantata based on the Old Testament story of Ruth was published in 2000.
Siân is married to Anthony (a solicitor in Pontypridd); their two daughters Rhianedd (b.1985) and Delyth (b.1987) are studying in Oxford. Given sufficient spare time, Siân also enjoys writing poetry and short stories.
William Smarte [TOP]
Time to come clean! This was Colin Ashworth's pen name from 1972 to 1985.