Morland organist and choirmaster David Jones, who has died at the age of 82, was a “man of many parts”.
A well-known and respected figure in Cumbria and beyond, through his business of piano tuning and maintenance, and his involvement in church activities — notably as organist of Morland Church since 1977 and a lay reader since 2003 — David was also a music teacher, choral singer, English folk dancer, Scottish country dancer and general manager of Morland Choristers’ Camp.
He was born on 13th August, 1942, in Widnes, which was where his parents had been evacuated to during the war, with his father being a research chemist with ICI and therefore in a “reserved occupation”.
The second child, having an older sister, Ruth; three years later he acquired a brother, Ian, also well known in Cumbria as a choral conductor.
David was educated at his local primary school in Farnworth, then at Lancaster Royal Grammar and Liverpool University where he graduated in economics in 1963. His first job was with ICI Paints Division in Slough and a few years later he moved to Tyneside where he married Mary Lawson. They had two daughters, Heather and Helen, but the marriage ended in divorce and by a series of coincidences David landed in Morland in September 1976. The late Canon Gervase Markham soon involved him in Morland Church and a year later he was officially appointed organist.
While still in the North East, David had decided that working for other people was not for him and a lifetime interest in music, along with playing with Meccano since his childhood, led him to set up his piano tuning and repair business which ultimately became Morland Pianos. He often cited his experience of playing with Meccano when it came to building gadgetry for moving heavy instruments or converting Transit vans.
David’s parents had been keen choral singers and members of their local Methodist church. That, combined with the opportunity to attend concerts at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and a natural ability, led to his lifelong passion for music generally and the organ in particular.
In 1984, David married Jenny, whom he had met on a course for church organists at Addington Palace — the former home of the Royal School of Church Music in Croydon. Jenny recalls that on the first Sunday after they married, she sat in one of the pews in church; on the second Sunday she was required to play for the service! Thereafter, she and David were a team in respect of the music at Morland — one of them playing and the other singing in the choir, or vice versa — until 2018 when Jenny’s hearing deteriorated to the point where the difficulties of following a service became too great.
It was at Liverpool University that David became involved in English folk dancing through the lively, twice-weekly Folk Dance Society. After his move to Cumbria he joined brother Ian’s folk dance band — Cumbrian Gap (subsequently joined by Jenny) — and for many years the band played weekly, and sometimes twice-weekly, for folk dances and festivals all over the country, but whenever possible, David ensured he was back in time for church on a Sunday morning — even driving back from London on one memorable Saturday night and being on the organ bench on Sunday morning.
David was a man of many parts — unusual in that while very much an educated man and musician, he was also intensely practical — able to turn his hand to woodwork, house maintenance, changing gas bottles or mowing and hedging on the caravan site which he and Jenny established following their move from Morland to Newby End Farm in 1994.
He gave unstintingly of all his talents and abilities, not just to the church but to the wider community, sitting on the village hall committee in Morland, as a lay reader doing pastoral care and taking funerals; encouraging young people to experience the joy that music brings, and providing a platform for young musicians to gain experience in performing.
He and Jenny, along with Ian, established a number of regular courses and activities which, in addition to giving enormous enjoyment to people from all over the country, contributed a great deal to the local economy. All this was recognised when he was awarded an MBE in last year’s King’s Birthday Honours.
His investiture was scheduled for December, but in July he was diagnosed with an aggressive and inoperable brain tumour, and the ceremony was brought forward to 2nd October.
In 2020, he had been a recipient of the Royal Maundy, but the Maundy service had to be cancelled because of Covid so he did not meet the late Queen Elizabeth, which was a great disappointment. He was therefore particularly pleased and proud to go to Windsor in October to be invested by Prince William.
David was admitted to the Eden Valley Hospice in Carlisle on 17th February and died on 28th February. He is survived by Jenny, his daughters Heather and Helen, and by Jenny’s children Christopher and Katie. He and Jenny were proud to be able to say that from the wreckage of two marriages, they had created a loving and supportive family unit — something which was a great blessing during David’s illness.
The funeral service will be held at St Lawrence Church, Morland on Friday, 21st March, at 2pm, followed by interment in the cemetery. If desired, donations in memory of David, which shall be divided between St. Lawrence Church and Morland Choristers Camp Bursary Fund, may be left at the service or sent c/o Walkers Funeral Directors, Tynefield House, Penrith, who have charge of the arrangements.
