Concert organist can’t play at funeral

I AM sure you will agree that the loss of a loved one is a time when families work together to ensure that the final journey of the deceased is as trouble-free as possible. My mother, Joan Davies, had been suffering with dementia for the last couple of years and died after a stroke on Tuesday, July 24, at Llys Gwyn Care Home in Pontarddulais.

One of the last coherent things she said was to remind me that I was to play the organ for her funeral.

Having contacted the undertakers to fulfil my mother’s wishes, I was more than surprised to learn from them that I was not allowed to play the organ at the Crematorium, despite having played at Morriston for my father’s cremation in 2000.

I can fully understand the need to vet potential service accompanists, but I would have thought that being a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists would be sufficient to prove that I know my way around a church organ – never mind my having given recitals in the Brangwyn Hall, St Mary’s Swansea, St David’s Cathedral, Bristol Cathedral etc as well as having held church organ posts for more than 40 years.

None of this cut any ice with the council as it was their “policy” not to let visiting organists play at Morriston, as the organ had been damaged in the past. I further pointed out that I had played historic and delicate instruments all over the UK and in continental Europe without inflicting any damage but that, too, made no difference to the strangely intransigent “policy”.

In order for my mother to have her wish, I have now produced a CD on the organ at the church where I regularly play, but that is not the same as having a “live” performance.

My thanks to Swansea City Council for their helpfulness and consideration at a time of great family grief. Nigel Davies Bristol