Orchestra of The West Ham Central Mission
When I was a child there was always music going on in our house. My mother had a sweet soprano voice and occasionally I was allowed to take an afternoon off school to play for her at Millwall Methodist Women's Meeting. She sang Alexander's hymns. Dad was a good tenor and often used to sing while washing himself; regular items were "Bonnie Mary of Argyle", "True till death", "Into Thy Hands" and "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep", which was sometimes rendered as "Locked in the stable with the sheep"! The congregation always knew when Mr Leverett was there. Ada was soprano, Doris Mezzo, Floss contralto and all were trained by a very good teacher. Everybody apart from Dad, sang in the church choir. The choir mistress, Madame Lawrence, was very popular and had a lovely rich contralto voice. She was a coloured lady and we all thought the world of her. Ada was the first of us to have piano lessons, I think she had about two years' tuition. When she learned to play "The Maiden's Prayer", I longed to be able to play it myself one day. In the meantime, I had to be content with playing "Shall we gather at the river". I used C and G in the left hand throughout and one finger melody with the right. It must have been popular, as I was often asked to perform! Privately, of course, the listeners had a job to keep their faces straight! I was very serious at the time and never conscious of causing any amusement. After two years tuition it was Doris's turn. She went for a few lessons, but didn't take to it and so Ada finished her quarter and then it was my turn. Cash was rather short then, so I went to a weekly lesson with a Miss Elson, who always seemed very old to me; dressed in black with gold rimmed glasses, she always looked very severe and thought nothing of giving you a rap on the knuckles with a pencil if you made a mistake.
When I was a child there was always music going on in our house. My mother had a sweet soprano voice and occasionally I was allowed to take an afternoon off school to play for her at Millwall Methodist Women's Meeting. She sang Alexander's hymns. Dad was a good tenor and often used to sing while washing himself; regular items were "Bonnie Mary of Argyle", "True till death", "Into Thy Hands" and "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep", which was sometimes rendered as "Locked in the stable with the sheep"! The congregation always knew when Mr Leverett was there. Ada was soprano, Doris Mezzo, Floss contralto and all were trained by a very good teacher. Everybody apart from Dad, sang in the church choir. The choir mistress, Madame Lawrence, was very popular and had a lovely rich contralto voice. She was a coloured lady and we all thought the world of her. Ada was the first of us to have piano lessons, I think she had about two years' tuition. When she learned to play "The Maiden's Prayer", I longed to be able to play it myself one day. In the meantime, I had to be content with playing "Shall we gather at the river". I used C and G in the left hand throughout and one finger melody with the right. It must have been popular, as I was often asked to perform! Privately, of course, the listeners had a job to keep their faces straight! I was very serious at the time and never conscious of causing any amusement. After two years tuition it was Doris's turn. She went for a few lessons, but didn't take to it and so Ada finished her quarter and then it was my turn. Cash was rather short then, so I went to a weekly lesson with a Miss Elson, who always seemed very old to me; dressed in black with gold rimmed glasses, she always looked very severe and thought nothing of giving you a rap on the knuckles with a pencil if you made a mistake.
One of my mother's brothers, Uncle Joe, was policeman who often visited us on his leave days after his fiancee died. He had an excellent baritone voice and, from time to time, sang at our Sunday afternoon Men's Meeting at church. We all really loved him. he didn't have much hair, but put up with my sisters and me tying bits of ribbon to what he had! He arrived arrived unexpectedly one day when I was playing one of his songs "Asleep in the Deep". When he found it was me playing he said, "She shall go to a good teacher", and that is how I became a pupil of Miss Brown our church organist and choir mistress. Uncle Joe paid for all my lessons.
This decision by Uncle Joe affected my whole life and meant more to me than I could possibly describe or put a value on. Miss Brown was an excellent teacher, but a perfectionist and very strict. If you didn't practice, she didn't want to know you. I was expected to practise for at least one hour each day, except Sundays, and it had to be recorded in a book and signed by my mother. If you were going for an exam, she expected four hours a day! In the winter months I practised by candle light and with fingerless gloves; however, I enjoyed practising and used to start at 6am some days. I was about twelve when I first accompanied Uncle Joe singing at the Men's Meeting. I used to play the hymns at Sunday School evening service, which was at 6pm. When I was taking my Intermediate exam Miss Brown spoke to me after the service one Sunday morning and asked how much practice I had done the day before, I said one and a half hours. "What!" and I was in tears. My dad came up and asked "What's going on?".
"She has an exam on Tuesday and has only done 1 1/2 hours practice", said Miss Brown.
"Don't worry she'll pass", replied my dad, but Miss Brown followed with "I know she'll pass, but I want her to get honours!". I did pass with honours and Miss Brown bought me a book for getting the highest number of marks, 93%.
"Don't worry she'll pass", replied my dad, but Miss Brown followed with "I know she'll pass, but I want her to get honours!". I did pass with honours and Miss Brown bought me a book for getting the highest number of marks, 93%.
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