Popular Wigan-born choir director dies just months after getting married

Neil Shepherd, a former director of music and organist at Standish St Wilfrid’s Parish Church, was just 55 and is understood to have suffered a thrombosis from an accidental injury.

In recent years he had been living in Cornwall and he and new bride Katherine were the first couple to wed at Truro Cathedral after the first lockdown was lifted.

A tribute from Cornwall Community Choir read: “Neil had such an indomitable spirit and passion for music and singing, and devoted his whole life to his music and his choirs. Life can be so cruel but I hope his family are comforted to know his legacy is enormous and he touched so many lives by bringing together choirs in communities which makes such a huge difference to people’s lives.”

Wigan Parish Church musical director Karl Greenall said: “Neil made his mark as a gifted choir trainer and enjoyed a fine reputation in both the North and South West of England. He will be sadly missed.”

Neil was brought up in Highfield, attending St Matthew’s Primary, before moving to Hindley to be educated at St Peter’s Primary and Park High.

Early interest in music was sparked by the gift of a small electric keyboard when aged just four and he began to pick out tunes. In his early teens he joined the choir of Hindley St Peter’s Church where he fell under the spell of its famous Schulze organ. He learnt to play the organ from several teachers while being taught piano by John Walton – the man who would eventually succeed him at St Wilfrid’s.

Neil was also influenced by his Standish predecessor, Ron Kay, who conducted the Oriana Choir which he joined in his teens. Neil was also a member of Wigan Choral Society.

Leaving school, Neil committed to a career in music and attended Manchester College of Adult Education to study the subject and took up his first teaching post at Lawrence House Prep School. It was there that he developed a taste for lighter music and could be frequently seen playing cocktail piano at venues in Blackpool.

Various further teaching jobs took him around the country, first to Clitheroe (Moorland School), followed by Bristol where he was the church organist in Keynsham and then at the parish church of Cirencester.

By the time he returned home to take up the Standish St Wilfrid’s post, he had a family in tow.

It was he who revived the Standish Festival of which Mr Kay had made such a success. A Boyar choir, the clarinet legend Acker Bilk and organist showman Carlo Curley were among acts successfully booked.

And Neil was both well-connected and not afraid to think big. He worked with doyens of English cathedral music, Sir David Willcocks and John Rutter and conducted and directed music on BBC Radios 2, 3 and 4.

For a good while he was closely involved in Roger Royle’s Sunday Half Hour, ironically the last one he oversaw coming from Standish. On several occasions Neil was also the man conducting the massed choirs and congregations in episodes of the BBC’s Songs of Praise.

One of his proudest moments, however, came when he conducted a world premiere in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, by the composer David Briggs. He ran a travel agency specialising in musical tours and other collaborations included those with composer Bob Chilcott and King’s College Cambridge musical director Stephen Cleobury.

In Cornwall, as well as being a freelance classical and theatre organist and music teacher, he conducted the 300-strong Cornwall Community Choir, the smaller Local Vocalz and the Laudate! chamber choir. He leaves Katherine, his mum and two daughters from a previous marriage.

In an interview in the Wigan Observer eight years ago, he said: “Music has been a big part of me for most of my life. I love performing and rehearsing and conducting choirs and they have taken me to some wonderful places on the way.”

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