A significant recital: All Saints Church, Warwickshire, 10 July 1993

Striking Stories: a series of posts written by volunteers unearthing the fascinating stories within The Evelyn Glennie Collection. 

In the county of Warwickshire, close to the town of Rugby in England, lies the hamlet of Leamington Hastings, population 466, according to the census of 2021. 

The civil parish covers Leamington Hastings itself, plus the nearby hamlets of Broadwell, Hill and Kites Hardwick. The name of the village is due to it being located just south of the River Leam, and the ‘Hastings’ part is due to the ‘Hastang’ family, the medieval lords of the manor.

 At the heart of the village lies the historic Church of All Saints. It consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles and porches, and a West Tower. It was built in the 13th century and added to in the 14th with major rebuilds in parts in 1677, 1703 and 1875. 

The chancel is built of roughly squared rubble with a low-pitched roof covered with slates. The east end has angle buttresses with crocketed finials. The north aisle is divided into four bays and the south aisle has a floor and roof similar to the north. The tower is paved with modern tiles and the walls are unplastered. It has an hexagonal sandstone font, an octagonal pulpit with 16th century carvings, several church plates and five bells. 

Presently, the church is part of the Draycote and Leam Valley Benefice team and seems to be in particular demand for weddings. It is a lively active church with a lot of events for children and, at the time of writing, as you would expect, preparing for Christmas 2024. 

There is no mention on any of the church websites about its extraordinary history of music concerts stretching back over at least 40 years.

Evelyn’s history at Leamington Hastings

Evelyn, with her long-term pianist Philip Smith, performed in Leamington Hastings 7 times: the first in 1988 and subsequently in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 and, finally, in 1999. 

Within The Collection, there are programmes for each concert together with booklets on that year’s concert season – but nothing in the way of previews, articles or reviews except for 1990. This review appeared in the Rugby Advertiser by Neil Aspinall. Of note in was his comment that 

‘On her previous visits she played music that was often arrangements of well-known works. This time we were presented with music written directly for percussion by contemporary composers with names unknown in the usual concert repertoire.’ 

Indeed, this concert saw an appearance by the Scottish composer John McLeod introducing the performance of his Song of Dionysus which, the reviewer noted, saw 

‘at the start and the end of the work she [Evelyn] had changed places with her accompanist Philip Smith at the piano for a period’. 

It is of note that the reviewer refers to ‘us’ rather than ‘the audience’ when writing about John McLeod’s talk and Evelyn’s performance.

To learn more about this venue and its history we have to turn to an article, written in 1993, not in any national or regional newspaper, musical journal or magazine, but in a publication entitled ‘Ministry and Worship’ with the heading ‘Praise Him With Resounding Cymbals’ 

It’s a tribute to a man named Ray Law in his capacity as a former Chairman of the Deanery Mission Committee, while also focusing on his extraordinary achievement as a concert promoter since 1971. It reads: 

‘Evelyn Glennie paid her fifth visit to Leamington Hastings village church in Warwickshire, for the 22nd series of classical concerts. To several of the musicians this unlikely spot is as important as major venues in New York, Moscow or London. “The acoustics and atmosphere are more intimate. Nowhere else do musicians and audience get so close” Evelyn told Country Way.

Vicar John Stevenson was astonished he was not told about the concerts before taking up his incumbency, but he’s delighted to welcome full churches as 500 cram into his 200-seat ‘concert hall’.

Yes, the church does benefit financially. But don’t ask about the toilets. Two in the Vicarage and two in another house are overworked in the interval! Not only are the performances enjoyable but there is a real spiritual experience for many who regularly travel up to 200 miles to attend.

Ray Law, former Chairman of the Deanery Mission Committee, used his musical knowledge and contacts gradually to put Leamington Hastings on the international tour circuit. He travels widely to care for performers and audiences alike. His is a very special ministry’.

A rural Church with international acclaim

Alongside Evelyn in the 1990s, many renowned musicians appeared there, many in the early stages of their illustrious careers, including Tasmin Little, Nicholas Daniel, Emma Johnson, Sioned Williams, Wayne Marshall, string quartets such as The St. Petersburg Quartet, players from the Yehudi Menhuin School and choirs such as King’s College, Cambridge Choral Scholars and Ex Cathedra.

So, what accounts for the extraordinary international success of this little church in the heart of rural Warwickshire? It is mainly down to the work, energy, enthusiasm and determination of one man, Ray Law, with the assistance of his wife, Brenda, who opened up their own home to international stars, providing both accommodation and hospitality, a treat testified to by Evelyn. 

In a Thanksgiving Service for the life of Brenda in 2017, recorded in an account from Itchen Valley Churches, this was spoken: 

‘Something has already been said about the concerts at Leamington Hastings which were amazing and a great tribute to Ray’s powers of persuasion and organisation and, for which, as many of us know, he was honoured by HM the Queen. But I detect that the hospitality and welcome of Brenda also played a major part in encouraging so many world famous musicians to perform at Leamington Hastings year after year’.

A concert in the countryside, in an ancient church, strawberries and cream in residents’ gardens, sandwiches in the nave, meals on laps, pokey changing places, an escape, maybe, from grand venues in major towns and cities at home and abroad, from large and impersonal hotels, from critical scrutiny from the national media and, maybe, a feeling that they were performing for appreciative friends and communities. 

Evelyn said of this in 1988 and recorded, light-heartedly, in ‘Good Vibrations’ p.208: 

During the interval there was strawberries and cream ‘I can’t eat and watch people’s faces at the same time, which has meant many frustration, cold meals with chatterboxes’. 

This feeling about friendship and communities at the heart of it can be summed up by a little note in 1993 from the vicar of All Saints to his congregation about Evelyn

‘Her contribution to the musical scene all over the world in the last few years has been quite remarkable and we are very proud of the fact that she still comes to our little church in the country [and he goes on to say]  It has been suggested that the ‘Music Lovers of Leamington Hastings’ would like to present her with a surprise wedding present on July 10th’.  

These musicians were all seen as part of the congregation and friends of All Saints’, Leamington Hastings and part of the community of neighbours who were thrilled by their appearances in their little part of the world.

written by Peter Horley