2016
In February David Lowe returned to play the Woking Wurlitzer, along with more of his tales and experiences of Britain's waterways and railways. David also played our vintage Hammond organ and here you can see him at the instrument supported by Len Rawle on the Wurlitzer.
The first signs of spring welcomed Mark Laflin to play for us in March. Mark gave his usual musical and engaging show.
Mark's show was our first opportunity to demonstrate some of our new LED chamber lights, which you can see to good effect in the picture below. Over the coming months we shall be working to further enhance these effects.
April saw an interesting gala concert, featuring players from our 2015 UK Young Theatre Organist of the Year Competition plus the welcome return to the Woking Wurlitzer of a former runner up, the Christie Cup holder from 1991, Chris Stanbury, now a Professor of Music and Examiner for the London College of Music, who thrilled the audience with his arrangements. From left to right: Lewis Scott (awarded the Dean Herrick Memorial Trophy in 2015), Robert Eldridge (awarded the Christie Cup in 2015), Declan Poole (2015 YTOY winner), Holly Eldridge (vocal soloist) and Chris Stanbury.
Chris Stanbury during our April concert.
The legendary John Mann returned to play for us in May. In this shot you can not only see John's own video enhancements but also our new LED chamber lighting to good effect.
John also duetted on our Yamaha piano with his club secretary Sarah Bryant who played our Wonderful Woking Wurlitzer beautifully.
In June we welcomed Keith Beckingham, and long standing friend of the Woking Wurlitzer, for our show. He also demonstrated his skills on the Hammond Organ.
After our summer break, during which we held the Young Theatre Organist of Year Competition (YTOY), our first autumn show in September welcomed past winner and now our YTOY organiser Michael Wooldrige to play the Wonderful Woking Wurlitzer. Needless to say he put on a fine show, which included an excellent rendition of Ravel's "Bolero" and a James Bond segue which was most impressive.
We welcomed Simon Gledhill to the Wonderful Woking Wurlitzer in October. Simon presented a wonderful show, with a varied program of music with something to please everyone. Photo courtesy of Simon Gledhill.
Simon Gledhill playing at our October concert. Photo courtesy of Peter Collett.
Our audience was treated to a lovely concert by Andy Quin in November, which featured him playing along to a silent movie, "One Week" starring Buster Keaton. Photo courtesy of Peter Collett.
Andy Quin at the console of the Wonderful Woking Wurlitzer. Photo courtesy of Peter Collett.
Our Christmas Show bought together both long standing and new friends of our Chapter. Charley and Sue Brighton once again bought seasonal warmth to the show via their brass instruments.
New to this years show were brother and sister Jayden and Freya Vicarey. Freya was awarded the Christie Cup at this years YTOY event, and Jayden once again sang beautifully for the festive audience.
Always wanting to encourage young musicians, Len's grandson Daniel Pickford accompanied his grandad on trombone.
We said a fond farewell to the lady who has organised our raffle for 15 years, June Baldwin. On behalf of the Chapter Len and Judith presented June with a bouquet and gift vouchers as a token of our appreciation for her solid contribuition to the charity. However, we hope to welcome June back as a member of the audience at our future shows.
Father Christmas once again kindly spared some of his precious time to draw the raffle, assisted by compère Richard Cole. It was noticable that in the past year Father Christmas had obviously been busy sampling the mince pies!
