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Susan Stevens

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Susan Stevens
Sue Stevens from a 1985 Guider magazine
Born(1936-01-29)29 January 1936
Bristol, England
Died20 March 1985(1985-03-20) (aged 49)
Hampshire, England
Other namesSue
OccupationGirl Guide musician

Susan Stevens (29 January 1936 - 20 March 1985), known as Sue, was a conductor and prolific composer of Guiding songs for Girl Guides UK. She was co-founder of the National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra in 1976[1] and founder of the Foxlease Singing Circle in 1983.

Personal life, education and work

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Susan Beryl Stevens was the first child of Herbert William Thornton Jefferies & Francis Beryl Jefferies, née Smith. Her younger sister, Joanna Mary, was born in 1947. Susan married Joseph Ken Stevens in June 1957, in Norton Radstock, Somerset. They had two children. Stevens attended Bath Spa University as a mature music student in the early 1960s, before going on to complete her teacher training.[2] Between c.1971 and 1979 she was Director of Music and Drama at The Blue School, Wells.[3] Stevens died of breast cancer in 1985. A memorial service was held in her honour at Wells Cathedral, at which her arrangement of "Lead Me Lord" was sung.[4]

Girl Guides

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Stevens was a Girl Guide and Ranger leader,[5] trainer and music consultant. Between 1971 and 1974 she acted as regional consultant in music and drama for South West Guiding,[6] and from 1974 she was assistant consultant of music at Girl Guiding's national headquarters.[7] In December 1976, together with George Odam, she established the National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra at Gilwell Park, London.[8] Stevens became the Girl Guide Association's music advisor in 1981.[9]

Large-scale Girl Guiding events

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Stevens was involved in several large-scale Girl Guiding events,[10] including:

  • 1971 - she conducted a group of one hundred Guides at Wells Cathedral for a radio broadcast, as part of an arts magazine programme.[11]
  • 1972 - she organised a medieval fair for Somerset Guides, for which she also wrote the music.[12]
  • 1977 and 1979 - she acted as assistant music consultant for Girl Guides’ Folk Fest 8[13] and 9[14] at the Royal Albert Hall.
  • 1985 - to celebrate 75 years of Guiding, Stevens wrote a pageant of Cornish history and legend, together with the accompanying music. It was performed by 350 Brownies, Guides and Rangers at Carlyon Bay, Cornwall, ten days after her death.[15]

Foxlease, Hampshire

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From the late 1960s Stevens, together with Hettie Smith and Margaret Newman, organised music and guitar weekends at Foxlease,[16] a Girl Guide training and activity centre in Hampshire.[17] From the late 1970s, Stevens also ran ‘Music in the Pack’ courses there.[18]

In May 1982, Stevens became Foxlease's assistant Guider-In-Charge.[19] Having discovered that Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, after whom the main building at Foxlease was named, was a Royal Stewart, she and Guider-in-Charge Marjorie King introduced Royal Stewart tartan neckerchiefs for Foxlease staff.[20]

In October 1983, Stevens established the Foxlease Singing Circle. She invited around 30 Guide leaders from around the UK to Foxlease for a weekend of singing, “to see whether or not it would work!”[21] She was only able to host two weekends with the Singing Circle before she died. The group continues to meet,[22] and some of her protégés, including Pat Belringer, Eryl Evans and Hilary Stokes, continue to write songs.[23]

Publications

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Stevens contributed articles and songs to Today’s Guide and The Guider magazines.[24] She also published the following books:

Year Title Publisher Notes
1975 Help yourself to play the guitar[25] Girl Guides Association Illustrated by Rosemary Thornton-Jones
1979 Help your patrol to make music[26]] Girl Guides Association
1980 Sing For Joy[27] EMI Illustrations by Carole Logan. 16 original songs by Stevens.
1981 Swingalong Songs[28] Piano accompaniments by Geoffrey Russell-Smith
1993 Just for You - A Very Special Selection of Songs[29] Foxlease Singing Circle A collection of Stevens's songs

Select compositions

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Several of Stevens's songs were frequently used by schools and young people's groups in the 1980s.[30]

Guiding songs

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  • Silver Jubilee Round (1976)
  • Ranger Diamond Jubilee song Tomorrow (1977)
  • WAGGGS Thinking Day Song (1977)
  • Brownie Thank You (1977)
  • WAGGGS Jubilee Song (1978)
  • We came to Foxlease (1984)
  • All Together (1984) WAGGGS’ 75th anniversary song

Sacred songs

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  • Jubilate Deo I (1968)
  • I am the Way (1970)
  • Thou Wilt Keep Him (1970)
  • Lo, How A Rose (1971)
  • Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (1973)
  • Gloria In Excelsis Deo (1973)
  • Gloria (1974)
  • Psalm 139 (1974)
  • At the Ending of the Day (1975)
  • Christ our only Saviour (1976)
  • Dona Nobis Pacem (1976)
  • God Be With You (1976)
  • Spring belongs to Little Things (1976)
  • I will Lift Up Mine Eyes (1977)
  • Merry Bells (1977)
  • Vesper (1977)
  • Alleluia! (1978)
  • Winter Thank You (1980)
  • Ding! Dong! Alleluia (1980)
  • Blest Creator (1981)
  • The Colours of Christmas (1982)
  • Lord, we Give Thee Thanks (1982)
  • Long Ago (1983)

Rounds

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  • For Friends and Homes and Happy Days (1973)
  • Goodbye (1973)
  • Spring Round (1976)
  • Humming Song (1978)
  • Dubi du (1982)

Other songs

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  • Come Sailing (1968)
  • Little Bus (1973)
  • Promises (1973)
  • Somewhere There’s A Forest (1974)
  • All over the World (1975)
  • Wandering Wind (1979)
  • Look Up to the Sky (1979)
  • Song for International Year of the Child (1979)[31]
  • Just for You (1980)
  • Come Away to the Hills (1981)
  • Clap Hands (1981)
  • Tails (1981)
  • Let’s Celebrate (1982)
  • Sing Along Song (1982)
  • Follow the Sun (1984)
  • The Carnival
  • One Day
  • Quietly
  • Many Years Ago
  • The New Generation
  • Softly

In 1972 she provided the music for a TV show that aired on Harlech Television[32] about the Tudor period, with author and restorer John Mills.

Recordings

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Year Title Label Role / Songs
1972 National Guide Festival of Song[33] BBC Features Carnival
1975 Guiding Highlights LP Features Somewhere There’s A Forest, Quietly, Many Years Ago[34]
1977 20 Christmas Carols Conductor[35][36]
1978 Sing For Joy LP Stevens made all music arrangements[37]
1980 Songs for Tomorrow from Around the World[38] Musical director, composer, arranger
1981 Music Builders Chorus V: A Hardie-Mason Project[39] Berandol Including Tomorrow
1986 Tribute to Susan Stevens[40] EMI Music Including The New Generation and Somewhere There's A Forest. Recorded by members of the Showtime ’85 cast, conducted by Enid Mulholland with the Peter Gosling Band

References

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  1. ^ "Have you ever thought that you could write a song?". Guider (Vol. 64 No. 8 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. August 1977. p. 363.
  2. ^ Hilary Jenkins (Spring 2014). "In the beginning". Foxlease Singing Circle. Hampshire, UK: Foxlease Singing Circle. p. 3.
  3. ^ "Impressive performance of Fludde". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 2 May 1975. p. 3. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. ^ Hilary Jenkins (Spring 2014). "In the beginning". Foxlease Singing Circle. Hampshire, UK: Foxlease Singing Circle. p. 3.
  5. ^ "Looking Ahead". Guider (Vol. 63 No. 8 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. August 1976. p. 339.
  6. ^ "Somerset's Girl Guides stop cars". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 1 September 1972. p. 16. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Wells conductor at Trafalgar Square concert". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 27 November 1975. p. 3. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Have you ever thought that you could write a song?". Guider (Vol. 64 No. 8 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. August 1977. p. 363.
  9. ^ "Guides enjoy county camp". Central Somerset Gazette. Taunton, U.K. 27 August 1981. p. 6. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Gang Show is a hit at Street". Central Somerset Gazette. Wells, U.K. 10 April 1970. p. 4. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Guides to broadcast form Wells". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 1 October 1971. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  12. ^ "'Peasants' to parade through the city". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 25 August 1972. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Auditioning for Folk Fest 8". Guider (Vol. 64 No. 6 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. June 1977. p. 261.
  14. ^ "In Folksy Mood". Guider (Vol. 66 No. 8 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. August 1979. p. 354.
  15. ^ "Guides' pageant of Cornish history". West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. Truro, U.K. 14 February 1985. p. 25. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Guides' pageant of Cornish history". West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. Truro, U.K. 14 February 1985. p. 25. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  17. ^ Hilary Jenkins (Spring 2014). "In the beginning". Foxlease Singing Circle. Hampshire, UK: Foxlease Singing Circle. p. 3.
  18. ^ "Spring 2013". www.foxleasesingingcircle.org.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  19. ^ "In Memoriam". Guider (Vol. 72 No. 7 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. July 1985. p. 4.
  20. ^ "Spring 2010". www.foxleasesingingcircle.org.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  21. ^ "The Beginning". www.foxleasesingingcircle.org.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  22. ^ "Getting Together". The Trefoil (Issue 259 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. December 2020. p. 36.
  23. ^ Dunham, Meriel (1993). Just For You. Lyndhurst, Hampshire: The Foxlease SInging Circle. p. 4.
  24. ^ "Looking Ahead". Guider (Vol. 63 No. 8 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. August 1977. p. 339.
  25. ^ Stevens, Susan (1975). Help yourself to play the guitar. London: Girl Guides Association.
  26. ^ Stevens, Susan (1978). Help Your Patrol to Make Music. London: Girl Guides Association.
  27. ^ Stevens, Susan (1980). Sing For Joy. London: EMI Music Publications. ISBN 086175090X.
  28. ^ Stevens, Susan (1981). Swingalong Songs. London: EMI Music Publications. ISBN 0861752287.
  29. ^ Dunham, Meriel (1993). Just For You. Lyndhurst, Hampshire: The Foxlease SInging Circle.
  30. ^ "Guides to broadcast form Wells". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 1 October 1971. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  31. ^ "A Song for International Year of the Child". Guider (Vol. 66 No. 3 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. March 1979. p. 115.
  32. ^ "Top of the Pops Writer works on a pageant for Wells". Cheddar Valley Gazette. Wells, U.K. 11 August 1972. p. 2. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  33. ^ National Guide Festival of Song (LP). London: BBC. 1972.
  34. ^ Guiding Highlights [Selections from Guide and Scout Special Events throughout the year] (Stereo LP 33.3 RPM). London: BBC. 1975.
  35. ^ 20 Christmas Carols [Sung by members of the Girl Guides Association Brownies, Guides and Rangers] (Stereo LP 33.3 RPM). London: BBC. 1977.
  36. ^ "Guides from Wells make BBC record". Wells Journal. Wells, U.K. 14 July 1977. p. 8. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  37. ^ Stevens, Susan (1978). Sing for Joy [Songs with a message sung by members of the Girl Guide Association and the Scout Association] (Stereo LP 33.3 RPM). London: BBC.
  38. ^ Stevens, Susan (1980). Songs for Tomorrow from around the world [Sung by members of the Girl Guide Association, with Rainbow Wood, The Cherry Pickers Steel Band and Douglas Coombes] (Stereo LP 33.3 RPM). London: BBC.
  39. ^ Stevens, Susan (1981). Music Builders Chorus V [A Hardie-Mason Project] (Stereo LP 33.3 RPM). Ontario, Canada: Berandol.
  40. ^ Tribute to Susan Stevens (Stereo 33.3 RPM). London: EMI Music. 1985.
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