Choral misadventures recounted in fun new book by Sussex author

The Snodgrass Requiem has been released through Walk & Write Publications at £10 and is available at St Olaves Bookshop, North Street, Chichester and at Shoreham Art Gallery where David will be signing copies on November 11 between 11am and 3pm.

David, aged 63, said: “I have published a number of fictional diaries of the adventures/misadventures of church choirs or church-based choirs, based on my experiences as a choir member and my experiences of choir leadership.

"These diaries – the most recent of which was The Muddlesfield Messiah in 2017 – have proved very popular especially with members and leaders of real choirs!

“The Snodgrass Requiem is another such diary, this time chronicling the fictional attempts of a hapless choir leader – from whose point of view the diary is written – to get his choir to learn and perform a recently-discovered choral gem written in the late 19th century. I like to think that many if not all readers will identify with the situations in which the choir leader finds himself, having to cope with disruptive and awkward choir members, extremes of weather, call centres and helplines that are anything but helpful and organising supposedly exciting and inspired events that backfire horribly in his face.

“I’ve been inspired very much by my own experience of singing in choirs from when I was just 11 years old to the present, 52 years later. I’ve sung in a huge variety of choirs from university chamber choirs to very mixed-ability community choirs, from a cappella quartets to city choral societies of upwards of 100 singers. Every one of them has given me ideas on which I have drawn for this as well as my other books. I loved every second of the writing. The book starts with the diarist resolving to lead his Muddlesfield-based choir to perform the newly-discovered Requiem, his previous attempt to perform it scuppered by the pandemic. I hope there’ll be a sequel. Just at the end – spoiler alert! – the diarist is introduced to another recently-discovered Snodgrass work!

“I’ve written getting on for 40 books, not only fictional diaries but lots of walking guides, mostly Sussex-based. My guide to exploring the bridleways of Sussex was published last year and was very successful. I started writing at the age of seven. I just loved the idea of writing my own stories. It was my ambition to become a published author and I realised this at the age of 32 with The Selsey Tram.

David will be signing copies of The Snodgrass Requiem between 11am and 3pm at Shoreham Art Gallery on November 11.

David’s previous book Exploring the Bridleways of Sussex came out last year: “I thought it would be rather fun, having completed my walks along all the name trails in Sussex, to walk all the bridleways of Sussex. I started in June 2018, completed it in September 2021.”