Tom du Val

Tom du Val, one of the Winchester choristers, organised an amazing summer concert yesterday to raise funds for another choristership at Pilgrims School. The Winchester home team, by whom I mean the choir, the Director of Music, Andrew Lumsden and his assistant, Simon Bell, put on a tremendous performance. They were joined by the husband and wife opera singers, Stephen Gadd and Claire Rutter who sang, amongst other pieces, rousing renditions of Drake's Drum and Summertime. Tom had also written to invite Blake to perform as two of them had been Winchester choirboys. They initially refused his invitation but Tom wrote back indignantly, insisting that they had to be there and, in the end, they agreed. Their singing was terrific and I shall never forget their performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. As Sally Taylor of BBC South (who was presenting the concert) and the Dean, the Very Reverend James Atwell, remarked, Tom du Val could very well become Enterprise Tsar one day.