Town pays its respects to 'a great Haverhillian'
Wednesday, 6th November 2013.
Townspeople packed into the Old Independent Church this morning for the funeral of former mayor and town musician Cllr Les Ager.
It was Church of England funeral conducted by the town's rector, Canon Ian Finn, but the venue was the Old Independent United Reformed Church because it was big enough to cope with the crowd expected, and because of the many concerts Les had staged there.
Haverhill and District Operatic Society, of which he was musical director for 40 years, and Haverhill Choral Society provided the choir, which sang Howard Goodall's Psalm 23, the theme tune of BBC TV's The Vicar Of Dibley, conducted by Les' daughter Karen.
Haverhill Silver Band, which Les conducted for 20 years, played a selection from Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov, conducted by Les' son Mark.
Les' grandchildren, Lauren and Adam Chinery performed Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
Tributes to Les were given by the operatic society's founder Barrie Stevenson, by Mark Ager and by two town clerks, Gordon Mussett and his successor Will Austin, who described Les as 'a great Haverhillian'.
Les, who was 75, died on October 24 after a battle with lymphoma. He had received the British Empire Medal in January for his services to music in Haverhill.
It was Church of England funeral conducted by the town's rector, Canon Ian Finn, but the venue was the Old Independent United Reformed Church because it was big enough to cope with the crowd expected, and because of the many concerts Les had staged there.
Haverhill and District Operatic Society, of which he was musical director for 40 years, and Haverhill Choral Society provided the choir, which sang Howard Goodall's Psalm 23, the theme tune of BBC TV's The Vicar Of Dibley, conducted by Les' daughter Karen.
Haverhill Silver Band, which Les conducted for 20 years, played a selection from Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov, conducted by Les' son Mark.
Les' grandchildren, Lauren and Adam Chinery performed Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
Tributes to Les were given by the operatic society's founder Barrie Stevenson, by Mark Ager and by two town clerks, Gordon Mussett and his successor Will Austin, who described Les as 'a great Haverhillian'.
Les, who was 75, died on October 24 after a battle with lymphoma. He had received the British Empire Medal in January for his services to music in Haverhill.
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