The great Sir Malcolm Sargent, darling of the Proms that delight audiences at the Royal Albert Hall in London each summer, once played the organ in Thurlby parish church. The well-known conductor was educated at Stamford School where he soon showed his aptitude for music but he did not make his conducting debut until 1921 after he had begun his career as a church organist, being awarded his diploma from the Royal College of Organists at the age of 16. 

In November 1913, a new stop, the oboe, was added to the organ at St Firmin's Church and this was deemed to be sufficiently important to invite a celebrated organist to give a recital and the person they chose was Mr H Malcolm Sargent, FRCO, of Stamford, then only 18 years old but already assistant organist at Peterborough Cathedral. 

The Stamford Mercury reported: 

He was ably assisted by Miss Gladys Pettifor, daughter of the vicar, and Major C W Bell of Bourne. This was a unique event, so far as this parish is concerned, and it is not too much to say that the excellent programme provided a musical treat which was greatly appreciated by the large congregation present. Mr Sargent's playing showed a thorough masterly grip over the instrument and was truly brilliant, marked as it was, with great precision and technique. The vocalists both acquitted themselves remarkably well and their efforts were greatly appreciated. A collection in aid of church expenses was liberally responded to.

Sargent subsequently went on to a distinguished career as a conductor, achieving world-wide fame and popularity for his appearances at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts where, because of his unfailing panache, he became affectionately known among the promenaders as "Flash Harry", a reference to his first name of Harold and the fact that he always dressed immaculately and usually wore a carnation in his buttonhole, red during the day and white in the evenings. 

He also won himself a reputation as an ambassador for English music through his insistence when conducting international orchestras of playing the works of English composers such as Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and William Walton. He was knighted for his services to music in 1947 and when he died in London in 1967 at the age of 72 , he was buried in the town cemetery at Stamford and a commemorative plaque was erected in St John's Church where he had learned to play the organ. 

I wonder how many of those in the congregation for that evening recital at Thurlby almost a century ago thought that the young man sitting at the console was destined for such greatness.

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