A Tribute to Max from Graeme Telford during his final service at St. Marys on 29th December 2024:

"It has fallen to me to make a very brief presentation of the gifts from the Choir to thank you for all your hard work over the many years you have been our Musical Director / Choir Master / Organist and friend. 

You have raised the standard of the musicality of this choir to a level where I think it is widely acknowledged that the Choir of St Mary’s Balcombe punch well above the weight of any normal village church choir. There certainly can’t be many other choirs who benefit from personally tailored musical arrangements, and we are probably unique in having a wonderful musical composition for voices and two cellos. 

Some in the congregation might not realise the effort needed to get the best out of us at practices every Friday night – the context here is that choir practice starting at18:30 on a Friday comes at the end of a long working week when some are really tired and a few are potentially a little irritable – tired and irritated do not good bedfellows make but somehow you find a way to inspire us to new heights each week. So, your weekly efforts are possibly akin to the legend of Sisyphus - the king of Corinth punished by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill in perpetuity. I’m guessing you are not going to miss rolling that Friday evening stone uphill from now on.

And so, to cut to the chase – the Choir had a bit of collection and in addition to the single malts we presented last Sunday evening after the really very well received Nine Lessons and Carols performance (I for one will never forget that performance of Gaudete standing next to drummer) we have a few additional gifts for you to show our appreciation for everything you have done for us."