A Badminton racket

The title was chosen for the sake of the pun, not because of the sort of noise I think we made! I sang at the funeral of a former assistant priest at a church in Bath, who had earlier been at Badminton, so that’s where the funeral was held. It’s an intriguing little church because it doubles as parish church and family chapel for the Dukes of Beaufort; essentially Georgian but with a Victorian extension to accommodate a huge memorial by Grinling Gibbons (formerly in St George’s Chapel in Windsor). It still has box pews (though not for the choir; I wished we had them as I was sat in a draught).

Our music was straightforward but good quality pieces such as In Paradisum from Fauré’s Requiem and Purcell’s Thou knowest, Lord. This and the dignified language of the whole service made it a gratifying experience to take part and I regretted I hadn’t known Tom Gibson better than I did; he was quite a character.

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