People

Shaun Ward Director of Music

Shaun Ward is a native of the West Country and was educated at St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, Bristol. In 1995 he was made a ‘City Wait' by the Lord Mayor of Bristol, a title conferred on local musicians that dates back to the Middle Ages. He later studied organ and harpsichord at the University of Huddersfield with Dr G H Cummings. He gained his BMus (Hons) in 1999, receiving the Hollingsworth prize for outstanding organist of the year. He completed his MA in performance, specialising in organ and harpsichord, in 2001 winning the concerto prize.

His work as a continuo player has included concerts with the Hereford Choral Society, Gloucester Choral Society, Cirencester Choral Society, Three Choirs Festival, York Early Music Festival and the Beverley and East Riding Early Music Festival and the Leeds Baroque Orchestra with Peter Holman.

In 2000 he gave a series of recitals at Leeds Parish Church celebrating the 250th anniversary of J S Bach's death. Other solo recitals have included venues such as Emmanuel College, Cambridge, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, as well as a regular recitals at Hereford Cathedral. Engagements further afield have included the Lorenzkirche in Nuremberg with Hereford Cathedral Voluntary Choir.

After a year as assisting organist at Leeds Parish Church in he moved to Hereford where he became the founding director of studies of the highly successful Diocese of Hereford Organists' Training Scheme. In 2002 he became director of music at Holy Trinity Church, Hereford, during which time he rekindled a choral tradition, taking the choir on a number of tours in the UK and Europe. In 2005 he decided to pursue an interest in historic buildings, and spent a year as an architectural assistant and trainee surveyor with an architectural practice. He is currently completing an MSc at Bath University in the conservation of historic buildings.

In 2007 he took up the post of director of music of Ludlow Parish Church, where he directs the thriving choir and is curator of the famous organ, as well as being Clerk of Works, supervising the conservation of the fabric. He continues to pursue his career as a freelance recitalist and musician, as well as working as a freelance consultant of historic buildings.

Roger Judd Sub organist

Roger's musical life began as a chorister at Winchester Cathedral, and continued as organ scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge where he studied with Sir David Willcocks. Four years as Assistant Organist of Ely Cathedral followed, and then twelve years as Master of the Music at St Michael's College, Tenbury. From 1985 to 2008 he was Assistant Organist of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he accompanied the Chapel choir in their services, broadcasts, concerts and recordings. He was the organist at the wedding of the Earl and Countess of Wessex in 1999, at the service of Prayer and Dedication for the marriage of HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall in 2005, for HM The Queen's 80th birthday service, and the wedding of Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly in May 2008. For more than ten years he was organ tutor to London University (Royal Holloway College), and for seventeen years he taught piano and organ at Eton College.

From September 2002 to Christmas 2003 Roger was Acting Organist and Master of the Choristers of St George's Chapel. Highlights during this time included directing the Chapel choir in performances of Handel Messiah, Duruflé Requiem, Bernstein Chichester Psalms, and co-directing, with Valery Gergiev, the world premiere of John Tavener's Elizabeth, Full of Grace commissioned by the Prince of Wales, and performed by singers and instrumentalists of the Mariinsky Theatre St Petersburg with the choristers of Westminster Cathedral and St George's Chapel.

He has recorded several CDs for Herald at St George's, and for Priory on the organs in the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam. Two more CDs for Herald are scheduled, one of the music of John Stainer on the organ at St Michael's Tenbury, and the other of early English music on the 17th century Thomas Dallam organ at Guimiliau in Brittany. Other recent concerts have involved working with the Hereford Festival Chorus, the Windsor and Eton Choral Society, the St Alban's Chamber Choir, the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Handel Orchestra. Since October 2003 he has made several visits to Norway and played concerts in Kristiansund, Kongsberg, and in the Cathedrals of Molde, Oslo, Stavanger and Trondheim; he has also appeared at the Oslo Church Music Festival with the St George's Chapel choir. Concerts in the UK have included King's College and St John's College Cambridge, Beverley Minster, the Temple Church, St Edmundsbury Cathedral and the Tenby Arts Festival. In the summer of 2006 Roger visited Canada to play in Holy Rosary Cathedral, Regina, and gave one of the inaugural concerts on the new Wolff organ in Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver Island. In 2006 he played in New York and Boston and Washington DC in 2007, and he is booked for a recital in St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York in 2011.

After 23 years at St George's Chapel, and 40 years in the profession, Roger retired from salaried work at the end of the summer term 2008. He and his wife now live just outside Hereford where he is enjoying getting involved in the music making of the area. In recognition of his work at St George's Chapel, Her Majesty The Queen honoured Roger with Membership of the Royal Victorian Order in the New Year Honours of 2009.

Don Beattie Assistant Organist

Don Beattie is Assistant Organist and Treasurer at St Laurence's. He studied organ under Kendrick Partington and latterly held a number of parish organist appointments. He qualified as an electrical engineer, taking an honours degree at Imperial College London. A few years after graduation he became interested in Human Resource management, and spent the last 16 years of his working life as Board member for HR in two major PLCs. He then served as President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (the UK's professional institute for HR professionals) and subsequently retired from corporate life to Shropshire in 2001.