Dr Harry Grindle

Dr Harry Grindle

Harry Grindle was born in Bangor, County Down where he was chorister at the ancient abbey church. He was appointed to his first church organist post while still at school. He read French Language and Literature at The Queen's University of Belfast and the University of Strasbourg and continued his musical studies while teaching in London. Dr Grindle returned to Northern Ireland in 1962, serving as organist at Bangor Parish Church until his appointment as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Belfast Cathedral two years later. Despite the infamous 'Troubles', which were at their height in the early 1970s seriously affecting all aspects of life in the province, high musical standards were maintained in the cathedral. The cathedral choir contributed regularly to the BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong series of broadcasts and its first commercial recording was released in 1973. It was invited to sing at St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in the same year and at Westminster Cathedral in 1975. Dr Grindle was subsequently appointed to a lectureship at Stranmillis College of Education, becoming in due course Head of the Music Department. He has always been active in the promotion of church music and he has a long association in various capacities with the work of the Armagh Church Choir Union.

He is the author of a book on Irish Cathedral Music which is widely regarded as the definitive publication on the subject. He is the editor of a hymn-book for children and has a large number of liturgical compositions to his credit. His hymn-tune, Stranmillis, a prize-winner in the St Paul's Cathedral Millennium Hymn Competition, was selected for inclusion in the latest edition of the St Paul's Cathedral Hymnal. In 1977 Dr Grindle became the first Irish musician to be elected to an Associateship of the Royal School of Church Music in recognition of his 'distinguished services to the music of the Church' and in June 2005 the degree of Doctor of Music was conferred on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury. His busy and varied career has been the subject of a film documentary shown on Ulster Television.

The Priory Singers, Belfast - Members

St Molua's Parish Church, Belfast - June 2006

Sopranos
Gwynneth Cockcroft, Patricia Devlin, Judith Harper, Rachel Henderson, Anne Houston, Valerie Prosser, Ruth Sedgewick, Kerrie Skelton, Amanda Stephens

Altos/Contraltos
Alan Boyd, Alison Cadden, Robert Cambridge, Kathleen Forster, Avril Gillespie, Ruth Gregory, June Houston, Valerie Ireland

Tenors
Nick Burrowes, Alistair Devlin, Michael Harris, Jonathan Ireland, Reggie Patterson, Robert Thompson

Basses
Geoffrey Blower, Philip Bolton, Alan Hutton, Roger Martin, Philip Prosser