: Chapel Choir Tour to Venice :
A Foreword from the Headmaster for the Chapel Choir Tour to Venice
The prospect of visiting places like Venice and Verona is one that would set most of our adult hearts racing but, until they get there, I doubt that the boys will appreciate what a great opportunity it really is. The Chapel Choir has been one of our hardest working teams this year driven, of course, by a hard taskmaster! The quality of the boys' performances has touched all of us, not least our visiting preachers from senior schools. The well-deserved reward for those labours is a chance to work even harder and prepare to sing in one of the most venerable and spiritual settings in the world.
Of course, it is not just a matter of experiencing the beauty and culture of such places - there is something special about sharing your experiences with a group of peers and working together as part of an away team in a very different location from our norm. Although I was myself a chorister at Prep School, the reward for our hard work was somewhat less tangible and certainly there were no tours on offer. Subsequently, I was selected for several sports tours, all of which did involve some singing, but cultural appreciation tended not to be high on the agenda!
The St. Edmund's Chapel Choir tour to Venice is a wonderful chance for the children to have an introduction to this magical city with its highly original setting, atmosphere and odour. Apart from the exquisite architecture, where else can you experience the daily chaos of gondolas, vaporettos and water funerals? The company of peers will only heighten appreciation of the foreign 'strangeness' and, I am sure, give the boys some insight into the variety that the world has to offer. For those who next year will be studying Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' in their English lessons, the trip to Verona will come to have a particular relevance and resonance. My thanks go to Mr. Lewis and Mrs. Chalmers for the enormous amount of behind the scenes work necessary to get a tour off the ground and also to the many parents and friends who have supported and helped the trip become a reality.
Doubtless there will be some hilarious tales from the tour but, equally, I hope that there will be many memories of place and people that will live long in the boys' minds and give them pleasant pause for thought in those quiet moments by the fireside in their later years. Certainly, I have memories of the magical, at times mystical, quality of the singing this year. There is nothing quite like the sound of choristers at this age and I wish all the boys good voice on this exciting adventure.
Adam Walliker Esq.,
Headmaster
