No . 134
The Trusty Servant
Valete
Nick Wilks The Headmaster spoke as follows at HM Commendas on 1st July 2022 :
For now , I shall just ask the simple question : why does everyone love Mr Wilks ? For me , it is a mixture of factual achievements with underlying moral values .
Mr Wilks was a Quirister here and went on to Cranleigh as a music scholar . He then won an award to read English at Oxford where he founded an orchestra , the Oxford Philharmonia , which , most unusually , still exists . He already had his diploma on the clarinet before embarking on the prestigious postgraduate conducting course at the Royal Academy of Music . He then worked with a large number of ensembles both professional and amateur , but always specialising on work with youth . Groups which gave him particular pleasure and attracted particular critical acclaim were the Finchley Children ’ s Music Group and , later , the Hampshire Youth Orchestra . From the latter organisation , Mr Wilks was plucked to become Master of Music , and then Second Master , at Winchester
So much for the facts , but now for the underlying values . People love Mr Wilks for what he believes in , and that shone through in his Chapel Address this morning . He selected a passage from George Eliot ’ s Middlemarch in which the novelist explains that “ the growing good of the world is partly dependent on un-historic acts ; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been , is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life , and rest in unvisited tombs ”. His chosen hymn developed that theme : that everyday deeds create new and better worlds : “ Evermore from his store new-born worlds rise and adore ”.
Which are the two greatest pieces of music , I asked Mr Wilks at the end of this Chapel , and got the answer I half expected : Mozart ’ s The Marriage of Figaro and JS Bach ’ s Mass in B Minor . The choice is representative . Figaro is very largely an opera of practical deeds . Figaro is a factotum , a sort of Second Master in fact , and when the opera opens is simply involved in measuring . Cinque , dieci , vento , he tells us , trenta trenta sei , quaranta tre . Unlike Figaro , the Mass in B Minor was a work which occupied Bach for much of his working life . He revised it again and again , as forming not only a testament to his own relationship with music , but also to man ’ s relationship with God .
So , the answer to my question , Mr Wilks , can be obtained , as he would wish , by musical exposition . People respect him for what he does , the many , always thoughtful but unacknowledged and un-historic acts .
People love him for what he believes in , the growing good of the world . They love him because there is no gap between what he believes and what he does .
In the last analysis Mr Wilks ’ s ends are not musical , not pastoral , nor educational nor literary nor disciplinary : they are moral , the shaping of existing lives , by quiet influence , into participants and contributors to a greater and better world .
Jacqueline Wilks Sadly , Jacqueline Wilks departs alongside him , leaving Moberly Library bereft of her generosity and wit , and of her wonderful smile . She became increasingly outspoken in her belief that the library was not only a place to work , but also a place to find balance , happiness and peace , and her interactions with pupils and dons reinforced this every day . The warmth of her welcome was legendary , and her immense value to the life of the school obvious from the many , many pupils who came to say goodbye and thank you – as do we all . ( Ed .)
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