It is with the greatest sadness that we must inform the school community that Mr Christian Strover (staff 1956-97) passed away on Sunday 23rd August at the age of 88.
Christian was undoubtedly one of Emanuel’s greatest and most influential teachers and in due course a full tribute will appear in the Rose & Portcullis magazine. Over an incredible 41 years of service he inspired thousands of pupils, as well as leading an incredibly busy musical life beyond school. He was a popular figure at our OE reunions, and many former pupils were especially delighted when he conducted the OE choir reunion tour in January 2019.
By way of immediate tribute we are rerunning the address written by former Headmaster, the late Mr Peter Hendry, who worked with Christian from 1959-1984, which was given at the Summer Serenade of 1997 and later republished in The Portcullis when Christian retired.
“I first met Christian Strover in the autumn of 1959. He struck me from the first as one of the saner, steadier staff members at Emanuel School. The common room in those days could be somewhat hysterical; MCTS on the other hand was always reticent, careful, steady, conscientious.
Small boat sailing was then one of his many interests; that summer he had been with another master and a CCF Royal Navy section group sailing in the Baltic. This interest was to last into the 1970s and beyond
Another passion was the printing press which he ran in a tumbledown building in ‘Cobbled Yard’. From it he produced much high quality small-scale printing for a whole range of school activities. The Emanuel School Printing Press carried on until demolition work and the advent of the photocopier conspired to bring an end to its activities.
Christian’s DIY expertise is legendary: woodwork, metalwork, mechanical improvisation – all these served him in his staging of so many musical productions. The ingenuity of his stage contraptions knew no bounds.
His late 20s/early30s Austin Seven lent him the air of the White Knight in Alice Through the Looking Glass. Once again gadgets and bits of string predominated. A typical bit of improvisation was the use of X-Ray plates to replace the flexible side and rear windows of the folding top. The effect of the sun shining through was, to say the least, gruesome. I seem to recall that the canvas of the folding top was a recycled sail. Christian’s special brand of care and repair kept the car going into the late sixties; and according to rumour it remained on chocks in his sitting room for a decade after that.
In short, Christian’s was a humourous, mildly satirical lifestyle statement, in sharp contrast to the glossy ambition of the sixties. This showed itself in all sorts of ways: outrageous puns (‘Pull up for Carmen’ advertised an all-male sawn-off production of Bizet’s opera); Victorian hymns which developed blues rhythms to the bemusement of those leaving assembly; the faintest movement of an ear which betrayed his sense of the ridiculous at a staff meeting.
This quiet humour was ever present, but he took his work very seriously, and the sheer volume of it was staggering: Mathematics teaching, as well as a full Music timetable. Outside the classroom: Chapel Choir, Concert Choir, Orchestra and various smaller music groups; an annual carol service; an annual concert; the annual Summer Serenade, inaugurated in the early 70s; the annual Choir Tour. Highlight of each year was the annual opera, from the mini Magic Flute in 1961, continuing through much Offenbach (including one first-ever English production), Carmen as mentioned, and his own Gawain and the Greene Knight. Many of the productions he did virtually on his own, as stage director, musical director, scenery designer, props manager. .. it was all MCTS; he may even have preferred it that way! Even the burning down of the Hampden Hall did not interrupt him for long. By his energy, example and practical help Christian did much to revive the dramatic tradition at Emanuel.
Outside school Christian was equally busy: as organist and choirmaster in Streatham and working on a collection of hymns for young people. ‘Water of Life’ is still widely sung in primary schools. A steady, committed Christian attitude to life pervaded all he undertook.”
Peter Hendry (Headmaster, 1975 -1984) from an address at the Summer Serenade, July 1997