Alan Gardner



Alan took a teaching degree at Westminster College, Oxford, studying the organ as his main instrument at University College, Oxford, with John Webster and Walter Hillman. Early experience as a Parish Church organist included accompanying choirs for Evensong at St Albans, Ely and Llandaff Cathedrals. Initially at Shaftesbury Grammar School in Dorset, Alan moved to Kendal in 1984 when he was appointed Head of Music at Dallam School. In 2000, Alan led Dallam school’s Senior Band on a successful tour of Paris including a performance at Disneyland.
 
His enthusiasm for France and things French inspired Alan to develop the link between Kendal Choral Society and a French choir, Toutes Aures, based in Voiron near Grenoble, and their conductor Genevieve Blayo. This link has now been firmly cemented by four exchange visits with the two choirs performing choral works and other musical pieces together. The next exchange will take place in 2007. Rumour has it that Alan (and Mike Critchlow, regular accompanist with Kendal Choral) are sufficiently fluent in French to take rehearsals in that language as successfully as they do in English when in Kendal. Alan was appointed the tenth conductor of Kendal Choral in 1989 and has had a long and happy association with the choir. He is also the Musical Director of Storth Entertainers.