Nearer My God To Thee!

A Memory of Cannock.

Of course this is St.Luke's parish church in Cannock which stands on ground which has connections with worship going back for many centuries. There is a battered and worn ancient preaching cross in front of the building which has several stepped platforms leading up to the stone stump which must surely have been a complete cross before time and troubles took their toll. All the children would climb to the various heights and dare each other to jump to the grass below. Quite a good game.

The registers for this church are kept at Stafford, (in the Salt Library last time I viewed them). They extend back to the 1700's and cover a much larger area than the present parish as there would have been few other churches in the area at that time. They cover Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley for example.

If you wish to look at earlier records then they are held by Lichfield Cathedral in documents known as 'Bishop's Transcripts'. These are early copies of locally held registers and are fascinating. Scribes were sent from the cathedral every three or four year to gather information from each church to provide oversight for the hierarchy. Many of them go back into the 1600's, are written on vellum, (prepared animal skin as you know) folded and are tied up with pink tape (actually called red tape again as I'm sure you know). They have been kept like this for so long that they automatically re-fold themselves when you let go of the spread open sheet! They are often written in Latin - quite amazing given their time of origin after Henry VIII's schism.

There are records of my family, (Haycock), to be found in these. I was fascinated by the fact that my ancestors signed their own names in their own hand in the earliest records of births and marriages. Then for two generations they merely made their mark in the form of a scribbled cross or 'X'. That makes me wonder just what happened to education in that era.

My parents were married here during Word War II and a Freddie Parson's (naturally!) photograph captures then standing outside the main door which at that time had no porch in front of it. I was Christened there in 1948 by a cleric who went on to be a bishop in New Zealand.

I attended John Wood Infant School and then went to Walhouse. It wasn't long before Lionel Bennett the music teacher noticed that two of us in Frank Craddock's junior 1 class had reasonable singing voices. Thus it was that Oliver Lomax and I were propelled into the church choir in 1956.

Those are good days. We were paid 2 shillings and six pence for each wedding we sang at! Wow! We were in the money in late March and early April as many young couples rushed to get married to take a benefit for the whole of the tax year which ended on the 6th. April.

Friday evenings were choir practice. The choir was all boys and must have numbered at least a dozen. I recall a few names: Oliver Lomax, Paul Horton, Michael Buck, Chris Underwood, and a lad named Hallchurch who had a wonderfully clear soprano voice and sang most of the solos. The choir master was Brother Ball of Ball's Taxi business. An elderly, kindly, encouraging man until we played about or sniggered in the choir stalls on Sundays. One look put us right! Adult choir members included Lance and Tom Cross, George Abel and Sam Marshall who was disabled and arrived in his three-wheeler carriage. He struggled with his bad legs but with his crutches he always got to the practices and services. Another kind man.

We choristers practised for the best part of an hour going through scales as a warm-up then singing the set hymns, psalms and canticles ready for Sunday. Time was also spent on a number of anthems. The men of the choir always stayed on after we left. I do believe that they all had to troop to the local pub shortly afterward probably to refresh their vocal chords!

The Organist was a Mr. York - 'Yorkie' behind his back. He lived at the top of Hatherton Road I believe. He might have been of considerable age but that man could really play. The three manual church organ in St. Luke's is a fabulous instrument and Mr. York could bring out the very best of its range of sounds. How I wished I could play like he did - and still do. To reach the organ's keyboards of which, unusually, there are three, you had to go into the choir vestry, up a flight of steps, open a door, pass through the gloomy innards of the instrument and emerge via another small door onto a balcony and hence to the organ's console. That was a bit creepy to a young child.

Mr. York had been the organist at Hatherton Church from when he was 17 and had played there for some years before coming to St. Luke's. I seem to recall that he had by the time I was in the choir, served as organist in St.Luke's for 50 years! Quite an achievement. Sadly he took to falling asleep during services and one of us choir boys would be sent by the vicar, Rev. Robertson, to ascend to the organ loft and wake him up.

Following Mr. York's retirement and a short interregnum with a rather abrupt gentleman in charge, a chap named Baldock arrived. He was from Walsall way, a teacher of academic persuasion - a classics man who could read Greek - and a very talented organist. It was he who composed the melody which is still played on a carillon at the church.

I enjoyed my time in the choir. There was always an annual choir trip to the seaside which was fun. I remember Oliver's mother packed sandwiches and a boiled egg as he thought. Pity she forgot to boil it and she wasn't on the trip to sort matters out when he cracked it. Fortunately my mother was and she soon had matters under control. Oliver was of a gentle nature, probably overshadowed by two older and successful brothers one of who had been an RAF pilot and the other who became a BBC newsman. (Andrew and David I believe). The trips always saw the coach calling at a pub - probably a rest for the driver and again a chance for the men of the choir to massage their vocal cords.

All the pupils at Walhouse School attended a Thursday morning service at St. Luke's. Boys sat on one side of the church nave, girls on the other. John Wood Infants sat at the front. Miss Rene Edge, their headmistress, always genuflected as she entered her pew. That was the first time I ever saw that high church gesture. After the service the children marched in crocodile formations back to their schools ...... except the top junior boys who were allowed to ride their bikes through the relatively empty streets. That was a race and a half and made Thursdays very exciting.

One final recollection. I was in the choir when the church porch was built. That was made by the stonemason from Stafford Road. I seem to think that was a Mr. Pyatt whose son was at Walhouse at the same time as myself.

What splendid days they all were!