John Cole and Peter Keenan – A Tribute

                 It was with extreme sadness that at the end of April the members of St. Mary’s Choir learned of the passing of two of our senior and most loyal members.  Many will have attended the Thanksgiving Services held in St. Mary’s to commemorate their outstanding contribution to the life of the church and the whole parish.

                Peter’s sudden and unexpected death came as a great shock to us all.  In his early life he was a boy chorister at St. Mary’s and he once again joined the choir in the 1980’s when based in Portsmouth and after his daughters had left home. Peter has been a loyal member ever since, serving in all, over 30 years as a chorister at St. Mary’s.  As a treble he was a regular soloist, counting ‘O for the wings of a dove’ among his favourites. In later life, he had a rich bass voice, and his excellent knowledge of music ensured that he led this section of the choir.  He did not restrict himself to church music alone.  Latterly he joined Lee Singers, and made a great contribution to their music.  Those who attended the choir’s social functions will also recall the many comic songs that he sang, normally in a West Country dialect.

                 Should you have visited our choir vestry, you will have seen numerous photographs of the choir taken over many years.  The first is dated 1908, and John always sought to assure me that he was not a part of that photograph!  The next is 1949, and John is pictured there as a very young tenor.  In all photographs of the full choir since that time, John has been present. Taking account of his boyhood service as a treble, and about 5 years away for College and Teacher Training, we have a record of more than sixty years of devoted service to the church and the choir which will probably never be surpassed. John’s father and uncle were also boy trebles at St. Mary’s and in the time before the organ had an electric motor providing wind pressure to the bellows, they operated the manual pump! Some of our senior parishioners will recall John’s sons Adrian and Andrew continuing the family tradition as boy choristers. During his long musical career, John was a member of several choral societies, and sang with Portsmouth Cathedral Choir under Anthony Froggatt, who attended John’s Thanksgiving Service. Over recent years, John restricted his singing to our choir and Lee Singers, during which period he has delighted us with his many tenor solos. Those who have a copy of our Choir CD will hear the quality of his voice in some of the items. 

                 Of course, there was more to John than his choral expertise.  He, together with his wife Irene, organised the first Choir Supper, which has now become such an established part of our Christmas festivities. As this blossomed he dedicated himself to the entertainment part of the evening, which he introduced with a string of jokes, always delivered with that sense of fun and a twinkle in the eye which were so characteristic of John. He was also adept at writing words and fitting them to a familiar tune, to depict some happening in the church.  John and Irene were among the instigators of ‘Not The Last Night Of The Proms’, which has become another annual ‘fixture’ in our Parish events calendar.

                  John’s health deteriorated during the past year, but despite his suffering he did not complain and attended church to sing whenever his health allowed.  One of his last services was the wedding of the Rector’s daughter, Bronwen, and I know Ted and the family greatly appreciated John’s attendance.

                  How will we remember Peter and John? On a personal level, as much as anything I shall miss their refreshing and undiminished enthusiasm to face new musical challenges - they were always so conscientious in working hard to learn new pieces to add to our repertoire. I valued this greatly and I know other members of the choir did too. More generally, and on behalf of myself and the choir, I can say it has been an honour to know these two gentlemen. They will be sadly missed by us all as revered musical colleagues and as friends. I hope their loyalty and commitment will stand as a legacy to inspire us and future generations of choristers to follow their example!

Paul Pilott LRAM ARCO

Organist and Director of Music

St. Mary’s Alverstoke May 2011

(With thanks to Irene Cole, Peter’s daughter Anne and Gerry Mansell

for some of the detail)