Where are they now?
This page and our newsletter Opus rely on your letters and emails. Please keep in contact and send your news to the administrator: pat.murgatroyd@gcdyo.org.uk
Please note: if you send news to this email address, we may use it this website or in other GCDYO publications unless you explicitly ask us not to.
Don't forget to look at our ' Oldies' album in the photo gallery!
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Hilary Oliver (née Alcock) was a member of GCDYO back in the 60s and 70s. She now lives and works in Leeds as a music teacher. She writes:
As well as teaching, I have, since January been the conductor of the Leeds Youth Recorder Ensemble (LYRE). It is rather ironic that having started out as a recorder player over 40 years ago I am now still enjoying it and, hopefully, helping and encouraging a new generation of players. I also conduct our local branch of the Society of Recorder Players from time to time and take part as a player and conductor at various courses. I sometimes bump into Myra Wilson who also continues to play her recorder with the SRP.
To get a break from music I recently qualified as a cricket scorer and can often be found in the summer at a cricket ground somewhere in Yorkshire either scoring for one of our club teams or supporting my youngest son who is an avid cricketer. I'm ever hopeful that one day I may get a chance to score at Headingley. I would love to hear from any of my old cronies and catch up with their news.
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Jenny Banham:
I am a former member who has often followed your web site but done nothing about it. However last week I was travelling on the train from Cleethorpes and sat opposite Jeff Babb. We chatted about all sorts, remembered mutual friends and former members, and I thought I should get in touch. I was Jennifer Webb and joined the orchestra in 1960. Like Michael Growcott, with whom I have been in touch recently, I joined the junior orchestra, playing clarinet. Then I moved to Mr Pearson's Military Band before moving to the Senior Orchestra. I played viola and violin until I went to the Royal College in 1967 - it seems such a chequered career, but so very enjoyable. I look back at photographs with very happy memories - concerts, Bremerhaven, the carnival procession. I also have good memories of your chairman - Leo taught me to ride a motor scooter - I guess my husband would hold him responsible for my current driving habits (I say they are good habits!). I am now living in Berkshire and playing in a number of groups in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. I work for an educational consultants where I have a particular interest in music. Keep up the good work with the newsletter - there must be lots like me that read and enjoy it but do nothing about it.
Corrine Brant writes that the pre-founding talks of the GCDYO were at Corrine's mother's house in the Park over 40 years ago. Through the Opus, Corrine found out that her daughter teaches in the same school as Alison Tompkins.
Jo Borrill who was the leader around 1970 is now working for the Mental Health Foundation in London and her sister Ros Malyon played 'cello during the same era, is now head of Languages at King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth. She still plays in the school orchestra and Louth Chamber Orchestra.
Bill Buffam, now in the United States, contacted us after finding this website. He was a founder member of the GCDYO trumpet section and still keeps all his GCDYO programmes in a box in his basement. Bill remembers playing a solo in Jesu, joy of man's desiringin the GCDYO's very first concert, and the last movement of the Haydn trumpet concerto on November 30th 1963 in a concert at the College of Further Education (known to Bill and his contemporaries as the 'College of Knowledge', and now the University of Humberside). That date stays in Bill's memory, as he summoned the courage to ask Angela Higgs, the principal cellist, for a date. They married in 1969 and produced a pair of Scotland-born daughters: Eleanor (1975) and Louise (1977). The family moved to Pennsylvania in 1978, but Bill and Angela divorced in 1982. They are both remarried though still in touch. Bill's website has more information: www.buffam.com/the_real_homepage.html.
This is a compilation of a few emails from Jez Butler :
Hi...great site! Between 1977 & 1980, I played clarinet & percussion in Wind Bands & Orchestra, respectively, under the auspices of Keith Maeers and Mr Kent (who used to shout at me...hehehe). I was there when the new logo was implemented - it's still on my clarinet case! It was a great period in my life, & I've kept my music up, having toured & recorded with several bands since moving to Bristol in 1984. I'm currently writing, arranging & producing...which is very hard work, but even verrier good fun! If you're interested, I have a virtual home: www.boum.co.uk. By the way, do Junior Wind, still play 'Chromatic Jump'?
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Adrian Clarke :
Hello. My name is Adrian Clarke and I was a tuba player in the GCDYO four years ago. Being a tuba player I was in most sections and enjoyed them all. The GCDYO gave me an opportunity to experience both Symphonic Wind bands and the Symphony Orchestra which I had not previously played in as I was brought up in the world of Brass Bands.
I am now studying a B.Mus. music degree at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. I will graduate in July 2002.
Tim Crayford, a (now lapsed) horn player in the orchestra from 1976-83, went down to Medical School in London at 18 and has stuck there. He is now a consultant in public health medicine, living in Beckenham, Kent with his wife, Carol, and twins aged two and a half, three dogs and a friendly if stupid cat. Website: www.crayford.net.
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Bryan Davis :
Hi there - Bryan Davis emailing. I was a trumpet player in many sections of the GCDYO until 1993 (and I still pop back occasionally with the Swing Band). I now make Trumpet playing my career and as I write this (October 2000) I am in Germany with "The Official Tribute to The Blues Brothers" European Tour. Had it not been for the GCDYO I would not be where I am today and I would like to thank everybody who has supported the Orchestra down the years for presenting me with the opportunities I have had. If you would like more information about me or any old friends would like to catch up, then please visit my website at: www.bryandavis.info. I look forward to hearing from you and GOOD LUCK to the GCDYO for the future.
Carolyn Davis now has letters after her name - ALCM
John Dixon, a member of the GCDYO from 1959 to 1963, sent this message:
Having just discovered your website, I would like to record that I was a founder member for whom music has moulded my life rather than my having enjoyed the ability to make music professionally. Having learned the violin firstly with George Cave at South Parade and Pat Parkinson, I enjoyed several years in the orchestra under George and John White until Jeff Babb came into my life at the Youth Orchestra and Wintringham (1958-65) - I still do not enjoy his style of modern music, I fear! I have never played the violin since 1968 but, during my teaching career, I have enjoyed choral singing, with the lead role in Noe's Fluddeat Tewkesbury Abbey being the climax of my musical career! I am now about to take early retirement so that I can fulfil my first love, which is studying history - although I hope that I shall continue to sing with my school choir.
John is keen to meet up with his former partner on second violins, Jennifer Leishman, whom he has not met since the night England beat Portugal in the 1966 World Cup!
Brian Dooley's website has some photos from the GCDYO's vintage years.
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Emma Farmery attended the Birmingham Conservatoire and graduated in 1995. She then undertook a specialist Orchestral Training Course at the Guildhall School of Music. She is now much in demand as a freelance orchestral bassoonist.
Alice Fox gave birth to a daughter, Hazel, on 7th Sept. This is her news as told in July 2000:
I was in GCDYO from around 1985/86 until 1994, playing violin in all the string sections from Training Strings up to Senior Symphony. I then went to Newcastle University to do a Geography degree (BSc).
The otter passion started when I was around 10 or 11 and we had family holidays on the North West coast of Scotland and they just captured my imagination and interest. My degree dissertation was on otters in Northumberland and when I left there I did a year as a full time volunteer with Worcestershire Wildlife Trust on their Otters & Rivers Project. After 6 months of other conservation volunteering and a short contract with Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust doing a county otter survey of Lincolnshire, I got my present job with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as Otters & Rivers Project Officer, Ridings Area (basically South, West and East Yorkshire). The job is wonderful, although contrary to most peoples' expectations I don't see otters! It's a mixture of surveying rivers to monitor the population, identifying threats to otters and water voles and trying to eliminate them, and advising landowners and organisations on habitat enhancement to ensure conditions are right for otters and other wetland wildlife to be able to thrive.
I currently sing in the Leeds Festival Chorus, which often performs with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. We performed Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Ampleforth Abbey in July.
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Michael Growcott sent this message:
I was almost a founder member of the orchestra. Inspired by their first concert I joined early in 1960 when I was twelve. Rae Crossley Croft, against whom I used to compete at all the local music festivals, was leader. I remember my first rehearsal well. I was put, shy and nervous, at the back desk of the seconds. I don't remember now whether it was John White or George Cave who waved the baton but we launched into March from Carmen and within two bars I was lost. But, since I knew the tune, I was soon sawing away with the firsts and hoping for the best.
I am a bit hazy about timings but sometime after that it was mooted that a junior orchestra should be formed and I was invited to become leader. Again I cannot recall how long I occupied that position but when I rejoined the senior orchestra Jane Crampin (have I got that name right?) was leader and I became her deputy. When she left I was promoted to leader, a position that the nervous twelve year old could never have foreseen himself occupying. I was lucky enough to go twice to Bremerhaven and have many happy memories of those times. The preparation, with carnivals and Mozart marathons, was almost as good and we were a great bunch of friends. I still have, as those who attended the anniversary may recall, my wooden GCDYO badge which those of us who performed in the marathon were given. It is one of my most treasured possessions and has accompanied me all round the world.
For on leaving Louth, where I lived, I joined the Diplomatic Service and have worked in Kampala, Peking, Pretoria, Port Stanley, Kuala Lumpur, Brussels and Castries. I married before leaving for Kampala and my three children were born in Uganda, China and South Africa respectively. They are now all grown up and embarked on careers of their own.
Music has played a large part in my life though singing tends to dominate the picture more recently. I am currently a member of the Diplomatic Service and Whitehall Choirs. I have sung and played around the world and one of the highlights was singing with the Brussels Choral Society who performed with the Belgian National Orchestra on a regular basis. Very challenging and fulfilling.
I am now living in Bracknell in Berkshire and working in London. Meeting so many of my friends at the reunion was wonderful. We seemed to slip back into the same easy relationship so quickly it was hard to believe that, in most cases, thirty years had intervened. I hope that members of other generations had the same wonderful experience that I enjoyed as a member. We owe so much to so many, conductors, organisers, parents. I wonder if they know how much?
I should love to hear from old friends and can be reached on email: michael@growcott.tiscali.co.uk.
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Congratulations to Antony Hall and his wife, Bethan, who are now proud parents of a baby daughter Ffion, born after a long wait, on 10 September, 1999.
We had a delightful letter from a patron, Miss Rose. She is 80 years old and still has a lively mind and attends GCDYO concerts. She has told us about her great niece Claire Heaney who was a member of the GCDYO for 8 years. Upon leaving the organisation in 1989 Claire was awarded the George Cave Memorial Award. After attending the University of Reading she gained an honours degree in Physics and Music. This was followed with a post-graduate diploma and an MA (University of Wales) in Music at the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Claire now dedicates most of her time to performing (she plays the flute) but she has to squeeze into her schedule two part-time jobs, one at the United World College of the Atlantic, and the other at the Welsh College library, in order to maintain financial buoyancy! So far her musical endeavours have resulted in performances at the Wigmore Hall, auditioning in Gran Canaria and Lyons, touring with the education department of Welsh National Opera, being placed on the freelance list of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, playing for many recordings for film and television, and finally co-editing a book written in celebration of Fifty Years of the Dartington International Summer School.
Joanne Hewson was leader of the SSO and went on to the Royal College of Music. From there she joined Christies, the international auctioneers based in London. She is now listed as a specialist in their musical instruments department. Sales include string instruments within the scope of GCDYO players and Jo will always be willing to advise parents about suitable instruments. Contact her on 0171 321 3471. Jeff Babb receives catalogues regularly if anyone wishes to see them.
Simon Hewson wrote:
Just been trawling through the internet and came across this website. I played trumpet in the youth orchestra in the mid-70s at South Parade School. Brian Kent was conducting at the time. Will Aby was in the trombone section and I bump into him on a regular basis. Anyone remember me I would love to hear from you. I went on to play in the North Lincolnshire Concert Ensemble with Bill Pearson. Unfortunately my trumpet is now collecting dust in the loft. (May 2007)
Keith Hicks came across our site while surfing the web. Nowadays, Keith is assistant head teacher of a large comprehensive school in South London, although he has nothing to do with teaching music and has not touched his violin for years. He emailed us to recall some happy memories of the GCDYO:
I was a member of the various GCDYO orchestras from about 1969 - 1976 and it formed the basis of a very rich and happy teenage social life. I still have many friends from those days. I remember happy hours of music making - although my contribution was small as I was a truly appalling player of the violin. However those days instilled in me a deep and rich love of music, which has enriched my life every day!
I remember with huge amounts of pleasure playing pieces like Dives and Lazarus (Williams), various pieces by Bartok, Mozart symphonies and the bloody "Valiant Knight", which I can still hum today!!! I suspect we must have sounded quite terrible, but the dedication of the organisers to the young people of Grimsby in the 1970s was simply amazing.
Thinking back to the 1970s Grimsby was an amazing place for music, I went to Hereford School and was part of the music scene there led by Neville Turner (who I would like to shake the hand of today and say another huge thank-you to for the countless hours of his time he gave us) and I seem to remember being a member of school orchestras, school choirs, small chamber groups... The memories are endless. We used to have the wonderful recorder festival each year, with intense but friendly comeptition between the music departments of Hereford and the local grammar school - which had Jeffrey Babb as the Head of Music. Anything that a recorder could possibly be elbowed into went into the festival. The Pergolesi Stabat Mater is still one of my most loved CDs! (Summer 2006)
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Congratulations to Chloe Knight who married Nick Whittome on 25th September 1999 in Letchworth. She arrived at the church in her father's Abracadabra van and walked down the aisle to Vivaldi's Seasons. Chloe is now Mum to George (5 in February 2007), Simon (2) and Adam (8 months), and is presently residing at Regents Theological College in Nantwich, Cheshire, while husband Nick does a degree in Applied Theology to become a pastor. (December 2006)
Chloe's brother David Knight has qualified as an optician.
Sarah Knight, sister of Chloe and David, studied Occupational Therapy in York after leaving the GCDYO in 2002. In 2004, she went to live in Norway for five months, continuing her studies at Oslo University and learning to speak Norwegian. She qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2005. She writes:
I now work in Harrogate, in a college for young people with visual impairment and learning difficulties. I really enjoy my work there, and have learnt loads. I live in York, though, so I'm hoping to find a job a bit nearer to home before too long!
I often think back to my orchestra/choir days. I have some great memories!! (December 2006)
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Guy Lamb played percussion in the GCDYO starting at age 11 in 1979 right up to leaving Grimsby in 1986 at age 18:
My "career" spanned Junior, Intermediate and Senior Wind (is Brian Kent still terrorising the kids?) as well as Senior Symphony. I was fortunate to participate in two tours, one to Konigswinter, and another to Bremerhaven - on both having de facto responsibility for moving the "kit" (basically, all the percussion stuff, and those indestructible solid metal stands, so the violinists didn't have to work up a sweat).
I also had the (dubious) honour of being on the committee for a few years as the student rep - lots of odd conversations about lots of things that weren't terribly consequential, if I recall.
I have lots of fond memories of my time with GCDYO, Jeff Babb (also my teacher at Wintringham), Neville Turner, Brian Kent and "Mr" Morley - all etched in my memory. (Like all good percussionists, I got shouted at a lot for having too much fun at the back). Since leaving Wintringham and Grimsby, I went on to Sheffield University to read law, eventually qualifying as a solicitor in 1993. I am still in the profession, now a partner in a firm in Leeds. I kept up the drums (more contemporary than classical) and played in various bands through university and beyond. After lapsing for a few years, I am back at it, now playing with two bands in Leeds (weddings, christenings and the like). Still rubbish at it, but all for fun. Please pass on my regards to anyone that remembers me. Good luck to you all - I had a great time with GCDYO, and I hope you are still delivering the same sense of belonging and fulfillment to another generation of budding musicians.
P.S. Don't shout at the percussionists. It's really boring having to count 137 bar rests!!
Vivienne Vertefeuille (née Leonard) was a member of the GCDYO from 1966 to 1974 and played the violin. She was a pupil of Mrs Garbett at South Parade Junior School and was taught by Peter Clarke at Hereford. After leaving school she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service and while serving in Naples met her husband, whom she married in 1979.
She is a keen amateur musician and, after many years of searching for other amateur musicians (they are not very common in Italy!), now plays regularly in a quartet and a local orchestra. She works as an interpreter for the UK National Support Unit in NATO. Vivienne wrote to inform us of the death of her mother, Margaret Leonard, later Oldale. She was one of the founder Sectional Teachers (cello) of the GCDYO:
Margaret kept an active interest in the GCDYO until 5 years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, for which had an operation. She kept reasonably healthy until a few weeks ago when she went into the Princess Diana Hospital, Grimsby with a stomach ulcer. After ups and downs she died on 24th June and her funeral was held in Humberstone on 3rd July. (Summer 2002)
From Mark Lowther :
Well, there I was, fishing around the internet - one thing led to another (like it does!) and I found this site. I saw Kath Smith's message and thought the least I could do was chip in too. Like Kath I joined GCDYO in the early 70's and left in '74 to go to Trinity College of Music. I've happy memories of playing alto clarinet in the Senior Wind Ensemble under Neville Turner and all sorts of bits and pieces with the Senior Symphony Orchestra under JWB. The highlight was probably glockenspiel in 'Jupiter' from 'The Planets' in Bremerhaven - and I think I once got the bit in D Flat major right! I'm now working as a producer for BBC Radio 3. My 'day job' is co-producer of CD Review on Saturday mornings. So I've finally found a job where I'm paid to listen to records - can't be bad - though I hasten to add there's a little more to the job than that!
I also turn up as a presenter of music programmes on BBC World Service. Given that most people in the UK only hear WS during the night I'm quite used to people saying 'Was I dreaming, or was that you I heard at 4.30 in the morning ...?' I've worked for the BBC for (frighteningly) 21 years now - ten of them as what the beeb calls a 'Studio Manager' - a radio sound engineer. It was a pretty varied life - everything from doing the sound-effects for plays (I once rustled a paper-bag for Nicholas Parsons!), twiddling the knobs on both live and pre-recorded programmes, running Radio 4 'continuity' (where the announcer is) ... rarely a dull moment.
Then I sort of slipped sideways into music producing. I worked at World Service for a while, and then came to Radio 3. Seeing Smithy's message reminded me of something else. My wife Rosemary (married 1979, no kids) has recently started a new job at the Royal Opera House. We were at a performance recently when she introduced me to someone, saying 'Oh, here's someone from your past - Christopher Middleton'. We calculated that we hadn't met for 28 years! He's been working at the opera house (that night he was playing harpsichord continuo in a performance of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito conducted by Sir Colin Davis) though he's recently moved on to be Assistant Director of Opera at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School based at the Royal College of Music.
Then there's my brother Phil Lowther. He's a busy boy too. He runs a company, based in Bristol, that makes very high-quality, high-powered speaker systems. They're used in clubs and for PA in everywhere from cathedrals to the Glastonbury Festival. If you're a netty (which presumably you are or you wouldn't be reading this!), have a look at www.thunder-ridge.co.uk. He's married too and he and Liz share their flat with Liz's daughter and an iguana. It's great to have found the excellent GCDYO website - I'll keep checking for others from my era. Best wishes to everyone - and keep up the good work - it's just as vital as ever! (Summer 2002)
After graduation, Joanne Lumb spent three years in Grimsby, then took a job as Operations Manager at Wembley Arena, Conference and Exhibition Centre. Joanne played the double bass and bass guitar in the GCDYO from about 1984 to 1993, taking part in visits to Germany.
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Joanna Middleton lives in South Australia, after emigrating 12 years ago in search of a better life. With partner Ian (from Bristol) she has three boys who are all musical. She writes:
The oldest, Rowan, plays cello (taking after his uncle Christopher Middleton) and saxophone, and is currently auditioning for a special music interest high school in Adelaide. This is the nearest he can get to the GCDYO. The younger boys Ned and Gabriel both make their music at home and are yet to decide whether to play the french horn, which I still possess but don't play, or the violin, which I still do play occasionally at the children's school. I actually like singing best! I think very warmly of my time in the GCDYO. My first concert was the 10th birthday celebrations in 1969 when I was about 10 or 11 myself, and I think my highlights were the marathon performances of the Beethoven symphonies, and the Mozart piano concertos and symphonies. I am eternally grateful for the fun and love of music which I developed in the GCDYO and at Wintringham Grammer school. Thank you. It's great to think the orchestra is still going strong.
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Kirsty Newton played cello and left seven years ago to read medieval languages at Cambridge. After completing a post graduate diploma in journalism at Preston, she is now a junior reporter on the Western Morning News based in Plymouth. Kirsty is engaged to Wailim Wong of Truro.
Simon Newton played cello in the GCDYO in the 80s before leaving when to study Chemistry at Birmingham University in 1990. He is currently working in Cheshire in pharmaceutical marketing, and still has his cello but not much time to play it! "It is wonderful to see the GCDYO is still going strong, as it played such a enormous part in my youth! My best wishes to you all, and to anyone who is still around and can remember me."
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Chris Overton was a member of the GCDYO for the period around 1971 to 1976. He initially played violin, but latterly was always climbing over the symphony orchestra to get from the violins to the back row of the band; even then he was aware he was more 'at home' with the timpani and percussion. He thinks he might have been leader of one of the orchestras at one time, but this was probably before he fully discovered the drums.
After leaving the GCDYO, I ended up taking an engineering degree, and eventually I stopped all musical activity for many years, focusing on racing motorcycles instead. When I moved from Grimsby to Edinburgh however, I took up the music again, and in the last fifteen years it has become the main focus of my life. I was lucky to 'kick-start' my playing again, by studying under one of Scotland's well-known timpanists and percussionists, the late Dr Andrew Shivas. On his sad demise, I was fortunate to be in a position to purchase his lifetimes collection of percussion instruments and timpani.
I still do the day job (now based in Aberdeen), but spend much time performing with orchestras around Scotland as principal timpanist with the Orchestra of Old St Paul's, Edinburgh Philharmonic and the Edinburgh Light Orchestra, and principal percussionist with Sinfonia. I take on freelance playing jobs when possible, both orchestral and pit work, with musical theatre/opera in His Majesties, Aberdeen, the Kings and Festival theatres in Edinburgh, as well as many other venues around Scotland. I also spend some time playing jazz drums, depping with local bands when required.
I do not teach regularly, but spent a very good time during Summer 2001, having been invited to instruct on the Scottish Schools Orchestra Trust (SScOT) course, where I'll be back this year too. (This is an orchestral course for 9 to 15 year olds with wind bands, string orchestras, and a massed Symphony orchestra; instrumental instruction being given in sectionals and individually, as well as in rehearsal. See www.sscot.org.uk for more information.
As a member of the National Association of Percussion Teachers, I keep in touch with players and teachers around the country, and with the issues music instructors are having to face. I certainly take the time whenever possible to enthuse youngsters with the idea of playing percussion, and there is often a queue at concerts, of young - and not so young - visitors wanting to talk about the percussion section and what we get up to.
I have developed a hobby of sound recording, editing and production for orchestras, choirs and other live performances, using location recording techniques rather than studio methods. These I master in my project studio, which has to double as a drum store and practice studio too. With 20-20 hindsight, I can now see what a marvellous learning experience it was in the GCDYO, and how much I owe to those inspirational musicians such as Jeff Babb, who guided us all in our early musical days. (Summer 2002)
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Diana Palliser (née Sivil) sent this email:
I played with GCDYO from 1975 to 1977 on the trumpet. I now live in Bristol with my two children Miriam 13 and Martha 7.
I have since spent time working for the civil service in Grimsby, Avon Education Authority, Women's Aid Federation, Bristol Nightstop (a voluntary group working with single young homeless men and women and have been working for North Wiltshire Council for 31/2 years where I now manage the homelessness section.
Unfortunately, I have not played the trumpet for over 20 years now and do not have a piano. However, I spent several years performing with the Bristol School of Samba (Brazilian percussion). We performed at Glastonbury and other major festivals, also local demos, parties and pub and student gigs.
Fond memories of South Parade School, Jeff Babb, Keith Mears, GCDYO swing band concerts, Caroline Lister, Caroline Davison, Stuart Carline, Greg (trumpet player) Howard (fireman) Nige, Andrea Guilliatt, Susannah Smith, Ros Amos, Mary-Ann Smith, Julie Monument, Kaye Barker, Rebecca Smith and many more (apologies if I can't think of you all today). Would love to hear from other ex members. Keep up the good work, GCDYO is an excellent organisation!
Richard Pardy played saxophone and clarinet in the GCDYO until 1984. After progressing through the Youth Orchestra, he worked locally in jazz and dance bands; pit orchestras and other groups, gaining experience, including the British Youth Symphony Orchestra, and studying clarinet and saxophone with Jack Brymer. Encouraged by Jack, and after considering a place at the Guildhall School of Music, Richard decided to study Jazz and Popular Music at Leeds College of music in 1984 - at that time the most established course of its type.
After successfully completing this in 1987, he continues to work in many areas of popular music, including tours and recordings for jazz, big band, soul and motown artists: the Drifters, George McCrae, Kenny Baker, Digby Fairweather, The Glen Miller Orchestra, NYJO, and the String of Pearls Orchestra. He is regularly featured on sessions for TV and radio programmes and album releases, including a CD release for Aiwa in 1996: Under the Orange Tree, co-written and produced with Jonathan Weeden. He has also performed solo saxophone works under the baton of Anthony Weeden with the Grimsby Symphony Orchestra.
Richard's freelance work includes a featured solo on the soundtrack to Kubrick's film, Eyes wide shut. He has performed at many major UK venues and toured Europe, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand and the US. He is currently touring with several shows, alongside co-producing and arranging Sweet Home Chicago. Richard is arranger and Musical Director of a new venture opening In May 2002, I Remember Marvin- a concert in the life of Marvin Gaye.
After nearly five years of planning, Richard has now launched orangetreestudio.com, a music production studio providing sound design for all areas of the music and media industry. The studio has already produced some music for Granada Television Advertising and forthcoming West End shows. Richard lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, Isobel (nee Maasdam, an ex-youth orchestra bassoonist!) and three sons, Joseph, Frederick and Samuel, who keep them busy!
Finally, Richard has a minor sin to expiate: he and his fellow clarinettists in the Senior Symphony Orchestra would often change the key or ignore key signatures in whole sections of symphonies to see if the conductor, Neville Turner, would notice. Neville's reaction, if he did notice, was apparently worth the effort!
David Perkins claims to be possibly the most lapsed member of the GCDYO:
my last appearance was at the 25th anniversary concert where I played second trombone in a performance of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto. After leaving Grimsby I lived in Merseyside and Cheshire for several years and played with City of Chester Brass Band for a while. Then work and marriage took over and my King 4B has rarely seen the light of day. Moves to Surrey and now Cambridgeshire were punctuated by the arrival of twins Zoe and Charlotte in 1998 (the 'delights' of which I won't share with you here). Fatherhood, a varied career as a systems developer in London and mistakenly falling into my 40's while in a drunken stupor have really put paid to any ambitions for a comeback tour. I have some wonderful memories of my time with the GCDYO and I often wonder what happened to everybody. I managed to chase down a couple of Swing Band colleagues a while ago but if there's anybody out there with any news please drop me a line at david.perkins@ndirect.co.uk. Finally, there isn't much that can frighten five year-olds these days (particularly my two) but blasting a trombone at them while lacking any embouchure whatever can have some spectacluar results.
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Do you remember Wayne Riley ? He played trumpet and left to join the Royal Marines. He worked at Deal, and transferred to London just before the IRA bomb exploded in the barracks, tragically killing many of his friends. The GCDYO organised a collection for the Marines and Wayne came to the Christmas Concert in full Royal Marine uniform to collect it on behalf of the Army. Since then Wayne has left the Services, but stayed in London. Wayne took up the piano as his second instrument when he joined the Marines; his success on this enabled him to earn his living. At first he entertained guests in the Park Lane hotels singing and playing the piano. He now is an executive director in a digital video company in London, but music still remains an important part of his life.
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Runa Saha was leader of the 2nd violins in the SSO, and left to read medicine at Leicester. After attending a European Medical Students Orchestra in Barcelona in 1997, she helped to set up the British Isle Medical Students Orchestra, (BIMSO), which has just had its first concert in aid of the charity 'Medisearch'. The Orchestra consisted of 42 students from 11 faculties of medicine. She is now a qualified (medical) doctor.
Nikki Scott-Despaigne played the bassoon in the youth orchestra from 1974, when she moved to Grimsby and 1980, when she left to go to Oxford Poly. She sent the following message:
Chanced upon the site and saw that there had been a reunion weekend. What a brilliant idea! I recognised a whole host of names, and among them a few friends from the years I lived in Grimsby, notably: Liz & Frances Abë, Cathy Atkinson, Judith Bridges.
After studying Law and French, I worked in London for a while in Professional Ethics and Discipline, then for a Shipping Mutual before moving to Bristol to work in Professional Indemnity Litigation for a firm of solicitors.
In 1991 I chucked all that in to work in a sail loft in Brittany and am now married to an ocean-racing yachtsman, have two children and work as a translator specialising ... yacht racing and adventure sports.
When I was a student I used to dream of having enough dosh to buy a bassoon and as time went on other things became more important. I still secretly harbour the idea that this purchase may be made one day.
If any of the people I have mentioned are contactable, then please, please feel free to give them my contact details. I would love to hear from them!
Thanks for all the fun between 1974-1980!
Kath Smith dropped us a line from France to wish Jeff Babb a happy retirement and to let us know her news. Kath occasionally receives Opus, the orchestra newsletter, from her Lincoln-based parents. She was at Wintringham Girls' Grammar and joined the GCDYO in the early 70s along with people like Christopher "Tiddles" Middleton, Hilary "Bogs" Alcock, Ange "The Pange" Hann, Gill "Gilly" Pike, Mark Lowther, David Parker, Pete Currie and Steve Wasley. After several years teaching and working freelance in the South-East of England, Kath moved to France at the end of 1999. About a week later, she and her partner Chris lost a chimney, loads of tiles, and suffered a four-day power cut in the great storm.
Finding decent playing has proved rather elusive in Charente Profonde, so they have set up their own ensemble with a suitable mix of French and English, performing anything from early mediaeval via renaissance and baroque to close-harmony and barbershop! Kath works for a couple of rural music schools and now has over thirty pupils. She has also been running a choir of around 25 adult singers for over a year now; hardly any of them can read music, but they're all really enthusiastic. Every rehearsal is followed by drinks and gateaux which folk take it in turn to provide - a bit different from mooching along to the pub for a few pints but just as much fun! The pace of life in Charente suits Kath down to the ground (the Charentais are apparently known as "cagouilles": snails!) - a great improvement on SE England. "Life is very satisfying, and I've no regrets."
Gill Smith was a front desk violinist in the SSO until 1980. She is now called Gill Howard and she and her husband live in St Albans, Hertfordshire and have 2 children: George, aged 6, who has just started clarinet, and Ellie, who at 8 has already taken exams in violin and piano. Gill is heavily involved in music making at her children's school, as well as running a market research business. Gill will be attending the reunion in May.
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Many thanks also to John Talbot (senior) for passing on details about his son Jonathan (Jon) Talbot. You may remember him playing trumpet in the Orchestra wind sections until 1986 when he left Wintringham School to attend Bishop's Stortford College in Hertfordshire. There he continued to play trumpet in the school orchestra and a small jazz group. He read Geography at Manchester University, then a PGCE at Bristol. He is now Head of Geography at Clifton College in Bristol. His trumpet may have taken a back seat but he does sing bass with the school choral society. In January he "trod the boards" as a footman in the schools production of Cinderella, and loved every minute.
Jon's other love is tennis and he may occasionally be seen on TV during Wimbledon officiating on the lines of Centre or No 1 court. He has even appeared in the chair umpiring a juniors match on No 2 court. A varied life- but a full one.
Alison Tompkins (née Talbot) married a violinist/scientist. She was leader of the ISO and left the SSO in 1984. She passed on this account:
'The teaching profession finally lured me in 3 years ago, when having spent 6 years in office work I sought a more challenging and rewarding career. Since doing my PGCE at Durham University, I have been teaching music and violin part time at Polam Hall School in Darlington, and teaching violin at Yarm prep school. From September I take up a further part time post as Head of Senior Music in an independent boys school (Hurworth House). My professional playing time is increasing steadily with band calls for both N. Allerton and Darlington Amateur Operatics, which I thoroughly enjoy. I continue to play for the Richmond Orchestra, but have recently transferred to the viola section (no viola jokes please!) Life is busy and a lot of fun. It certainly is a challenging yet rewarding career.'
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Graham Watkinson now lives in Birmingham with his wife and 3 daughters, two of whom have played the trumpet and two are serious ballet students. Graham is an engineer and in his spare time is a Scout leader and regularly treads the boards in the Gang Show and as a member of 'Theatre 28'. According to his family 'his hair has been transplanted from the top of his head to his chin' (Who'd have daughters?) and he keeps his lip in by playing at the annual Easter gathering of a select group of GCDYO ex-members at Robin Hood's bay.
Chris and Ann Walsham (née Whitlock) wrote the following letter:
The instrument I played in the orchestra was 2nd violin and I was there at the same time as Margaret MacDonald, Christine Gladwin, Christina Caswell (now Crabb?), Katherine Lloyd (now Overton?) and I think Stephen Wasley may have been the leader at the time. Richard Markham was also on the scene, as was Philip Cave, but they were about 6 or 7 years older than me. I didn't know my husband at that time but he played timpanis with the orchestra at (we think) about the same time or a little before my time - perhaps your records may show that?
I was at Wintringham Grammar School from 1968 to 1974, so I think my Youth Orchestra days would have been something like 1966 or 1967 to about 1972, but my memory is pretty hopeless at the best of times!
We emigrated from Queen Mary Ave, Cleethorpes in 1985 when our children were 8 years (Katie) and 6 years (Matthew). We settled immediately in Hamilton where we have lived ever since. Hamilton is the same population as Grimsby, although in NZ terms it is the fifth largest city in the country. It is in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. The climate is mild - long summers and short winters. Frosts about 2 - 5 times a year. The children did well at school and, although both are musicians and are gaining incomes from teaching and performing, neither of them chose to study music past High School level as they both wanted other careers as well. Katie is an Arborist with her own Tree-work business and she also teaches flute. Matthew is at university studying International Business Management. Matthew learnt cello and then saxophone, finally settling on electric guitar. He now teaches guitar, he conducts the local intermediate school orchestra and he also plays in a rock-band three nights per week, travelling all over New Zealand (luckily his lectures and teaching occupy the first half of the week, leaving Thurs, Fri, Sat free for gigs. Kate and her partner have bought a house in Hamilton and have started a family - we have a beautiful four month old grand-daughter named Tayla. Matthew just announced his engagement to Nicole, who is currently working on her B Ed. degree. They plan to marry some time after graduating.
We love life in New Zealand. There are far more opportunities to hand and the way of life is more laid back (not so starched-shirtish). The out-door life-style is very easy to get used to and the children have really benefited. We miss our families and friends but wouldn't live in England again after experiencing this way of life.
You mentioned Nabucco being the next event coming up. I'd love to hear the details, as Nabucco was one of the operas we put on with Jeff Babb when I was at school. I loved every minute of it - little did I know at the time that I would become so involved in Musical Theatre as I have since being in New Zealand!!
I would love to hear from anyone. My address, if you could pass it on, is [available on request from the gcdyo] New Zealand.
We hear the sad news of the death of Linda Williams. Our thoughts go to her family. This is her obituary as recorded in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph:
A leading Grimsby born musician who made her name nationwide has died at the age of 47. Linda Williams who played in the Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District Youth Orchestra, died on October 28. The daughter of Pat and the late Jim Parkinson, Linda was born into a well-known musical family and studied the violin from an early age. Under Jeffrey Babb at wintringham school, she was chosen for the British Youth Symphony Orchestra and went on to the Guildhall School of Music. Although she lived away from Grimsby after her childhood, she did play in reunion concerts for the youth Orchestra. After performing in the BBC Academy Orchestra in Bristol, Linda taught in Oldham and later became head of strings at Rochdale Music Service. Smiling, open, energetic, thoughtful and brave, Linda made friends everywhere. A constant organiser of orchestras or musicians' groups, she also gave her time to adjudicate performances, from the grandest town hall to the humblest recorder group. While in Oldham, Linda played for most of the school choral and operatic societies of the Greater Manchester area. She was a leading light in the Rochdale Music Service from 1981.
Perhaps her greatest contribution to music was helping to found the Northern Baroque Orchestra and she became its secretary, playing first or second violin, or viola as needed, the last time in a wheelchair. The Sulinda Quartet was another group Linda established but she put much of this behind her when she moved to Burnsall, Yorkshire in 1989 when her husband became an organist and choirmaster there. In her new home her chief joy was bringing up her daughter Katie. Her funeral on November 6th was begun and ended by the Northern Baroque Quartet and also included singing from the Grassington choir. A memorial concert in the Yorkshire dales is planned for early Spring next year.
