Bron Rayner – Cellist
My favourite part of being in Hunts Phil is performance day. We’re all in our smartest outfits and our term’s work culminates in a great concert – nothing beats the feeling of playing to a live audience.
I joined Hunts Phil in April 2016 after a 20 year hiatus. I’ve always loved orchestral playing and everyone was so welcoming even though I was quite out of practice at the start! I’ve made some great friendships within the orchestra – our section even got together during Covid to make music when we couldn’t rehearse. Last year I became Chair of the Society and I’m looking forward to taking us into our 50th Year of music making.
Richard Walmsley – Bass choir
I have been singing Bass with Hunts Phil since 2004. I was lucky enough to be in the Wandsworth secondary school boys’ choir which I joined in 1965 – our patron was Benjamin Britten. This led to lots of exciting opportunities performing at the Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Holland Festival with Frühbeck de Bougos.
What I really enjoy about singing with Hunts Phil is that although we’re given some challenging pieces it’s nothing that’s beyond our capabilities and we always rise to the occasion. The choir is a hugely social group too, we regularly meet up after rehearsals for a drink and in the holidays we get together for lunch instead.
I’ve worked in education for the past 45 years and also in radio and television, providing voice-overs for documentaries and commercial advertisements. I’ve read books for the blind and been a news-reader for Dubai’s English language radio station. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed narrating for the Hunts Phil’s Children’s Concert performances of ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ ‘The Snowman,’ Paddington Bear’s First Concert’ and ‘Babar the Elephant.’
Rebecca Woolward – Cellist
I have been playing since 2016. I took my grade 1 aged 29 and had to request an adult sized chair! I think the organisers were taken by surprise…
My fondest memory so far of Huntsphil is playing the Firebird. It was a highlight and real achievement for me personally. I also loved the Christmas programme in 2021 – Paddington Bear’s first concert; it’s utterly adorable and I think the kids loved it. One (very) young lad was so excited he shouted out a big “YEAH!” when the little intro finished, and it melted all our hearts. That’s what it’s all about.
Best piece of musical advice I’ve been given? I once heard the violinist Simon Fischer speak in an interview about practicing technique vs musicality:
“When I work on technique I am working on the violinist I’m going to become in the future…. but when I work on repertoire I am dealing in the violinist I am today”.
I think that’s really interesting and so true!
Pippa Smith – Soprano
I’m a recent member of the choir as the choir I sang with pre pandemic has folded. After looking for a new choir to join I went along to try a rehearsal and felt at home straight away as everyone was so friendly. It was amazing to get back to singing after the enforced break!
I have sung in choirs since childhood and have moved around a fair bit for study and work (the archaeology/museum/heritage world not being the best for stability!) Whenever I’ve moved, I have always looked for a choir to join and, so far, I’ve sung with choirs in Leicester, Sheffield, London, Southampton, Salisbury, Cambridge and now Huntingdonshire.
A high point was singing Mahler 8 in the Albert Hall- I have never heard anything like it! A close second was singing parts of Messiah last October in St Mary’s Church- that feeling of being part of a performance never gets stale and I had missed singing more than I’d realised.
Cynthia Bird – 2nd Violin
My musical journey started with the piano, then I began violin aged 13 in a group lesson taught at school. I’ve always played my violin everywhere I’ve lived…when I moved to Huntingdon I focused more on chamber music, but then I realized I was missing being a part of the big orchestral experience so I joined the Hunts Phil in 2018 – my first concert was the Nelson Mass.
I always enjoy the rehearsals and the friendliness of the other musicians. The most uplifting thing I’ve ever performed was Tchaikovsky’s last Symphony, the Pathétique.
Karen Mason – Viola
When I joined Hunts Phil in 2008 I’d had a few years away from an orchestra. My son had started learning violin and that inspired me to pick up my viola again. Nevertheless I was feeling out of practice.
I found Hunts Phil a friendly and welcoming group that performs to a high standard and has fun at the same time.
Before Hunts Phil I played with the Cambridge Phil for a few years, and in my school days I was a member of the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra.
In my day job I work in financial services and I’m also a black belt in karate, so there is plenty to keep me busy, but the joy of making music together is something that keeps me coming back.
Linda Butlin – Alto
I am very new to Hunts Phil having moved to the area from North Wales during lockdown. I sang with St Asaph Choral Society for 20 years and really enjoy performance day. During lockdown I sang with The Self Isolation Choir (now Choir of the Earth), but now really feel the need to join a face-to-face choir again.
For me, the camaraderie and friendship of all singing together is something really wonderful. Even in the short time I have been with Hunts Phil everyone as made me so welcome.
Caroline Thompson – Soprano
I have been singing as a soprano with the Hunts Phil for a few years now. I have found the group to be very friendly and inclusive. All are welcome and no one tuts if you sing a wrong note. The other two factors that make my Tuesday evenings something to look forward to is the variety of music that we get to sing and the laughter that we share.
For the last 6 years I have been volunteering for The Evelyn Glennie Collection based in Huntingdon. Dame Evelyn is the world’s first full-time solo percussionist. I have been busy sorting and cataloguing her concert programmes and items of concert publicity (more than a thousand), her awards (including music awards and honorary degrees), countless photographs, newspaper cuttings, magazine articles, musical scores, correspondence and admin documents. My blog describing this work can be read on her website via this link https://www.evelyn.co.uk/the-evelyn-glennie-collection-gathering-momentum/
However, the ‘jewel in the crown’ of The Collection is the thousands of instruments, mostly but not exclusively percussion, that come from all around the world. In the last few months, I have been giving guided tours which I love because it gives me the chance to demonstrate (in a crude way) the variety of sounds that these wonderful instruments make. The link is https://www.evelyn.co.uk/visit-the-collection/#visitcollection
Danny Dicks – Tenor
I have been a member since the early 2000s, with a break for a year when I did adult swimming lessons on Tuesday evenings to improve my crawl technique. I started singing in choirs at around age ten. The first piece I sang as a treble in my school choir was Haydn’s Nelson Mass.
I love the sound of vocal harmony, the exhilaration of successfully getting through a fast baroque fugue, or the incredible experience of dozens of voices singing pianissimo. I also like the annual challenge of trying not to cry when we sing ‘It Came Upon the Midnight Clear’.
I used to play the piano a little, but I lost my finger in an accident and I am now trying to teach myself the hammered dulcimer.
It’s very difficult to choose and favorite piece of music and it varies over time. At the moment it’s probably the ‘Eclogue for Piano and Strings’ by Gerald Finzi.
Outside of music I make wine (from hedgerow and garden fruits and flowers) – I am at least the fifth generation of the family to do so – I run half marathons, I am a member of Camra (real ale is important to me!), and I take a lot of photos.