"First-ever" piece of classical music composed for Bognor Regis

SussexWorld

Bognor Regis jeweller and musician Roger Clayden believes he is the first person ever to compose a piece of classical music for Bognor.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always lovely

00:06of course to speak to Roger Clayton of Bognor Regis, jeweller and musician and now composer.

00:13And Roger, you've done something fabulous that you believe no one has done before. You

00:17have written a piece of classical music for Bognor Regis, inspired by Bognor Regis, and

00:24it's the Bognor Regis Suite, isn't it? Number one.

00:27Yes, yes, yes.

00:28You had this music to me then.

00:30Well, it's come about because of the last time of the orchestra night we had, which

00:34was two years ago, we had the famous trombonist turn up, Peter Moore. And at the end of it,

00:39he said he'd like to do a trombone duet with me. So I looked around, couldn't find anything

00:44to really play on the thing. So I thought, right, I'm going to write my own Bognor Regis

00:49Suite, which will bring out the character of Bognor Regis, all the bits I like of Bognor

00:54Regis.

00:55So, Peter Moore, say more about that character, what you're wanting to bring out.

00:59Well, the one thing I love is the sunrise. My front room windows look straight out to

01:03the sea. And I love the sunrise in the morning. It comes into my flat and wakes me up. And

01:09that's the big difference between this flat and the one I had previously in London. You

01:13get woken up by the sun and it's just beautiful, you know. So the first part of the movement

01:18of it is called sunrise. And it shows, it brings to life that magical moment, I hope,

01:24when the sun comes up in Bognor Regis. The second movement is about Hotham Park, which

01:30I've known since I was about five years old, I used to go and play there. And of course,

01:34when I first started coming here, it was the end of the 60s, beginning of the 70s. And

01:38we had the lovely steam train and we had motor go-karts, pedal go-karts. We ran around the

01:45grass where there was a zoo there. We played crazy golf. It was an amazing place to go

01:51as a kid, you know, and spend the day. So I wanted to bring that back alive. And I wanted

01:57to try and create this link between when it was first created and those trees were put

02:01in and the house. And today, this is sort of time when you go in there. And that's what

02:07I'm trying to bring back to life for about 1850. And I imagine people walking around

02:12very gracefully in a beautiful three, four time and taking all the time in the world

02:18and enjoying the park and the grass.

02:20Fantastic. And the third piece, the third movement?

02:23The third piece is called the Butlins March, because here in town, as you probably know,

02:29I work, I have the jewellery shop, and I see loads of people over the last 32 years that

02:34I've been here, march down from Butlins, come in here, say one thing or another. In the

02:38old days, it used to be about the damp in the units. Now it's about getting a discount

02:42on the hotels. But there's been a continual stream of them. And there is a certain sort

02:48of humour that comes with it. And that's what I've tried to bring alive in the in the Butlins

02:52March. And I hope everybody enjoys it. It's going to be a wonderful night. It's going

02:56to be amazing playing with Peter, who is a top trombonist in the country. Incredible

03:00that he's come back again. And we're doing this duet. And he's also doing a concerto

03:05and two or three other things. But I hope it brings Bogner alive. A lot of people slag

03:10Bogner off. And I hope this piece brings alive some of the nicer things in Bogner into

03:15something real, you know.

03:16Fantastic. Well, Roger, congratulations on having done it. It sounds brilliant.

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