Box Church Choir, 1948:
Little Angels - or Not?
Les Dancey

August 2018

I have been misjudged all my life both now and as a little boy.  I was constantly being thrown out of the choir by the choirmaster.  I couldn't go home so would sit in the front of the church so that, when the Rev Lendon Bell came to sort the places in the bible for the scripture readings for that day, he would see me there and ask why I was there.

Thomas à Becket choir, 1948 - Back Row: Mrs Hayward, Mrs Bunting, John Smith (organist and choirmaster), Rev Lendon Bell, Ken Gillam, Mr Collett, Mr King Middle row: Frances Cook, Mrs Browning (of Brownings Coaches), Miss Pritchard, Miss J Murray, Michael Cotterell, Roy Cotterell, Brian Murray, Alec Boyd,
Mr Wright Front row: Richard Ball, Philip Cotterell, David Collett, Roy Collett, Les Dancey, Philip Martin, Terry Swan, Michael Gover, Ernie King.

I was Rev Lendon Bell's blue eyed boy and so he would tell me to go back in the choir.  I used to sit the opposite side to the organ and the choirmaster would be idly looking in the mirror and then notice me grinning back up to him and the reaction was so, so good!  I would have great difficulty in not sniggering out loud.

We boys, besides crossing our eyes at one another across the aisle, would catch someone's eye and quickly look away.  Little things please little minds but it helped us struggle through a twenty minute sermon.
Occasionally we had the pastor from the RAF camp take the service and it was of great amusement to us boys because he whistled every time he said an 'S'.
 
I remember, one time in particular, when we took our surplices home to be washed, Mike Cotterell and I got up on the wall at the top of the slip which joins the Market Place with the Ley.  We were sweet on a couple of the choir girls who lived at Boxfields and knew they would be walking up this unlit path.  With our surplices on, we jumped down from the wall as they came up.  Not a very nice thing to do, but we thought it was funny at the time.  We ended up walking the girls home, as we usually did and they forgave us.  I have lost contact with Mike now but he was living down Fuengirola way in Spain, with his beloved cats, about ten years ago.  He worked for Austin Reed the clothiers in Bath and I always used to buy my suits through him.

Left: Les in chorister vestments