John Fry (1923-2007) was well-known in music circles in East Anglia for more than half a century. After war service in Algeria, where he formed a choir of nurses and army personnel to sing a Mass he had composed, he performed regularly in choirs and as an oratorio soloist across Suffolk and beyond. He was choirmaster at St John’s for most of the 1970s and early 1980s, and in May 1973 he founded The Abbot Consort of Voices, which had its first rehearsal in the church. The choir disbanded in 1987 but was revived in the 1990s and is still going strong today. In its heyday it gave recitals throughout East Anglia and as far afield as Ripon Cathedral. In 2019 the Consort travelled abroad for the first time, giving a series of concerts in France. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2013 with a gala concert in St John’s bringing together past and current members.
From 1972-91 Fry was General Secretary of the Suffolk Music Festival, later becoming its President. He was a soloist at every festival for more than two decades, and the ‘John Fry Cup’ is awarded annually in his honour.
Fry composed many pieces which are still sung, including his wartime Mass and a musical setting of Hilaire Belloc’s poem, ‘The Birds’. After leaving St John’s, he sang in the Cathedral Choir until his retirement in 1988. He died, aged 84, in 2007, leaving a wife, Sylvia and two children.