President's Night

There were 30 of us at the President’s Dinner this evening, including the Presidents of the Rotary Clubs of Billericay and Chelmer Bridge. There should have been 31 of us but unfortunately one person was ill.

We enjoyed an evening of good company and good food. The weather was warm too. The hotel had opened the patio doors and started the fans. After welcoming everyone President Francis gave the gentlemen permission to remove their jackets, which most did.

After the meal President Francis looked back on the Presidential year that is coming to an end. Our Club’s current activities serving others are focused mainly on the events we put on for those of mature years and the quizzes we arrange for some local charities. He thanked all those who had helped him during the year, including David Axon and Keith Otter for their work organising the meetings.

Our speaker was Emma Gibbins, Director of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral, who told us something about her personal history. She was keen on music from quite an early age. She learned the violin, which she still plays, but pestered her parents to buy a piano. She was supported by her music teacher and a piano was duly bought. Emma said it wasn’t a particularly good instrument. After she left home her parents sold it and its place has now been taken by a sideboard.

She hadn’t originally intended to follow a musical career. She went to Pembroke College, Cambridge, to study Chemical Engineering. There she became one of the organ scholars. After graduating she went back to King’s College, London, to studly for a PhD in Chemical Engineering. She did obtain her doctorate but admits that, when she rereads her thesis, she is amazed she ever wrote it!

By then it was definitely a career as a church organist that called. She was appointed organist at Belfast Cathedral, where she stayed for several years. Then she moved to one of the Welsh cathedrals for seven years before taking up the post at Chelmsford Catheral last year. She told us that there is a “pecking order” of Cathedrals but didn’t say where Chelmsford comes in that order.

She has been pleased with her move to Chelmsford and the way the Cathedral’s musical tradition is being built on.