Tim Venvell came to RGS in 1994 after a stint as Director of Music at Kingston Grammar School. He quickly established himself as an enthusiastic and passionate leader of musical activities at RGS and the Wycombe area, and became especially associated with choral music for young people.
Over the last 26 years, RGS has been treated to a series of wonderful concerts, musicals, carol services and many special musical events, for example, An Evening with Jonathan Veira, the opera singer, last January. Special highlights in those 26 years have been the concert in Watford, celebrating RGS’s 450th anniversary, when an augmented choir and orchestra performed the hugely ambitious Belshazzar’s Feast, by William Walton, the massively successful production of Les Miserables in the spring of 2013, and
Singers Ltd, the RGS 6th form a capella group, winning the coveted title of BBC Youth Choir of the Year in 2014. RGS Music has had a regular national profile with many performances by various groups at the National Festival of Music for Youth, and the Big Band and smaller Trad Jazz Band perform regularly in the community.
Meanwhile, closer to home, Tim Venvell set up the Friends of RGS Music in his first year at the school, and they have supported and organised numerous events over the years, especially the usual summer term BBQ event, Jazz in the Quad.
Tim intends to stay around the area and remain active with the Chiltern Music Academy, with which he is also closely associated, and hopes to have time to enjoy musical and other pursuits in retirement.
All this has resulted in a huge range of opportunities for our young musicians. Music does not get much better in state funded schools, and it just goes to show what can be done with the right departmental leadership. Tim’s energy, ambition and commitment have been stellar indeed.
Tim will still be around as he is an integral part of the Chiltern Music Academy, and hopes to have time to enjoy musical and other pursuits in retirement. He and his wife Kate are already grandparents, and with 5 children, family life will clearly continue to keep them very busy!
We all wish him a happy retirement.