[Richard W. Morris wrote his memoir in 1972]

During the early part of this century the chapel choirs in County Durham were something to be remembered by all those who had the privilege to hear them, and I was an ardent admirer of our local chapel’s efforts. Mind you the lasses themselves as individuals were attractive enough and that no doubt had, at least, something to do with the fact that we followed the fortunes of the chapel’s efforts when competing against each other avidly. Oh, how I used to thrill to the sound of those lovely voices in the singing of the Messiah, or some other of the various oratorios they used to sing so well. This is something which we of our generation regret its passing. There is no longer the sound of good music to be heard every day in the villages like there used to be. Instead we are treated to something banal that is the very antithesis of the good music we used to know so well. Whenever our three local chapels combined on some special occasion their efforts were an inspiration to all those who packed the halls to hear them.