Richard Moore has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to music education and preservation in East Sussex, in the New Year’s Honours List.
Richard has been married for forty-one years to Viv, a Yorkshire lass; they have three sons and four grandchildren. Rye News met with Richard Moore to find out a bit more about the medal and the music
Are you a local man?
Yes, I lived in Northiam for twenty-three years and attended Thomas Peacocke School where I was head boy, 1976-1977, in the first year of Ray Fooks’s headship.
When did you start playing the organ in public?
I started when I was fourteen, playing for the British Legion Clubs and pubs for sing-a-longs and dancing. When I was in the upper sixth I was playing four nights a week in the Queen’s Hotel, Saturday nights at the Fairlight Cove Hotel, and on Wednesday I used to rehearse with two friends as we wanted to set up a dance trio. I failed my A levels but the money I was earning enabled me to buy a car, so I thought the world was good. In school Ray encouraged me to organise the Speech Festival, the sixth form concert and I was involved in the drama productions including Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood in which I played first and second voice, the two main narrative parts. I had to learn it off by heart and got standing ovations on both nights. There was a member of the Ellen Terry Theatre group in the audience and he invited me to join. One of life’s crossroads – and I wonder where it would have taken me had I chosen that route.
What happened after you left school?
I had a Saturday job in an organ shop in Claremont, Hastings and when I finished school on the Friday I had the weekend off before I started a job with them on the following Monday. Within a year they offered me a partnership and in the same week I was offered the job as a travelling demonstrator which I had always wanted to do. Once again, I was at a crossroads. I took my mother’s advice and stayed in the shop as a partner. I was at the shop for twenty-three years, ending up as the owner.
1996 was a difficult year for you wasn’t it?
Yes, my mother died very suddenly and my father was diagnosed with cancer so I became his carer and sold the shop in 1998. Another crossroads and a friend of mine was running an estate agent and asked me to join him.
What about your involvement with the Wurlitzer at the school?
I was still involved with the organ at Thomas Peacocke, as I had become involved with the Rye Old Scholars in 1985. In 1990 a gentleman from Cornwall offered to buy the Wurlitzer at a knock-down price. I did not know its condition at the time. My famous last words in the summer of1990 were, “I will arrange a couple of concerts…” and here we are thirty-five years later and I’m still arranging them. The more I got involved with the project, the more I realised it was a special piece of social history.
On Sunday, April 6 at 2:30pm we shall have a special concert for the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wurlitzer which Rye News will be covering.
To book: call Richard on 01424 444058. The Rye Wurlitzer, built in 1925, is Britain’s second oldest Wurlitzer theatre organ. It has been located at Rye College since 1957. The oldest is in Beer, Devon and is only older by one month.
Richard has made some special marmalade to celebrate his award and to thank people who have been on this journey with him.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Richard Moore archives .
congratulations to Richard Moore on his award . well deserved for his work that has benefited so many peoples lives. Lovely to think some one put him forward to be recognised for his work.
A good news story.
Surely it’s for the waistcoats? Seriously though, I agree Judith, a good news story indeed and recognition that is so well deserved.
Congratulations, Richard. I used to attend Thomas Peacocke during the late 60’s, before moving to Surrey. Several years ago, I brought my 2 grown up daughters to Rye as I was intending to move back to this area. We wandered along to the school site and I was pointing out various areas to my daughters and telling of schoolday stories. The school was closed at the time as it was during the summer holidays but a guy, who we took to be a caretaker, noticed us standing near the gates. I explained that I was a former pupil and was showing my daughters where I spent happy days! He very kindly offered us a ‘guided tour’ and we went up in the Gods, to view the magnificent Wurlitzer. (Having never been up there, as it was only for the 6th Formers, it was an honour). I was so proud to be able to show the girls where I was at school.
Thank you Jane. That must have been several years ago, as we moved the Wurlitzer from “The Gods” in 2008. No one can see it now as it lies underneath the stage and rises out of the floor on its own dedicated lift on concert and teaching days.
Well done. You have done so much for the school. Well deserved award.
Thank you David.