It is with great sadness that we report that Bill Hodges, our librarian and ‘general factotum’, passed away peacefully at home on 12th April 2022 after a period of illness.
Bill was a passionate supporter of the NRWO since its formation in 1996 and an ever-present at our concerts, including the most recent at All Saints Church, Chigwell Row in December last year, when poor health had begun to take its toll. We send our deepest condolences to his wife, Jan, and their family.
Bill contributed so much to the success of the Orchestra. Although not himself a musician, Bill hardly ever missed a rehearsal, and served the interval refreshments every week. He was very good with his hands and made and repaired various pieces of equipment over the years, including special conducting batons for specific pieces of music, and personally stored a large number of items at home, always ensuring that they arrived promptly at concert venues. He and his wife made a great team on concert days – while Bill got on with wiring up the PA system, setting out the chairs and music stands, always ensuring with great precision that the latter were perfectly level, Jan would be getting the refreshment table ready and selling admission and raffle tickets.
To have non-playing members performing these functions is a luxury that frees the musicians to make their own concert preparations without distraction.
But it was as music librarian that Bill really shone. The amount of work that he and Jan put into the maintenance of the Orchestra’s ever-increasing store of music was phenomenal. Each set was indexed and given its own folder and the contents distributed amongst the 60 or so packs, one for each instrumentalist, all clearly marked up and in alphabetical order. The changeover at the end of each academic year (i.e. collecting in the packs, filing the music away and re-stocking the packs with new music) required the handling of around 4,000 sheets of paper each time – a mammoth task – and yet the number of occasions that a part was missing or misfiled can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Bill will be sorely missed by every member of the NRWO. No task was too much trouble for him and the months and years ahead will prove how integral he was - it won’t be long before the words ‘I don’t know – Bill used to do all that’ becomes a familiar refrain.
Rest in peace, Bill, in the knowledge that yours was a job very well done.
Miles Harwood – Musical Director