The death of former music teacher Hugh Turpin (M 83-13) has affected many people, and some of the tributes we have received follow.

Anthony Payne (M 67-01) writes:

“Hugh was one of the most inspirational people I have ever known.

He was a member of the St Bees Common Room from 1983 to 2013, for much of that time Director of Music. 

As far as the school choir was concerned, he felt that there was nothing they could not sing, and this confidence gave the members of the choir the confidence to perform a wide range of music, even Tavener’s ‘The Lamb’ and Judith Weir’s ‘Illuminare Jerusalem’, not to mention some of his own compositions and those of some of the pupils. This range impressed the audiences on the popular tours to the Rhineland, started by Frank Bowler and continued after he left - the statement that ‘St Bees is not a specialist music school’ was met with baffled disbelief.

When Philip Barratt revived the tradition of Gilbert and Sullivan operas with ‘Ruddigore’, there was no orchestra, so Hugh accompanied the whole production on the piano: he had cut his hand during the day, so the keyboard was a fetching colour of red by the end!  In later productions he trod the boards, for example as the Pirate King in ‘Pirates of Penzance’, and who could forget his ‘Sweeney Todd’ in the Sondheim musical!

Hugh was one of the founder members of the Deo Gratias Quartet, with Frank Bowler, Keith Walker and myself. Later members included Paul Chamberlain, Margie Simper, Jill Hudson and Jane Hendry: the Quartet performed usually with four members, but sometimes with three or five! They sang barber’s shop, motets and madrigals, popular song arrangements and standards in various languages, and over the years raised considerable sums for charity.

Hugh also conducted the West Cumbria Orchestra: one of the outstanding concerts that I remember was when he performed George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, conducting from the piano and expertly masking the heart-stopping moment when the orchestra failed to come in at the end of the cadenza.

Hugh enriched my life to a very considerable degree, and I feel sure that there are very many people who would echo this statement. His legacy will live on in the music of West Cumbria and the many students and staff that he inspired.”

 

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St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.

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