Featured Singer: Brian Shaw
Although Brian was born in East London and his first school was in Leyton, his childhood memories are centred firmly on Poole where his family moved to in 1956, and where he remained until he left for University. There was no strong musical influence in his family, more a focus on literature and heritage, as his Dad was a librarian and became Director of Libraries and Museums for the County Borough of Poole. He did however have piano lessons, taught himself the clarinet and regularly went to mid- week evening concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the Winter Gardens, becoming familiar with much of the classical repertoire. Brian remembers the tickets were 2s 6d – aah those were the days ! He attended Poole Grammar School and took A levels in Chemistry, Physics, Botany and Zoology, and even before he attended university became interested in teaching as a career. It was no great surprise that he elected to study Chemistry with Education at the newly opened University of York. This was an important decision because it was as an undergraduate that he met Mary who was on the same course, and who was to become his wife. After obtaining his degree, Brian continued his studies at York and at ICI Pharmaceuticals and achieved a Doctorate of Chemistry in 1972. During his studies, he married Mary in Lincoln and was for the first two years of married life a “kept man” ! Brian’s first post as a chemistry teacher was at Wellington College, the well- known Public School in Berkshire. In addition to teaching chemistry, Brian was a tennis, squash and rackets coach and sometime hockey referee with a rather loose grasp of the rules! It was at Wellington College that Brian started singing, joining both the school choir and Crowthorne Choral Society. A musical highlight was singing “Achieved is the Glorious Work” from Haydn’s Creation before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh when they came to open a new building at the College. That was topped by the birth of their son, Robert who was christened in the College Chapel. After 3 years at Wellington, Brian moved to become Head of Chemistry at a large comprehensive school, in what was to become Milton Keynes. Brian and Mary spent 5 happy years there during which their daughter Gillian was born, Brian co-wrote a chemistry text book and joined two chamber choirs. Following on from Milton Keynes, Brian changed direction and became an Education Officer with Northamptonshire County Council, and 5 years later joined Kent County Council’s Education Department. Brian was initially responsible for all teaching staff and running the personnel and payroll sections. He subsequently held a variety of posts until he retired in 1998 and became a self- employed educational consultant. He has enjoyed a rich singing experience in Kent. He sang with the Kent Chamber Choir for 25years, with the Medici Chamber Choir, Bearsted Choral Society and All Saints Church Choir, of which he is still a member. Brian joined The Maidstone Singers 7 years ago and loves singing with the Choir. His favourite music is English Tudor Church Music but also the music associated with Choral Evensong. His favourite short sacred piece is the Agnus Dei from William Byrd’s 4 part mass. Brian and Mary love foreign travel, and Brian has a passion for cathedrals and photography – so TMS’s foreign concert tours are a very important complement to their love of music. Now fully retired, Brian’s ambitions, when not involved with his 4 grandsons, is to tick off the places on their “ must visit list”. The Canadian Rockies and Alaska are high on their list together with visiting new parts of the US and Asia.
