The Festival in 1963
60 Years Ago – Some Interesting Snippets
In 1963 the Festival took place between 13th and 18th May in St George’s Hall, Stramongate (where the retirement flats on Blackhall Road now stand). Some classes took place in the Town Hall or in the Friends’ Meeting House, Stramongate.
The Adjudicators for the week were Douglas Guest, organist, conductor and composer, and Thomas Duerden, John Hind and Pat Shaw. The Official Accompanists were Elizabeth Arnot, Madeline Bobbett and Jim Noble.
The Festival Chairman was Leslie G Powell, conductor of Eversley Choral Union, and the Vice-Chairman was Jim Noble, conductor of Kendal South Choir. Among members of the Committee were:
The Westmorland Orchestra Concert featured Weber’s Oberon Overture, Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending (violin soloist Frederick Grinke) and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. The conductor was Sidney Lewis.
The Tuesday afternoon Festival Concert featured the combined junior choirs conducted by Douglas Guest. The guest soloist was Stan Kelly, a Liverpool writer and songwriter, but probably the only song he wrote that anyone remembers now was the “Liverpool Lullaby” – “Oh, you are a mucky kid”. Some parents (mine included) were incensed at the "pop" nature of this contribution!
The Wednesday evening Festival Concert with the BBC Northern Orchestra, conducted by George Hurst, listed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C, played by Peter Lloyd (flute) and Marisa Robles (harp), together with Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise sung by the Festival Chorus comprising the smaller choirs: Ambleside Choral Society, Cartmel Choral Society, Grasmere Choral Society, Kendal Central Choir and Staveley Choral Society. The soloists were Honor Sheppard, Mary Wells and Wilfred Brown.
On Thursday evening the programme comprised Vivaldi’s Gloria, Richard Strauss’s Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra (soloist Evelyn Rothwell), Dance Scene by Peter Racine Fricker, and Dvorak’s Te Deum in G. The Festival Chorus comprised the larger choirs: Burneside Choral Society, Eversley Choral Union, Greenside Choir, Kendal South Choir, Kirkby Stephen Choral Society and Windermere Choral Society, and the conductor was George Hurst. The soloists were Honor Sheppard, Mary Wells, Felicity Harrison and John Lawrenson.
Each concert began with the National Anthem, of course, and choral concerts ended with the singing of the Festival Chorale “Glory Now to Thee be Given”.
On Saturday 18th May there was a performance of Messiah conducted by George Hurst, with the Westmorland Orchestra led by Reginald Stead with soloists Honor Sheppard, Felicity Harrison, Robert Tear and John Lawrenson, with Maurice Murphy (trumpet) and John Nourse (harpsichord continuo – playing a harpsichord built by Robin Bagot of Levens Hall). As I recall, this performance was in the nature of a Come & Sing event. Any young people like myself who may never have sung it before certainly knew most of it by the end of the evening – with certain baffling bits that never came right for years.
Concerts seats were available from 1/6 to 4/- (7.5p-20p) for the schools concerts and from just over £1 to £2/1/6 for the Thursday evening concert.
Classes
In those days most of the classes required specific test pieces rather than the entrants’ own choice. Choirs sang in the Festival concerts en masse, not as individuals, and as a test of how well they had learned the concert music, Classes 31 (for the smaller choirs) and 38 (larger choirs) were entitled Concert Music, and the Test Piece was listed as “A short portion of the Concert Music for SATB to be chosen and announced by the Judge at the commencement of the Class”. Choirs always had their collective fingers crossed awaiting the announcement of the test piece, hoping it was a bit they knew well!
There was great rivalry between the choirs, in particular between Greenside and Eversley, and it did not go down well with Greenside when Eversley won the Concert Music class with 88 marks, leaving Greenside tied with Kendal South with 86 marks. Greenside did, however, win the Choral Sight Singing class with 90 marks, with Eversley in second place with 87.
In the Junior Competitions, David Hiley won the Solo Sight Singing class with 100 marks! Entrants in this class included Lesley Bateson, Janet Hayes, John Hiley, Katherine Himsworth, Susan Murphy, Helen Powell, Helen Robinson and Marion Wood. The writer – then Jean Barwick – gained 92 points, which she still considers a miracle. (O-level entrants were entered for this class as a requirement of the exam, I think.)
Lesley Bateson (later Talbot) took part in some of the instrumental classes, coming away with several awards.
Audience entry to the adjudicated classes cost from 1/6 to 2/- (7.5p-10p), with weekly tickets available for 10/- (50p).
Advertisers
Among the advertisers in the Programme were:
It's good to see that the last of those advertisers is still going strong!
JEAN ROBINSON
Mary Wakefield Westmorland Festival Committee
(with thanks to Hester Willink for lending me her 1963 Programme to add to my own memories)
In 1963 the Festival took place between 13th and 18th May in St George’s Hall, Stramongate (where the retirement flats on Blackhall Road now stand). Some classes took place in the Town Hall or in the Friends’ Meeting House, Stramongate.
The Adjudicators for the week were Douglas Guest, organist, conductor and composer, and Thomas Duerden, John Hind and Pat Shaw. The Official Accompanists were Elizabeth Arnot, Madeline Bobbett and Jim Noble.
The Festival Chairman was Leslie G Powell, conductor of Eversley Choral Union, and the Vice-Chairman was Jim Noble, conductor of Kendal South Choir. Among members of the Committee were:
- Leslie Earl, Mary Powney’s father
- Mrs Mounsey, mother of present Committee member Hester Willink
- John “Fred” Nourse, then Kendal Parish Church organist and music teacher at Kendal Grammar School
- Daphne Lester, then conductor of Kendal High School’s Senior Choir and of Kendal Choral Society, which traditionally became Kendal Central Choir for the purposes of the Festival
- Margaret Hine, conductor of Kendal High School’s award-winning Junior Choir and the then equally famous Greenside Choir (which was taken over in 1966 on Miss Hine's retirement by Frank Woodhouse of Morecambe, but finally disbanded in around 1969)
The Westmorland Orchestra Concert featured Weber’s Oberon Overture, Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending (violin soloist Frederick Grinke) and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. The conductor was Sidney Lewis.
The Tuesday afternoon Festival Concert featured the combined junior choirs conducted by Douglas Guest. The guest soloist was Stan Kelly, a Liverpool writer and songwriter, but probably the only song he wrote that anyone remembers now was the “Liverpool Lullaby” – “Oh, you are a mucky kid”. Some parents (mine included) were incensed at the "pop" nature of this contribution!
The Wednesday evening Festival Concert with the BBC Northern Orchestra, conducted by George Hurst, listed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C, played by Peter Lloyd (flute) and Marisa Robles (harp), together with Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise sung by the Festival Chorus comprising the smaller choirs: Ambleside Choral Society, Cartmel Choral Society, Grasmere Choral Society, Kendal Central Choir and Staveley Choral Society. The soloists were Honor Sheppard, Mary Wells and Wilfred Brown.
On Thursday evening the programme comprised Vivaldi’s Gloria, Richard Strauss’s Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra (soloist Evelyn Rothwell), Dance Scene by Peter Racine Fricker, and Dvorak’s Te Deum in G. The Festival Chorus comprised the larger choirs: Burneside Choral Society, Eversley Choral Union, Greenside Choir, Kendal South Choir, Kirkby Stephen Choral Society and Windermere Choral Society, and the conductor was George Hurst. The soloists were Honor Sheppard, Mary Wells, Felicity Harrison and John Lawrenson.
Each concert began with the National Anthem, of course, and choral concerts ended with the singing of the Festival Chorale “Glory Now to Thee be Given”.
On Saturday 18th May there was a performance of Messiah conducted by George Hurst, with the Westmorland Orchestra led by Reginald Stead with soloists Honor Sheppard, Felicity Harrison, Robert Tear and John Lawrenson, with Maurice Murphy (trumpet) and John Nourse (harpsichord continuo – playing a harpsichord built by Robin Bagot of Levens Hall). As I recall, this performance was in the nature of a Come & Sing event. Any young people like myself who may never have sung it before certainly knew most of it by the end of the evening – with certain baffling bits that never came right for years.
Concerts seats were available from 1/6 to 4/- (7.5p-20p) for the schools concerts and from just over £1 to £2/1/6 for the Thursday evening concert.
Classes
In those days most of the classes required specific test pieces rather than the entrants’ own choice. Choirs sang in the Festival concerts en masse, not as individuals, and as a test of how well they had learned the concert music, Classes 31 (for the smaller choirs) and 38 (larger choirs) were entitled Concert Music, and the Test Piece was listed as “A short portion of the Concert Music for SATB to be chosen and announced by the Judge at the commencement of the Class”. Choirs always had their collective fingers crossed awaiting the announcement of the test piece, hoping it was a bit they knew well!
There was great rivalry between the choirs, in particular between Greenside and Eversley, and it did not go down well with Greenside when Eversley won the Concert Music class with 88 marks, leaving Greenside tied with Kendal South with 86 marks. Greenside did, however, win the Choral Sight Singing class with 90 marks, with Eversley in second place with 87.
In the Junior Competitions, David Hiley won the Solo Sight Singing class with 100 marks! Entrants in this class included Lesley Bateson, Janet Hayes, John Hiley, Katherine Himsworth, Susan Murphy, Helen Powell, Helen Robinson and Marion Wood. The writer – then Jean Barwick – gained 92 points, which she still considers a miracle. (O-level entrants were entered for this class as a requirement of the exam, I think.)
Lesley Bateson (later Talbot) took part in some of the instrumental classes, coming away with several awards.
Audience entry to the adjudicated classes cost from 1/6 to 2/- (7.5p-10p), with weekly tickets available for 10/- (50p).
Advertisers
Among the advertisers in the Programme were:
- Timothy Whites (“For everything you need from a Chemist, rely on . . .”)
- H J Croft Ltd (“may we demonstrate the amazing Morris 1100”)
- Musgroves (“You will always be in tune with fashion’s newest note if you shop at . . .”)
- Watson Bros (Kendal) Ltd, Official School Uniform Suppliers (“You are cordially invited to inspect our various departments”)
- William Brennand & Sons, “Kendal’s Leading Pork Butchers, Noted for Sausages and Pies” (“Efficient service is our keynote!”)
- Mary Earl, LRAM, ARCM, Teacher of Pianoforte and Voice Production
It's good to see that the last of those advertisers is still going strong!
JEAN ROBINSON
Mary Wakefield Westmorland Festival Committee
(with thanks to Hester Willink for lending me her 1963 Programme to add to my own memories)