South Harting: Ex-pat Terry is back in the old country

Former Selsey solicitor Terry Stanton returns from his new life in Australia for a recital with his good friend Rex Latter in St Gabriel’s Anglican Church in South Harting on Wednesday, July 8 at 2.30pm.
TerryTerry
Terry

Terry said: “Rex is the organist at St Wilfrid’s Church in Bognor Regis. He has composed pieces for choirs, small instrumental groups and much more besides.

“I used to live in Selsey when my wife Christine and I used to belong to the Selsey Operatic, Funtington Players and other drama groups. Christine and I moved to Australia when I retired in 2005, and we now live in a little village called Tinonee, near Taree in New South Wales. We come to South Harting for a few weeks every summer to see Christine’s father and friends and relatives, and Rex and I usually give a recital in Bognor then. The rector of South Harting, the Rev Mark Morton, is allowing the church to host this event. There will be a retiring collection for church funds.”

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Their clarinet and piano programme will be: Introduction, Theme and Variations by Rossini; A North Country Air by Rex Latter; and House of Elliot, Soldier Soldier, Midsomer Murders and Clarinet Concerto by Jim Parker.

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Terry

Terry added: “We went to Australia because all three of our children had emigrated there. The two boys, Tim and Sam, were in Sydney. Katherine and her husband Trevor were in Townsville in Queensland. That is where we settled to start with because Katherine was expecting our first grandchild (Jodie) when we got on the plane on April 4 2005. Christine was not going to live anywhere else! Then Jacob was born two years later.

“However, Townsville is very hot and humid. Even in the depths of winter, which the locals call the dry season, the temperature is usually 24C or more in the day. In the summer it is 35 and upwards, and I never stopped sweating.

“After four years we decided to move south to this village where the climate is much nicer, but still rather hot for a few months around Christmas. We are very happy here. We are both in a U3A choir, and Chris is learning the piano. I am in a concert band and chamber music quartet and first clarinet in the local amateur orchestra.

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“I have organised and performed in several recitals in churches here for charity or church funds. So, as you can see, we are well settled, particularly since May 2013 when Katherine and Trevor moved to Port Macquarie, which is only an hour away. Townsville is about 1,300 miles away and it used to be a three- or four-day journey to go back there unless we went by plane.

“What do we miss about England? We miss Chris’s Dad, who lives in South Harting and other relatives and friends, but we come back every year for six weeks and see as many as we can. As far as England itself goes, it is easier to get to see shows and plays there, and that we miss. I miss the good drama groups, too. Selsey Players and Funtington Players used to tackle some really difficult scripts with considerable success, including A Man for All Seasons, The Winslow Boy, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, A Voyage Round my Father and many more. They could even do good comedy well.”

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