06/08/2026
🥾🎹
Let’s rewind to Day One of the White Rose Way and the pop-up organ recital at St James Church, Wetherby with Linton.
After walking nearly 20 miles from Leeds to Wetherby, it felt especially appropriate to play music by Francis Jackson – one of the organist-composers most closely associated with Yorkshire.
Jackson was born in Malton, served as Organist of York Minster from 1946 to 1982, and lived to the remarkable age of 104, continuing to give organ recitals well into his mid-90s. An extraordinary musician whose influence on organ music in Yorkshire is still felt today.
The performance was particularly meaningful to me because I had the privilege of hosting Francis Jackson’s final public organ recital at Bradford Cathedral in November 2012.
The piece, The Sweet Rivelet, is a delightful miniature from The Hovingham Sketches, a collection of organ music featuring composers including Harold Darke, Herbert Howells, Bernard Rose and others. The collection was dedicated to the Duchess of Kent, whose childhood home was Hovingham Hall in North Yorkshire.
Jackson took his inspiration from Wath Beck, near Ampleforth, in the beautiful Howardian Hills. The flowing figurations beautifully evoked the gentle bubbling of the stream as it wound through the Yorkshire countryside. After a day spent walking through that same landscape, it felt like the perfect piece to bring the first day to a close.
One day completed… five more still lay ahead! 🥾🎹
