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April 29th 1949 was a significant date in the musical life of Scunthorpe and District. After the Second World War opportunities opened up, for the lover of classical music, to hear the leading orchestras of the day. John Barbirolli was weaving his magic spells with the Hallé Orchestra, and Sheffield and Manchester shared the same programme on most weeks of the concert season.
A group of friends in Scunthorpe attended these concerts in Sheffield and, at the end of the 1948 - 1949 season, arranged for a recital to be given in the Cole Street Hall by Arthur Percival, the then sub-leader of the Hallé, accompanied by a local musician, Dr Stafford. This initial performance in 1949 was the beginning of the Scunthorpe Music Club.
The first Secretary was Ellen (“Nell”) Houghton and singers and instrumentalists such as Owen Brannigan, John Heddle Nash, Joseph Cooper, Allan Schiller, Marisa Robles, Peter Donohue, Anthony Goldstone and the Fitzwilliam Quartet were engaged. The concerts took place in St Lawrence’s Church Hall and the Hallé link continued when Arthur Percival attended the 21st Anniversary Dinner in 1970. In 1971, the co-leader of the Hallé, Martin Milner, gave a violin recital and in 1974 he was the guest speaker at the Silver Jubilee Dinner, when he spoke on the subject “J.B.” For the next season, full membership was £3.00 and single concerts were available from 60p !
In 1976, Nell Houghton retired, and at a celebratory dinner she played part of the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Martin Milner. Mary Hipkins, already a committee member, became the Honorary Secretary. About this time too, some concerts were held at the Grammar School, but in 1988, the Music Club started to use the John Leggott Sixth Form College Hall and one year later change its name to The Scunthorpe and Glanford Concert Society.
In recent years, a combination of performances by national and international artistes, and a steadily growing membership, has created an enriching musical experience. Recitals by Moura Lympany, John Lill, Martin Roscoe, Michael Collins, Ilya Itin, Vladimir Ovchinikov, Leon McCauley, London and Nemo Brass, the Gabrieli Quartet, amongst many others, have attracted regular audiences of over two hundred. In 1994 the Society bought its own concert piano and in 1998 changed its name, yet again, to THE SCUNTHORPE AND NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE CONCERT SOCIETY.
The theme of the 1998 - 1999 Jubilee Season was “Many Happy Returns”. Two years previously, the members had been asked to nominate their favourite performers from the preceding years and a compilation was made of their choices. Emma Johnson and Julius Drake drew their usual capacity audience; our annual concert sponsored by The Countess of Munster Trust was a harpist, Catherine Beynon and soprano Mary-Louise Aitken, followed by nine soloists from the Northern Chamber Orchestra. The Christmas concert was by City Waites, and in the New Year we had a “sell out” for Tasmin Little and Piers Lane. This event was dedicated to the memory of Nell Houghton. Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow - a piano duo who live locally in North Lincolnshire - were followed by Nemo Brass, and the year ended, almost fifty years to the day from the founding of the Society, with Cantamus Choir who included a new work by Andrew Carter that had been commissioned by the Society for its Golden Jubilee. A Jubilee dinner was held at the Wortley Hotel.
The Millennium Season began with Peter Donohue, followed by the Guarneri Trio of Prague, the Belcea String Quartet and Zephyr Winds. The guitarist, Craig Ogden, made a return visit with the flautist, Jonathan Rimmer. Next was the harpist Rachel Bartels and the Bass singer Timothy Mirfin and finally the cellist Richard Jenkinson accompanied, on the piano, by Benjamin Frith.
The Society was thus well set up for the new century and has continued to promote concerts of the highest quality with an array of truly international artistes: Nikolai Demidenko, Ashley Wass, Evgeny Soifertis, The Janacek String Quartet, Marat Bisengaliev, Fine Arts Brass, The Hugo Wolf String Quartet, London Concertante, Leonid Gorokhov and Touchwood Quartet. .
The President of the Society is John Clugston.
John is the chairman of Clugston Civil Engineering in Scunthorpe,
One time High Sheriff of Humberside, he is currently
Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire.A feature of each of our concerts is the programme. This usually contains extensive notes about each musical item.
These are written by our Chairman, Graham Saunders, who is a Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull.
The Management Committee consists of the following members,
who may be contacted on matters relating to the Society.
Chairman Graham Saunders Honorary Treasurer Ron Hill 01724 846674 Honorary Secretary Mary Hipkins 01724 350153 Publicity 01652 632783 In 2001, the Society presented the Honorary Secretary, Mary Hipkins, with two
bronze statuettes to mark her twenty five years of work for the Society.The Honorary Treasurer is Ron Hill who has served the Society for
twenty four years.There are nine additional members of a Management Committee who are elected at
the Annual General Meeting.
They have joint responsibility with the officers for the planning of the programme,
the publicity, front of house duties and interval refreshments at the concerts.The concerts are held in the octagonal main hall of the John Leggott Sixth Form Click HERE for Map
College, West Common Lane, Scunthorpe. There is seating for just over 300 - an
intimate setting for both soloists and chamber groups - with an excellent acoustic.The Society is a member of the National Federation of Music Societies (NFMS)
and participate in the annual meeting of the Yorkshire Network where Music
Societies from the North of England meet to exchange information on available
performers and to plan mini-tours of artistes within the region.
2007
5 October 2007 MARTIN ROSCOE piano
9 November 2007 THE HERMITAGE STRING TRIO
Sergey Levitin violin
Alexander Zemtsov viola
Leonid Gorokhov cello7 December 2007
GREEN GROWETH THE HOLLIE
The York Waits & Deborah Catterall voice2008 25 January 2008 CLARION3
Sarah Beth Briggs piano
Janet Hilton clarinet
Laurence Perkins bassoon15 February 2008 GOLDSTONE AND CLEMMOW piano duo 14 March 2008 MATTHEW TRUSLER violin
ALEXANDER TAYLOR piano18 April 2008 OLIVER COATES cello
JAKOB FICHERT piano
(Sponsored by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust)The Musical Information Service in Lincoln and Lincolnshire.
A focus for Lincolnshire's musical organisations and music-lovers.
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