An HCS Anecdote

Michael Killian, a Yorkshire native now living in Cheshire, recently reached out and shared a rather touching story with us…

I grew up in Huddersfield (Bradley Estate) but, after Uni in Manchester, I settled in Cheshire where we now live.

So, after my final exams in 1972 I signed up with Camp America to work in a summer camp in upstate New York (near Woodstock!). We got free flights and board but we didn’t get paid till the end of the contract, so I had to finance the 10 week trip courtesy of £100 overdraft from Barclays Bank in the Market Place. I had the most wonderful fulfilling time working with handicapped kids from the inner city.

One of my close colleagues was Eldon – a rugged, blond-haired, all-American son of the farm – who’d come all the way from Oklahoma to do the horse riding. At the end of the summer, he asked me if I’d like to accompany him on his way back home and spend some time with the family, and at his Fraternity House at the University there.

Well, since he drove a 3.5 litre, V8, 2-seater pale blue Chevrolet Impala, this was an agonising decision, as you can imagine!

As the September evenings lengthened and got chillier, we set off south from New York City over the magnificent Verazzano Narrows bridge. Then into Virginia, the Blue Ridge mountains, West Virginia, and on through Kentucky.

Eventually, after crossing the wide Missouri, we smoked into Oklahoma after about 4 days; we’d been sleeping on picnic tables along the way. The family farm/ranch was the 160-acre plot that Eldon’s grandfather had staked out in the great Oklahoma race for land in 1893. No trees then, so he built a house from piled up sods of earth. The nearest town of a any size was Wichita, across the state border in Kansas. There was not a linesman to be seen, but there was an open air, drive-in cinema where we enjoyed the French Connection one evening.

The family were wonderfully hospitable but, after a couple of nights, I declined their invitation to the school prizegiving and stayed home alone. I found nothing of interest to read, and only dreary TV, but I did spot a couple of LPs in a magazine rack, and a basic Dansette-type record player by the fireside.

The two records were Hank Williams’ Greatest Hits and…Handel’s Messiah by the Huddersfield Choral Society! And this was in the town of Cherokee, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma! 4500 miles from home!

I’m not religious but for a moment I did wonder if I’d felt a gentle but powerful hand on my shoulder.

This must have been highlights from the famous 1946 Malcolm Sargent recording. Apparently it was very popular in the USA as it was the first full recording there with a big quality choir and top soloists, like Isobel Bailey. I enjoy the stately pace of the digital remastered CD transfer by Michael Dutton.

My wife and I became great fans of Messiah and have been to annual performances for 50 years or so, most of them at the Town Hall. I still chuckle, and marvel, at how we managed to get the entire school and staff (of King James Grammar School) on the stage and choir bench seats for the annual prizegiving.

We hope to be there again this year.

Thanks again to Michael for such a heartwarming tale!