The Music Archive of Brian Carter’s tapes by Eric Roberts
John Beck was born in Cheltenham, studied at the Royal College of Music under Dr. Harold Darke (organ), later becoming Organ Scholar of St. John’s College, Oxford, where he studied composition with Edmund Rubbra. Ordained in l958, he later became Organist-Precentor at Salisbury Cathedral, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe). He was appointed Priest-Organist at Christ Church, Cheltenham in 1970, and came to the Parish Church of St. John Baptist, Cirencester, as Priest-Organist in 1977.
John and Susan were married in 1972, and together made a great team in running the choir, with Susan handling the administration and assisting with training the boys.
Susan was a member of the Area Committee of the Royal School of Church Music for a number of years, serving variously as Awards Secretary, Area Secretary and Bishop’s Representative.
John retired from his duties at the Parish Church at the end of 1993, but continued to help in churches throughout Cirencester Deanery both as priest and organist until the end of 2011.
Many local people remember John and Susan for the unique gardens they have created, first at Cecily Hill and then, after retirement, at Bowling Green Road. Open to the public annually as part of the National Gardens Scheme, the best description of their current garden is to quote John and Susan’s own words:
‘Wander at will along winding walkways and billowing borders
in a mini jungle of heavenly hemerocallis, gorgeous grasses,
curvaceous clematis, romantic roses and hopeful hostas,
to glimpse friendly frogs and a graceful giraffe,
rated by visitors as a wonderful hidden gem.’
Susan is a committee member of the British Hosta & Hemerocallis Society.
John died on the morning of Maunday Thursday 24th March 2016. His funeral on 18th April was a wonderful celebration of his life: it is included as the last service in the database. The text of the Vicar’s sermon follows:
The Reverend Canon Leonard Doolan’s sermon
When the deacons, priests and bishops of the Diocese of Gloucester gathered on Maundy Thursday in their cathedral to renew their ordination vows, Fr John Beck was gathered by his Lord into the church beyond this life where angels and archangels and all the heavenly host are constantly praising God and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts; heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. So began the next step in the life of this faithful priest of God as he passed from this world to the next.
This Mass, every Mass, is a foretaste of heaven wedded to earth, and so it is meet and right that this man’s eucharistic life, a life of thanksgiving, is celebrated within a Eucharist, and when we are invited to receive the bread and wine Bp. David will place the signs of the Lord’s Supper on the coffin of Fr John and invite us to share with John, the blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and the witnesses of the resurrection, Mary Magdalen, Peter, John the Beloved, and Thomas, in the sacred banquet of Christ’s life giving body and blood.
On Maundy, or Holy Thursday, we consider several things. We are reminded by our Lord that we are to love one another and serve one another. Fr John’s life was one of love and service. We are reminded on that day that we are to take bread and wine and remember Jesus. Fr John’s life was one of remembering the Lord’s Supper. On Holy Friday we are reminded of a throne which looks different to all other thrones – this throne is a cross, and our Lord is enthroned on that cross. Fr John’s life was shaped and formed by the glory of that cross. On Easter Sunday we hear the Good News that the tomb is empty. Alleluia! Christ is risen….
Fr John was a man of the gospel, the good news that enlivened his every day. It was in his bloodstream, and in his DNA.
Meeting Fr John was in itself a joy, and in his old age he never lost the charismatic joy of the gospel. I was near to tears when visiting him, as he kissed my hands. He knew that our earthly, weak and sinful hands were the only hands that Christ has to sustain and serve the Body of Christ; we have only human hands to touch the things of the sacred in the life of our church. Gnarled, wrinkled, long, slender, crooked, elegant, arthritic, well manicured, truly human – these hands minister divine ‘stuff’. We have only ourselves to offer. We call this a sacramental life. Each of us has at least one calling in life. John may have had more than one – music, priesthood, and devoted husband to Sue. Probably in that order too!
Wallace and Vera Beck had three sons. One of them was John. By the time he had arrived at Pates Grammar School, John was already practising the organ with Herbert Byard. After National Service in Egypt, John had the influence of Harold Darke, then Organ Scholar of St John’s College Oxford where he studied composition with Edmund Rubbra. You will note we have followed the continental custom of swathing the organ pipes in black drapes on this occasion.
Kenneth Woolcombe, later Bishop of Oxford, was Chaplain at St John’s and he encouraged our John to think about priesthood. He responded. John trained at Wells Theological College, then had curacies in Dursley and St Paul’s Gloucester. Next John was appointed as Precentor-Organist to Salisbury Cathedral. Before we get the wrong impression formed on paintings of soaring spires in Wiltshire by Constable, we are talking about Salisbury in Rhodesia. It is now better known as Harare, Zimbabwe. 1970 saw John back in Cheltenham, this time at Christchurch. It was here that he met Sue. She was OK, so he married her. Then there was this parish, where he was both priest and organist. He sort of retired in 1993, but he was still playing the organ, at least every St. Stephen’s Day when I arrived here as Vicar 8 years ago.
Their gardens in Cecily Hill, then Bowling Green Road were exemplary enough to be part of the National Gardens Scheme. It was nothing for coaches to turn up in Bowling Green Road to see the plants – the drivers must have wondered where on earth they were going.
Latterly Paternoster House has been Fr John’s home, and we all know how much both John and Sue have been loved by the staff there over the years when Sue’s wonderful mother was there, then John.
So many of us have reason to be truly Eucharistic, thankful, about God, his church, and the blessed lives of his servants. So many of you have reason to rejoice that Fr John, ably assisted by Sue, brought you through teenage years and into your adult life by the gift of his music. Your gift back to Fr John could well be in deciding to sing once again in our Parish Church Choir, and to engage with the life of this Parish Church. By the way, Sue wanted me to say that. So many of you, thankful for Fr John’s legacy. Among you, the Revd Deacon Philip Andrews, training for the Roman Catholic priesthood at the English College in Rome, who has travelled here for this Mass and who sang the gospel so beautifully. Please take back our Easter greetings to the Venerabile.
The joy of the gospel is the mark of this liturgy – joy in praise to God, joy in rejoicing in human life, joy in the music that puts us in tune with heaven, joy in the service that one human offers another, joy in the outward sign of all of this in the life of an ordained priest.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus; Dominus Deus Sabaoth; Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.
The portrait of John is by Brian Berkeley
The photo of John & Susan in the cloisters at Westminster Abbey on the way to service photo is by Peter Palmer