Louis Parperis writes: "I am uploading six video clips of the memorial service for Derek Thornbery. This one of the day as a whole is a composite of the other five that were commissioned by Kyriacos Zap Tsaparelli and produced by Richard Buss."
Kyriacos: " When we set up the Memorial day for Doc Thornbery at Ipswich High School for Girls, they literally bent over backwards to accomodate us and gave us the use of the school auditorium, opened up Orwell House and allowed us to wander around and to feel the energy of Woolverstone Hall. The catering was above and beyond the call of duty for about 150 people who attended and they even displayed some old school photographs.
Donations for Derek Thornbery came in abundance and we decided to donate 16 x Concert Music stands to the school in Dereks name and we also donated the remaining £215.77 in memory of Derek Thornbery to Norwich Cathedral where he used to be a curator. It was an amazing day which we shared with old friends, wives and teachers. Like Louis said, it wasn't just about Derek. The spirit of Woolverstone Hall was a direct result of everyone who played a part in our early years, and I am sure that we all pass the legacy of Woolverstone Hall to our children and everyone that we come into contact with."
Here is the third video in the sequence (recognising that the first has been vetoed by Facebook), which features George Hargreaves (who some may recall more easily as George Jackman). Like Steve James, George is a leading light in the evangelical Christian world and so his contribution understandably reflects his personal faith. If, like me and Derek, too, you do not share such certainty, you should be able to respect the values that underpin those who do. Remember, too, while watching this that George wrote the hit song 'So Macho' which places him at continual risk of reprisals against him. Cue the movie, as a donkey once said ...
Number four in a current sequence of three (keep up at the back) is a wonderful rendition of Dylan Thomas's 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' delivered by Andrew Wheaton with such Thornberian brio it made me question why nobody had thought to put a few desks on the stage for him to stand on.
Manipulating the audience into standing up to applaud at the end was just a cynical way of hiding the fact that this speaker was taking the event so casually that he couldn't even be arsed to have prepared a few notes. This is number five of six, with number one still missing.
The sixth in this series of six videos is not the final one to be posted as I have yet to be able to upload the first, though I will give that another go shortly on the basis that it contains the same mediocre version of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' that has crept into this clip and the previous one. The setting for this clip is slightly different as we moved behind the former cricket pavilion to inter Derek's ashes and plant a rowan tree above them at a spot that is now graced by a commemorative plaque. Mike Volpe, breaking away from the planning for this year's season at Opera Holland Park (plug) and from accosting people in the street to make them an offer they can't refuse ("If you don't buy a copy of my biography, I'll break every fekkin' bone in your body, Gran") to close the formal part of the memorial service with a reading of Mary Elizabeth Frye's 'Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep' and a reminiscence of breaking his arm while playing rugby.