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MUSICAL
DIRECTOR`S REPORT
Musical Director’s
Report - AGM September 2006 The
choir opened on Wednesday 14th September 2005 working as usual
towards Christmas. However,
given that this was our Silver Jubilee Year, a grand dinner dance was held at
the Rochdale Masonic Hall on 19th October 2005. The
Eddie Hilton Trio provided the music, the meal was excellent, the tables were
decorated with lovely flowers, the choir sang , Roy and myself cut the Silver
Jubilee Cake and short, sweet and humorous speeches were made . The
evening was so enjoyable that it was requested that the dinner become an annual
event! Our
Christmas Concert was held on 10th December at Spotland Methodist and
we were joined by the Rochdale Borough Youth Wind Band conducted by Fred Bowker,
the Middleton Parish Singers and the Timbral Duo. Warm
mince pies rounded off a very pleasant evening. On
19th and 20th of December we sang at the Rochdale Curtain
Theatre to full houses each night. Standing room only and waiting lists for
cancelled seats are to what we are becoming accustomed. On
New Years Day 2006 our friend and contact Lee Trippett, in Amsterdam, died after
a long illness. To her family I sent flowers and a message of sympathy on behalf
of the choir. On
this day too the choir changed its name from the Festival 80 Choir to the
Rochdale Festival Choir – a change which we believed was necessary in order to
be identified and remembered
particularly when performing out of Rochdale and indeed out of the country! On
15th February 2006, thirty members
of the choir and one husband went to see the film “Mrs Henderson Presents”.
Some nudity in the film made us all glad that we were bosom friends. On
4th March almost the entire choir and some guests filled two coaches
and set off for York where we were to give a performance in York Minster. Not
even a snow blizzard the night before deterred this enthusiastic group of
singers and supporters from tramping in snow shoes, bobble caps and muffles to
meet the coaches at Rochdale Town Hall the following morning. It
turned out to be a beautifully sunny day but extremely cold. Our
guests supported us in usual fashion by filling the pews in the Lady Chapel and
clapping vigorously enough to earn us an encore! We
were videoed by Chinese and Japanese visitors to the Minster, snapped by various
other visitors and praised by the verger and public as a whole. A great
experience for us all! We
next appeared at St.Paul’s Blackley for a performance of Stainer’s
Crucifixion. There were 75 in the choir, some of these being guests from other
churches as far away as Blackpool and the Wirral. This has become an annual fixture and a very rewarding one. Our
Easter Concert was held at Spotland Methodist on 8th April. We
were supported by soloists Freda Jackson, Alyson Brailsford and the Whitworth
and Healey Brass Band conducted by Bryan Warrington. It
was at this performance that we said our official goodbye to our treasurer and
bass, Bob Stott, who was about to emigrate to New Zealand. Our thanks go to him
for all his hard work on behalf of the choir and our good wishes go to him and
his wife Hilary for a long and happy retirement there. Members
of the choir, accompanied by our loyal guests, set off to Belgium for the annual
concert tour on 28th April 2006. We
left Rochdale at 9.30am on Friday 28th April, 38 singers and 18
guests in total. Traffic
was very bad and caused us lengthy delays, thus our leisurely evening meal in a
Beefeater restaurant in Ashford, Kent, was not as leisurely as hoped. The
Euro Tunnel crossing at 8pm took us directly to Calais and to our pre booked
hotel. Yes, 27 twin bedded rooms were the order of the day. The twin beds,
however, turned out to be double beds and it soon became apparent that we had a
major problem. So this was the night when we were finally going to find out who
really wanted to sleep together. But that’s for me to know and you to wonder! After
about an hour of complaining at the reception desk a second hotel had to be
found to accommodate those of high moral standards and thus 18 of us dragged our
suitcases across the large car park to the neighbouring luxury hotel. Time
11.30pm. Those
in the economy class hotel enjoyed a big breakfast the following morning whilst
those in first class were presented with a hot drink and butterless croissants. The
choir members looked stunning in their immaculate black and white uniforms,
adorned with corsages and well earned silver medals. Without
lunch or a toilet stop we were dropped in the early afternoon at the Cathedral
of St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. This magnificent building and
concert venue was top of no one’s agenda as all 56 of us staggered into it
with our legs crossed, anxiously
greeting our host with “Ou est la toilette” rather than Bonjour! We
made a mad dash for the toilet, through the clergy robing rooms and down into,
dare I say, the bowels of the cathedral. Our
concert looked good as we positioned ourselves on the tiered staging and we sang
our hearts out to a host of visiting tourists and our own guests who were once
more planted in the aisles to lead the applause. With
yet another performance under our belt we then hot footed it through the streets
of Brussels looking for food, drinks, Le Grand Place and the Mannekin Pis. What
a good job we didn’t have to look at this little boy – famous for weeing
incessantly into a fountain – only a couple of hours earlier! After
an enjoyable sight seeing couple of hours it was back to the coach for our
journey to our hotel in Antwerp. On
Sunday morning, again in uniform, the choir left for a sight seeing tour of
Ghent and arrived at 11am for the canal cruise. The
hour’s sail proved to be very interesting even in the rain and it was a
drenched group that arrived back at the coach for our ride to Waarmaarde. Here
we were to sing in the Church of Our Lady the Virgin. In
this church cemetery lie 18 Lancashire Fusiliers killed in action in the 2nd
World War, one of whom being my mother’s brother and therefore my uncle. It
gave me great pleasure to have the backing and support of the choir whilst we
laid a wreath at Frank’s grave. The church, with its flags flying and its
bells ringing, was filled with local Belgian people waiting to hear us sing. The
Dean was there, past and present mayors, the newspaper reporter and other
dignitaries. The
choir surpassed itself in this special place, the performance was nothing short
of magical, and at the end of our performance the audience stood, clapping and
cheering for more. Presentations were made before we were given a buffet of
Belgian sandwiches and a large selection of Belgian beer. Both
choir and guests were thrilled with the hospitality that was shown to us. We
waved goodbye and headed for yet another engagement at the Menin Gate in Ypres. The
hundred of spectators from all over the world applauded and congratulated us on
the beautiful singing in honour of our killed soldiers before we strolled across
the main square to dine in a local restaurant. This
brief account cannot possibly illustrate how emotion packed this weekend was.
Nor does it even attempt to illustrate the wide variety of privately
commissioned head outfits worn by the coach’s resident courier. Many
thanks go to Philip, choir members and guests for making this such a memorable
weekend. A
potato pie supper was held on 10th May so that recent tour makers
could show off their photographs to the rest of the choir and each other. Our
summer concert was held on 8th July and this was an evening of easy
listening music followed by pie and peas disguised as a plated sandwiches and
cakes. On
12th July the choir officially closed for the summer with a potato
pie supper and our thanks go to all those at Spotland Methodist who work so hard
behind the scenes to make our events so enjoyable. My
thanks go to our resident accompanist and organist, Philip,
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