A stirring Memorial Service for Vivian Cox, a really remarkable OC, was held in the Chapel at Cranleigh on October 2, in the company of many friends and admirers.
In his eulogy, Mike Payne said: “Vivian’s ashes could have been laid in the North Sea or the Mermaid Theatre or elsewhere, but they are where he chose them to be, on the South Field. How appropriate that the casket was lowered supported by two old-fashioned hockey sticks – sticks that were found among Vivian’s possessions – maybe ones he used in Cranleigh’s 1st XI, in the OC Hockey Club, or maybe even in the England team. From the flowering cherry there you can see two places dear to his heart – his home on the Lowers and the Jubilee pavilion.”
The service was taken by School Chaplain, Phil Parker. Addresses were given by Leslie Bricusse (author, lyricist, composer and friend), Louis Fantasia (theatre director and friend), and Payne. The school choir sang an anthem by Bullock and Haydn’s The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God.
At its conclusion Brian Gulland (East, 1965-69) played an Organ Postlude which he himself composed. He called it From Here to Beyond, “an encapsulation by a former pupil of the myriad facets of Vivian, a sparkling diamond in human form”.