Susan Stevens Explained

Susan Stevens
Other Names:Sue
Birth Date:29 January 1936
Birth Place:Bristol, England
Death Place:Hampshire, England
Occupation:Girl Guide musician

Susan Stevens (b. Bristol, England, 29 January 1936, d. Hampshire, England, 20 March 1985), known as Sue, was a conductor and prolific composer of Guiding songs for Girl Guides UK. She was co-founder of the National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra in 1976[1] and founder of the Foxlease Singing Circle in 1983.

Personal life, education and work

Susan Beryl Stevens was the first child of Herbert William Thornton Jefferies & Francis Beryl Jefferies, née Smith. Her younger sister, Joanna Mary, was born in 1947. Susan married Joseph Ken Stevens in June 1957, in Norton Radstock, Somerset. They had two children. Stevens attended Bath Spa University as a mature music student in the early 1960s, before going on to complete her teacher training.[2] Between c.1971 and 1979 she was Director of Music and Drama at The Blue School, Wells.[3] Stevens died of breast cancer in 1985. A memorial service was held in her honour at Wells Cathedral, at which her arrangement of "Lead Me Lord" was sung.[4]

Girl Guides

Stevens was a Girl Guide and Ranger leader,[5] trainer and music consultant. Between 1971 and 1974 she acted as regional consultant in music and drama for South West Guiding,[6] and from 1974 she was assistant consultant of music at Girl Guiding's national headquarters.[7] In December 1976, together with George Odam, she established the National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra at Gilwell Park, London.[8] Stevens became the Girl Guide Association's music advisor in 1981.[9]

Large-scale Girl Guiding events

Stevens was involved in several large-scale Girl Guiding events,[10] including:

Foxlease, Hampshire

From the late 1960s Stevens, together with Hettie Smith and Margaret Newman, organised music and guitar weekends at Foxlease,[16] a Girl Guide training and activity centre in Hampshire.[17] From the late 1970s, Stevens also ran ‘Music in the Pack’ courses there.[18]

In May 1982, Stevens became Foxlease's assistant Guider-In-Charge.[19] Having discovered that Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, after whom the main building at Foxlease was named, was a Royal Stewart, she and Guider-in-Charge Marjorie King introduced Royal Stewart tartan neckerchiefs for Foxlease staff.[20]

In October 1983, Stevens established the Foxlease Singing Circle. She invited around 30 Guide leaders from around the UK to Foxlease for a weekend of singing, “to see whether or not it would work!”[21] She was only able to host two weekends with the Singing Circle before she died. The group continues to meet,[22] and some of her protégés, including Pat Belringer, Eryl Evans and Hilary Stokes, continue to write songs.[23]

Publications

Stevens contributed articles and songs to Today’s Guide and The Guider magazines.[24] She also published the following books:

YearTitlePublisherNotes
1975Help yourself to play the guitar[25] Girl Guides AssociationIllustrated by Rosemary Thornton-Jones
1979Help your patrol to make music[26] ]Girl Guides Association
1980Sing For Joy[27] EMIIllustrations by Carole Logan. 16 original songs by Stevens.
1981Swingalong Songs[28] EMIPiano accompaniments by Geoffrey Russell-Smith
1993Just for You - A Very Special Selection of Songs[29] Foxlease Singing CircleA collection of Stevens's songs

Select compositions

Several of Stevens's songs were frequently used by schools and young people's groups in the 1980s.[30]

Guiding songs

Sacred songs

Rounds

Other songs

In 1972 she provided the music for a TV show that aired on Harlech Television[32] about the Tudor period, with author and restorer John Mills.

Recordings

YearTitleLabelRole / Songs
1972National Guide Festival of Song[33] BBCFeatures Carnival
1975Guiding Highlights LPBBCFeatures Somewhere There’s A Forest, Quietly, Many Years Ago[34]
197720 Christmas Carols BBCConductor[35] [36]
1978Sing For Joy LPBBCStevens made all music arrangements[37]
1980Songs for Tomorrow from Around the World[38] BBCMusical director, composer, arranger
1981Music Builders Chorus V: A Hardie-Mason Project[39] BerandolIncluding Tomorrow
1986Tribute to Susan Stevens[40] EMI MusicIncluding The New Generation and Somewhere There's A Forest. Recorded by members of the Showtime ’85 cast, conducted by Enid Mulholland with the Peter Gosling Band

Notes and References

  1. August 1977 . . Have you ever thought that you could write a song? . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 64 No. 8 . Girl Guides Association . 363.
  2. Spring 2014 . Hilary Jenkins . In the beginning . Foxlease Singing Circle . Hampshire, UK . Foxlease Singing Circle . 3.
  3. News: 1975-05-02 . Wells Journal . Impressive performance of Fludde . Wells, U.K. . 3 . 2022-01-01.
  4. Spring 2014 . Hilary Jenkins . In the beginning . Foxlease Singing Circle . Hampshire, UK . Foxlease Singing Circle . 3.
  5. August 1976 . . Looking Ahead . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 63 No. 8 . Girl Guides Association . 339.
  6. News: 1972-09-01 . Wells Journal . Somerset’s Girl Guides stop cars . Wells, U.K. . 16 . 2022-01-01.
  7. News: 1975-11-27 . Wells Journal . Wells conductor at Trafalgar Square concert . Wells, U.K. . 3 . 2022-01-01.
  8. August 1977 . . Have you ever thought that you could write a song? . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 64 No. 8 . Girl Guides Association . 363.
  9. News: 1981-08-27 . Central Somerset Gazette . Guides enjoy county camp . Taunton, U.K. . 6 . 2022-01-01.
  10. News: 1970-04-10 . Central Somerset Gazette . Gang Show is a hit at Street . Wells, U.K. . 4 . 2022-01-01.
  11. News: 1971-10-01 . Wells Journal . Guides to broadcast form Wells . Wells, U.K. . 1 . 2022-01-01.
  12. News: 1972-08-25 . Wells Journal . ’Peasants’ to parade through the city . Wells, U.K. . 1 . 2022-01-01.
  13. June 1977 . . Auditioning for Folk Fest 8 . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 64 No. 6 . Girl Guides Association . 261.
  14. August 1979 . . In Folksy Mood . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 66 No. 8 . Girl Guides Association . 354.
  15. News: 1985-02-14 . West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser . Guides’ pageant of Cornish history . Truro, U.K. . 25 . 2022-01-01.
  16. News: 1985-02-14 . West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser . Guides’ pageant of Cornish history . Truro, U.K. . 25 . 2022-01-01.
  17. Spring 2014 . Hilary Jenkins . In the beginning . Foxlease Singing Circle . Hampshire, UK . Foxlease Singing Circle . 3.
  18. Web site: Spring 2013 . . www.foxleasesingingcircle.org.uk . 2022-03-03.
  19. July 1985 . . In Memoriam . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 72 No. 7 . Girl Guides Association . 4.
  20. Web site: Spring 2010 . . www.foxleasesingingcircle.org.uk . 2022-03-03.
  21. Web site: The Beginning . . www.foxleasesingingcircle.org.uk . 2022-03-03.
  22. December 2020 . . Getting Together . The Trefoil . London, UK . Issue 259 . Girl Guides Association . 36.
  23. Book: Dunham, Meriel . 1993 . Just For You . The Foxlease SInging Circle . Lyndhurst, Hampshire . 4.
  24. August 1977 . . Looking Ahead. Guider . London, UK . Vol. 63 No. 8 . Girl Guides Association . 339.
  25. Book: Stevens, Susan . 1975 . Help yourself to play the guitar . Girl Guides Association . London.
  26. Book: Stevens, Susan . 1978 . Help Your Patrol to Make Music . Girl Guides Association . London.
  27. Book: Stevens, Susan . 1980 . Sing For Joy . EMI Music Publications . London . 086175090X.
  28. Book: Stevens, Susan . 1981 . Swingalong Songs . EMI Music Publications . London . 0861752287.
  29. Book: Dunham, Meriel . 1993 . Just For You . The Foxlease SInging Circle . Lyndhurst, Hampshire.
  30. News: 1971-10-01 . Wells Journal . Guides to broadcast form Wells . Wells, U.K. . 1 . 2022-01-01.
  31. March 1979 . . A Song for International Year of the Child . Guider . London, UK . Vol. 66 No. 3 . Girl Guides Association . 115.
  32. News: 1972-08-11 . Cheddar Valley Gazette . Top of the Pops Writer works on a pageant for Wells . Wells, U.K. . 2 . 2022-01-01.
  33. National Guide Festival of Song . 1972 . LP. BBC . London.
  34. 1975 . Guiding Highlights . Selections from Guide and Scout Special Events throughout the year . Stereo LP 33.3 RPM . London . BBC.
  35. 1977 . 20 Christmas Carols . Sung by members of the Girl Guides Association Brownies, Guides and Rangers . Stereo LP 33.3 RPM . London . BBC.
  36. News: 1977-07-14 . Wells Journal . Guides from Wells make BBC record . Wells, U.K. . 8 . 2022-01-01.
  37. Stevens, Susan . 1978 . Sing for Joy . Songs with a message sung by members of the Girl Guide Association and the Scout Association . Stereo LP 33.3 RPM . London . BBC.
  38. Stevens, Susan . 1980 . Songs for Tomorrow from around the world . Sung by members of the Girl Guide Association, with Rainbow Wood, The Cherry Pickers Steel Band and Douglas Coombes . Stereo LP 33.3 RPM . London . BBC.
  39. Stevens, Susan . 1981 . Music Builders Chorus V . A Hardie-Mason Project . Stereo LP 33.3 RPM . Ontario, Canada . Berandol.
  40. 1985 . Tribute to Susan Stevens . Stereo 33.3 RPM . London . EMI Music.

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