Norwich School musicians gave a varied musical recital to an appreciative audience comprising Dyers, Governors, staff, parents, pupils, alumni and bursary recipients in the Norwich School Chapel on 9 December 2022.
The 31st Dyers’ Concert expressed Norwich School’s gratitude to the Worshipful Company of Dyers, expressed through stunning music from talented performers, to give thanks for the major part the Dyers have played in school life for 75 years. The Concert’s guests of honour were Dyers’ Governors Nigel Back, Clive Jourdain and Jim Holme and from the Dyers Company, we also welcomed former Norwich School Headmaster Chris Brown.
The Concert gave the school the opportunity to showcase some current musical talent. A varied programme comprised works given on the Chapel organ, euphonium, oboe, guitar, French horn, clarinet, cello, vocal works and pieces performed on the Dyers’ funded piano in a stellar 75-minute programme. This involved pupils ranging in age from 11 to 18, including some Dyers’ Bursary recipients. Particular highlights were a pitch-perfect rendition of Gilbert and Sullivans’ Poor Wand’ring One from the Gilbert & Sullivan classic The Pirates of Penzance delivered by Alice Platten L6R, BBC Chorister of the Year Finalist, and an astonishingly mature performance by Collette Maxwell-Preston U5P of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor, a piece immortalised in the 1960s by the legendary Jacqueline du Pré.
Introducing the Concert, the school’s Development Director Jonathan Pearson pointed out the Dyers’ coat of arms in the window on the south side of the Chapel, which was installed to honour the Dyers’ contribution to school life, in particular the major post-war rebuilding of the school. During a frenetic decade from the early 1950s, Dyers’ support funded the construction of the Dyers Lodge on the site of destroyed old Lodge, the state-of-the-art Fleming Science Labs, the school’s first purpose-built refectory and the conversion of the former Bishop’s Palace into accommodation to welcome boarders. In this manner, the post-war fortunes of the school were utterly transformed and the school’s long-term future was assured. He went on to say how this relationship is just as strong today and all aspects of school life in 2022 reflect Dyers’ influence, through infrastructure, bursary support, scholarship and prize funds and the wise counsel of Dyers Governors. He concluded by stating that Norwich School has much to thank the Dyers for and expressed the pride the school feels in these long-established ties.
