London and South of England Chapter.
Donald was a direct entry into the International Young Theatre Organist of the Year Competition which took place at the convention in San Francisco in 1991. He came away from there the winner of the senior competition and has gone on to great things since then. He is at present the principle organist at London’s Film Premier Cinema The Odeon Leicester Square where he has played for numerous Royal Film Performances, including four in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. Donald has always be prominent on the theatre organ scene but recently reports have suggested that he was reaching even greater heights.
So we were very pleased to welcome him to our 3 manual 19 rank Wurlitzer at Woking. Believe me we were not disappointed. We had a well selected programme of music coupled with confidently, and beautifully registered sounds played with great mastery and musicianship. At the end the audience were ecstatic and it took quite a time for our MC to quiet them to thank Donald for his stunning performance. Of course we had to have the demanded encore. This was one concert not to be missed!
For the first time our chapter welcomed Christian Cartwright to play for us on our mighty Wurlitzer. Christian is one of the younger generation of organists who is not only interested in playing, but also in the intricate restoration side of these fine historic instruments. He can often be found re-leathering additional parts for the Pipes in the Peaks Compton. He is well known on the theatre organ circuit in the North of England and for his regular performances at the Pipes in the Peaks venue.
Christian gave a highly enjoyable concert to a full house with a wide variety of styles and tempos – very much something for everyone. One piece called for imitation bagpipes and despite having little enough time to time to become familiar with the full tonal range of our 19 rank Wurlitzer, Christian registered an amazing imitation and showed great mastery of our instrument.
After a thrilling finale and some thanks from our MC, we had to have a well deserved encore. Many fine comments about Christians performance we heard as the audience, left with requests for him to visit us again.
The highlight of our year at Woking was, once again the Chapter's Annual Christmas concerts. These are very much driven by the efforts and enthusiasm of Len Rawle, and Len's guests this year included grand-daughter Rebecca Pickford – Flute, Compare/Soprano Sandie Stefanetti, the Chobham St. Lawrence Bell Ringers, led by Tim Willetts and the Bedfordshire Police Choir, conducted by Mark Edmonds, and accompanist Richard Heyes.
Setting up for these events is always a challenge and involves considerable effort erecting staging, additional video, lighting and sound equipment as well as festive decorations! It is amazing how our volunteers transform a spartan sports hall into a welcoming and attractive concert venue. Both performances were to full and enthusiastic houses, ensuring the continued success of these events.
Michael is well known on both the theatre and electronic organ scene as a very versatile artiste. For this concert he brought his Yamaha stage piano and our audience were slightly surprised when before the interval he asked for a volunteer to play a duet with. As luck would have it, our Musical Advisor and Technical Team Leader Len Rawle came forward and a number of lively Jazz and big band numbers followed.
Michael gave us a wonderful evening of contrasts on our mighty Wurlitzer and the evening went down very well with a large audience. This leaves no doubt that Michael will be enthusiastically welcomed back to Woking in the future.
This event should have been our Young Theatre Organist of the Year Competition. Sadly due to insufficient entrants we had to turn this into a Sunday afternoon concert. This is only the second time in thirty years that this has happened. Ryan Jones one of the entrants was able to come to play and extended his repertoire beyond his competition pieces in order to play for half the concert. His lively style and his programme brought great appreciation from the audience. Keith Beckingham a very experienced and well known organist, also came along and played a wonderful contribution to our concert showing great mastery over the mighty Wurlitzer. It was a wonderful concert of contrasts, which the audience enjoyed very much, saying that we perhaps should do this more often.
On Saturday 17 September we had that very lively character Eddie Ruhier at the console of our 19 rank Wurlitzer at Woking. Eddie has been on the organ scene since his days as organist on the MECCA company’s ice rinks circuit playing their Hammond electronic tone wheel organs. He does not play theatre organs that often but when he does you are guaranteed a lively and exciting show which is precisely what we had on this occasion. His programme and presentation was like a breath of fresh air, and well appreciated by the large audience.
Organists Duncan Sinclair & David GraySaturday July 21 saw our ‘Student / Tutor’ concert on our 3/19 Wurlitzer at Woking Leisure Centre. David Gray from Glasgow now 17 was the student. In 2005 he was judged the ‘International Young Theatre Organist of the Year’. His tutor Duncan Sinclair also from Glasgow was originally classically trained but eventually succumbed to Theatre Organ and now performs and teaches. Duncan played the first half and David the second. Between them they gave us a wide ranging programme of music played with great flare by both of them. The audience went wild, and we had encores at the end of both halves. It’s easy to see how David won the competition, but his playing has developed mightily since then. It was a great evening, and Duncan is to be congratulated for his contribution and his teaching.
Organist Nigel Ogden
As mentioned in our last Chapter News, our concert on July 1 with Nigel Ogden on the Wurlitzer at’ The Kilburn State Theatre’ was the last for sometime due to the bingo establishment being sold. Nigel, well known presenter of BBC radio’s ‘The Organist Entertains Programme’ is a premiere organist is his own right. This Sunday afternoon, before a larger audience, his performance certainly gave our years of concerts at Kilburn a great send off. He played a lovely programme many numbers being popular in 1937 when the theatre opened. The applause for his performance was tremendous, and an encore ensued. The new owners intend to turn this Grade II* listed building back into a place of entertainment, so we hope once again our concerts there might be possible.
Organists Simon Gledhill & Richard Hills
The first of a series of special concerts on the four manual Wurlitzer at the ex – Granada Cinema Tooting in London took place on Sunday morning the 24th June. The two rather special young organists sharing the concert this morning were none other than Richard Hills and Simon Gledhill, both well known figures on the theatre organ scene, both at home and abroad. Before an audience of over 300, they thrilled and delighted us all with their musicianship and their delightful programmes of music. The concert was all you might have
expected from two such talented individuals and the deserved response from the audience at the end was absolutely tremendous.
Organist Len Rawle
Our own Musical Director and Technical Guru, Len Rawle was at the console of our 3/19 Wurlitzer at Woking Leisure Centre. Such is Len’s popularity that we had one of the largest audiences at Woking for some time. No one knows this instrument better, since he was the architect of it’s enlargement from a standard 3/8 Granada series II, to it’s present 19 ranks, and this shone through in his performance. He treated us to a wonderful concert which included some beautiful registrations which only he knows how to achieve on this instrument. This, coupled with a wide ranging programme of music made for an evening not to be missed.
Organists Doreen Chadwick, Kevin Morgan & Len Rawle
RAISING THE TOOTING WURLITZER CONCERT.
The four manual Wurlitzer at the ex – Granada Cinema Tooting in London has been entombed under the floor, of what is now a Gala Bingo Establishment, for 33 years. On Sunday April 22 at 12:00 noon with BBC radio, two hired TV camera crews present, and the press, the ambition of our chapter and that of Len Rawle (who has worked tirelessly on this project for many years) was finally realised. Before an audience of over 1100 people the famous Granada Tooting Wurlitzer rose again through the floor to enthusiastic applause. Len started off the concert with a couple of appropriate numbers and then introduced and chatted to Bob Morgan a past manager of the Granada chain who had allowed access for concerts all those years ago. Bob was of course thrilled to be part of this event. After more music, Len then introduced our mystery guest, Doreen Chadwick, now 88, who first played this instrument in 1941. After reminiscing with Len, Doreen delighted the audience with her signature tune, and three other pieces, at the end of which they took the organ down together to close the first half.
After the interval we were entertained in brilliant style by that wonderful theatre organist Kevin Morgan, who played a lovely programme which demonstrated some of the more subtle tones of this particular instrument. As he ended his contribution, he was joined by Len and Doreen, and as he stepped off the lift Len, to tumultuous applause, sent the Wurlitzer down on it’s own to end this unique occasion.
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Richard Hills
On Sunday, April 1, we were very pleased to have that talented young man Richard Hills at the console of the Wurlitzer at the State Theatre Kilburn, in London. He won our Young organist competition when he was only 12. Following this success locally at the age of 14 he went on to become the overall winner of the ATOS international competition held in the States. He has gone on to study music extensively at University and followed that with a year as Organ Scholar at Westminster Abbey. Richard is well known at home as well as America where he has performed on many National and Regional conventions.
Our much larger than usual audience were treated to another one of his fabulous performances, and a lovely programme of music for all tastes.
Organist Penny Weedon
On Saturday, March 10, Penny Weedon was at the console of our 3/19 Wurlitzer at the Leisure Centre. Penny who now runs a music business of her own comes from Wales. She is very popular on the organ scene and is much in demand far and wide for concerts on both electronics and pipes. Penny gave us a lovely concert and a fine display of musicianship. She used the second half to fulfil the many audience requests in the interval. These were all played beautifully from memory and wrapped up into a wonderful programme. The audience were very appreciative and we of course had to have an encore.
Organist Kevin Grunill
Organist Byron Jones
We were very pleased to have Byron, popularly known as “The Welsh Wizard”, start off our concert season at Woking. As a lad he showed a great interest in music and learning to play, and upon leaving school was asked to play the newly installed Hammond electronic organ in the local miners club at Risca.
From there he went from strength to strength and was soon accompanying famous West End artists when they appeared in clubs in his native Wales. He has his own music club with over 600 members and hosts two music festivals per year. He regularly tours on both electronic and pipe organs and has played many of the prime theatre organ venues both at home and abroad.
To add a new dimension to this concert we invited him to bring his exciting Windows XP2 controlled, “Wersi” electronic organ. He played the largest part of the concert on our 3/19 Wurlitzer with an excursion to the “Wersi” in each half and judging by comments in the interval the different range of sounds provided certainly enthralled the audience. Byron gave us a lovely programme of music played with great flair on both instruments and of particular note were some popular ballads from that well known Welsh composer, Ivor Novello. It was obvious from the audience’s lengthy applause, that they had spent a very enjoyable evening.
Organist Len Rawle
The show opened with lights down broken only by a spotlight, into which Len walked, and did the initial welcome. Then all our guests lead by the choir entered, singing, down the central aisle to assemble at their positions. This got the show off to a good start with enthusiastic applause. The show then continued with a welcome from the compere followed by general carol singing, some great Christmas numbers from Len on the Wurlitzer, wonderful singing from the choir and fabulous duets on one piano from our two pianists. We also had merriment and laughter as Richard Cole performed some amusing monologues. The show went well, and many kind comments were made by the large audience so we all felt gratified with our efforts. But then in two hours, after a short rest and some refreshment we had to do it all again!
The two performances were not quite the same. In the evening we had the bell ringers and a trio with Len on the Wurlitzer and his two granddaughters on flute an violin. Both of these events we delightful and well received by the audience. The evening performance came to it's spectacular end around 10:00pm. All chapter members involved were very tired by then, but the elation of a job well done, kept us going for over another hour and half while we dismantled and packed everything away.
As Chapter president I would like to thank all chapter members and artists who worked so hard to make the day such a great success. I would like to pay particular tribute to Len Rawle for all the time he puts into the planning and organisation of these spectacular annual events, and for the time he is prepared to devote to our chapter generally.
Organist Jean Martyn
Organist John MannJohn has been a stalwart on the organ scene on both electronics and pipes for many years now. His first public broadcast was in 1968 when he performed a 30 minute spot on the Wurlitzer at the Granada Tooting. He has played, and is popular all over the world and to this day is much in demand for concerts far and wide. John has a thriving appreciation society and it's members helped to increase our audience almost beyond capacity. More chairs had to be quickly found and also space to place them! He put on a marvellous performance on the mighty Wurlitzer with a wide programme of music, and gave us a great display of musicianship which was greatly appreciated by the audience. John is also a great entertainer with many hilarious stories to tell, which made for an unforgettable evening. Indeed it was some time before our emcee could quiet the audience to say his thanks. We had to have an encore of course!
Organist John Atwell
We were very fortunate to have with us John Atwell from Australia. He is very much in demand for concerts at home and in the rest of the world. John is one of Australia's premier Theatre Organists and was on a small playing tour in Europe with his wife Joy. John's skilful musicianship was not to be missed; and the larger than usual audience were not disapointed. He gave us a fantastic performance with a lovely programme of music using many lovely registrations full of beautiful tone colour, rarely heard on this classic instrument.
It was certainly an unforgettable Sunday afternoon of Theatre Organ Entertainment.