60TH CONCERT SEASON

DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY

END OF SEASON DINNER AND CONCERT

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Photos will appear here soon:

AGM AND MEMBERS' CONCERT

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

A photo of the concert performers will appear here soon:

MEMBERS' CONCERT PROGRAMME

Three sketches:

April, Rosemary, Valse Capricieuse                          F. Bridge

(played by Valerie Ward - piano)

Sarabande

(from French Suite No.1)                                              J.S. Bach

Song of the Comptois Clock                                       M. Ravel

(played by Kiran Chatterjee, trombone and Elza Lusher piano)

Folksong op 73 no 4                                                      E. Grieg

Polka from "The Golden Age" op 22                         D. Shostakovich

(played by Jack Clippendale - piano)

Sonata in B minor

Presto, Adagio, Alla breve                                            G.F. Handel

(played by Olivia bentley, flute and Valerie ward, piano)

Nocturne in B major                                                        F. Chopin

Dizzy Fingers                                                                    Zez Confrey

(played by David Darby - piano)

Where'er You Walk                                                          G.F. Handel

(Keyboards)

Ave Verum Corpus                                                          W.A. Mozart

(Last Chord Chorale, voices)

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT 1 APRIL 2009 – 31 MARCH 2010

Last year was the 60th Anniversary of the Egham and District Music Club.  We had a very successful and varied season culminating with our anniversary dinner concert.  More about that later but firstly I would like to thank all the members of the committee over the past year.  Without them the Club would be unable to function. I am glad that two members have put themselves forward to be on the committee. 

Himadri Chatterjee was co-opted earlier this year and that has made a big difference and I am pleased to see that Sue Pett will now be on the committee as well.  Alan Goodman has been on the committee for many years but has decided to stand down due to various other commitments.  We thank him for his hard work over the years in particular his work with the brochure, Making Music and for much technical help.

I would like to thank Rosemary for all her work with the new brochure this year.  By designing everything herself and finding a new publisher she was able to save several hundred pounds for the club.  We look forward to seeing next year’s brochure!  Rosemary was also able to obtain some much-needed sponsorship from Waitrose in Staines.  We will apply to the Sunningdale branch for some this year.

Again I would like to thank David Darby for his long years as concert secretary.  We thoroughly enjoyed the recitals he organised and we are pleased that he is now our vice president.  He will still organize our Young Performers Platform.  Valerie Ward is following in his footsteps and has provided an interesting and varied programme for her first season.  We thank her for her hard work and look forward to the rest of the season’s programme and those of seasons to come.

There were many highlights over the last year. I will mention my personal favourites. Unfortunately illness and volcanic ash meant that I was unable to attend all of the performances.  I remember specifically the polished performance of the Marylebone Trio.  The Surrey Brass Ensemble was particularly entertaining.  We were lucky to hear them since the heavy snow in January meant it was very difficult for them to rehearse.   I remember fondly Hideki Tanamura’s performance on Valentine’s Day.  It was so good to see someone who has amazed us with his talents for many years in the Young Performers Platform now giving a full recital in his own right.

Our 60th Birthday Dinner and Concert was particularly outstanding. I would like to thank all of you who came for making it such a memorable evening.  Everything ran very smoothly and I thank the committee for all their hard work for that.  Councillor Mrs Margaret Roberts, Mayor of Runnymede, attended the evening.  We had speeches from Jack Clippingdale and David Darby, who both shared reminiscences of the club over the past years.  We thank them both for these and also thanks to Jack for providing the displays of past performers and to Rosemary for the digital display.

Nigel Clayton’s recital following the dinner was quite remarkable.  We had an interesting blend of music, humour and a quiz, which was won by the Mayor herself a music teacher.  We are so glad that Nigel, who has delighted us so frequently over the years with his wonderful performing, was able to play for us at this very special occasion in the history of our club. 

Following the dinner, our 2010/2011 the season has got off to a good start.  I remember in particular the accomplished playing of Gwenneth Pryor, in the Mid-Season Celebrity Recital.  I heard from many of you who thoroughly enjoyed her performance.  We still have much to look forward to from “Songs of Love” to Cabaret with “Coward & Co” to the young pianist Clarence Lam, “The Oboe through the Ages” with Gwenllian Davies and of course our usual Young Performers Platform. The season will end with a Celebrity Concert Given by the Canadian Pianist Douglas Finch.  This is certainly one not to be missed. Douglas’s improvisations are just amazing.

It is with sadness that I report that another of our club members passed away this year. Alec Docherty, who with his wife Beatrice (who sold us our Steinway piano), was a member of the club for many years died on Friday 5th February 2010.  Valerie attended the funeral on behalf of the club.

It is important for the club that we keep a good presence in the local community.  I was very pleased that the club was able to have a stand at the Magna Carta Day last month. I would like to thank everyone who was able to give some of his or her time to man the stall.  I felt that this was a very successful day and we were able to make contact with many new people in the area.  We had a display of photographs of past performers and brochures from our present and previous seasons.   Since that day a number of people have mentioned that they saw the stall and found it interesting.  I hope this will be a regular event.  I would also like to thank Valerie Ward, who played the piano in the United Church on that day.

I would like to thank you all for being members.  Without your commitment the club would be unable to run and provide live music in this area.  Finally thank you for making this 60th anniversary season so memorable.  I look forward to the next 60 years!

Elza Lusher

July 2010

TREASURER’S REPORT 1 APRIL 2009 – 31 MARCH 2010

As you will see we have a surplus of £539 instead of a deficit of £24.  This is an improvement of £563.    Our current assets at the building society and in cash are up by £769 and our fixed assets depreciated by £230 so overall our net assets are up £539, which is the surplus.

Our sponsorship from Dogs and Birds replaced that of Procter & Gamble at the same rate of £500 and in addition we had sponsorship from Waitrose Staines of £337.   Our printing costs were £433 i.e. down by £543.  £370 of this was saved because a member of the committee designed the brochure and we used a cheaper printer.  Our 60th dinner made a profit of £79 or £126 including raffle.

We had a decrease in income from admissions, programmes and refreshments of £975 because the end-of-season was free to members and attracted few non-members providing only income of £84.

The attendance at concerts, other than the 60th concert, has increased and averaged 56 whereas last season it averaged 53.  On average 60% of the members attend concerts – last year it was a lower proportion of 51%.

Fund raising was down by £49.  Hire of piano was same as last year at £260 it offsets the depreciation of £230.

Expenditure on artists was down £520 because we only had only a short concert after the dinner.  Venue costs were up £174 for 11 concerts.  We had one extra concert in December.  Membership is down £50 although we still have 58 members (- a different make-up of singles, doubles and students explains the difference).  To maintain membership we recommend the subscriptions not being increased. 

Our 1-year HSBC Business Bond at £5 000 at 4.29% gross netted us £214 in November 2009, most of the interest this year.

Next year we will be without the one-off sponsorship from Waitrose Staines of £337 and the Gift Aid on previous donations for the piano fund of £118 i.e. £455 down so we would expect possibly only to break even if we have another £500 sponsorship (Dogs and Birds are sponsoring us again this year at £500!) and we save money by doing the brochure design in-house again and using the same printers as this year.

Rosemary Bentley

July 2010

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REVIEW OF ROSALIND BENTLEY MEMORIAL CONCERT

in our 56th concert series

by our Chairman VALERIE WARD

Wednesday, June 15th, 2005, 8pm

MIHO HAKAMATA violin, GERARD LE FEUVRE cello

NIGEL CLAYTON piano

Fitting Tribute to Local Musician

Rosalind Bentley, who lived in Virginia Water for many years and taught piano and cello, was born in Hollywood, Belfast and had a varied and lively career in music, travelling with E.N.S.A. and giving concert parties for the Armed Forces during WWII in such places as Ceylon, India and the Far East she recalled such incidents as playing the piano in the open air between Rangoon and Mandalay where she was soaked, as was the piano, and the keys started sticking. Later she played on cruise liners, and so it was particularly appropriate to have Nigel Clayton and his wife Miho Hakamata taking part in a memorial concert for her for Egham & District Music Club this month, as they also perform on cruise ships as well as enjoying international performing careers on dry land. Rosalind taught at Heathfield and St. George’s Ascot on her return to the UK, and many of her pupils were still keeping in touch with her years after leaving school.

As a member of the music club for many years, Rosalind served on the committee, performed in Members’ Concerts, and in light-hearted vein improvised medleys of well-known classics for quizzes at social evenings. She very much enjoyed playing chamber music with friends and attending Darlington International Summer School of Music in Devon. She was also a great bridge player!

The concert at the United Church was a totally fitting tribute, including works she played herself over the years, such as the Frank Bridges “Miniatures” for piano trio, the Beethoven A major Sonata for `cello and piano, and the Brahms B major piano Trio Op. 8. The cellist for the evening was Gerard Le Feuvre, who lives in Jersey, but performs frequently in London, the USA, and in Europe. He also directs the King’s Orchestra, which will be performing at St. John’s Church, Egham later this year. Miho Hakamata also played the Tartini “Devil’s Trill” sonata with Nigel Clayton, a very virtuosic and exciting rendering of this sizzling piece. The whole concert was of an amazingly high musical standard, and played with great commitment and feeling as well as technical skill by these fine artists.