OBITUARY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 30 July 1929, Page 2

OBITUARY

Mil MARTIN A. CHEEK The news of tlio tleath of Mr Martin A. Cheek lias been received with widespread expressions of regret (says the "Express"), for lie had many keenly appreciative friends and. during his long career occupied a very prominent place in the musical life of ilie community, while lie made friends of the hundreds of musical students who have passed through his hands. The late Mr Cheek was horn in London in 1862 and was educated at the City of London School, the headmaster of which was the celebrated Dr. Abbott, author of the "Via Lalina" so. much dreaded by schoolboy:., and other Latin educational works. Mr Cheek received musical instruction at a very early age and became organist of the Bron'dcsbury Baptist Church, in London, before he was out of his teens. Ho came to New Zealand by the ship "Wniroa in 1882 and, after short residences in various parts of the North Island, including Wellington, Auckland, and Waipukurau, established himself in Blenheim in 1887. He was organist and choirmaster at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church for a. period of 24 years, during the Rev. W. 0. llobb's ministry, and later became an elder of the Church, holding this office until his death. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity for a long period. lie was also conductor of the old Orchestral Society, and the Choral Society, in the days when music played a more prominent part in the life of Blenheim than it does at present, and he was also a foundation member of the Blenheim Operalice Society. In 1893 Mr Cheek composed and published the part song "Oh. Weary Hands," which found a ready sale, and he also conducted the cantata "Joan of Arc" at the Marlborough Industrial Exhibition in 1904. Mr Check" leaves a widow and ;i family of five —four daughters and a son—to whom much syinpal hy is extended,