I was a member of the choir from 1964 to 1972. Mr. Hewitt was an
important formative influence on me and the other boys in our
generation. The music he created became very important in our young
lives. It was a great experience for me to sing with the great
soloists of that period --- Bill Bowen and Garth Hampson. There
is some record of how the choir sounded over the period as the choir
made two gramophone records (the second partly recorded in the foyer of
the Supreme Court of Canada). Mr. Hewitt also always recorded our
annual performance at the Government House Christmas party and many
other performances. I hope the tapes are preserved
somewhere. We also did some modest touring around Ontario to
churches in Hamilton, Arnprior and Kingston which was great fun for the
boys (at least!). A highlight of my time in the was the
series of performances of Benjamin Britten's "Noyes Fludde" on a stage
built in the Cathedral chancery and produced by Nicholas Goldschmidt in
1967. I also remember well the Sunday morning in that Centennial
Year when the Queen and Prince Philip came to the service and the power
failed wreaking havoc with Mr. Hewitt's special musical arrangements in
honour of the Royal presence. Godfrey took this unexpected
development in his stride, of course.
In those years we had a strong rivalry with the choir of St. Matthew's
then led by Brian Law. We used to take it out in our annual
football match against them led as usual by Mr. Hewitt from the
sidelines. Aside from the wonderful musical and moral education
that Mr. Hewitt offered us, there was a great spirit of friendship and
fun among the boys and the men. Godfrey Hewitt set the tone for
the wonderful institution that the choir was in the '60s and
'70s. He engendered in all of us enormous affection and respect.
I entered university the year after I left the choir and studied in
Toronto, Cambridge, Shanghai and Princeton. I have been a professor of
political science at Brock University since 1989 with two periods of
leave of the University from '91-93 and '98-2000 when I served as a
diplomat at our Embassy to China.