Halifax Gilbert and Sullivan Society Newsletter

May 2005

En route for Pfennig-Halbpfennig

The theatrical company that comprises most of the cast of The Grand Duke has set off on its journey, due to arrive at Halifax Playhouse in November. Following the auditions at the beginning of May the following cast has been selected :

Thank you to all who auditioned. We welcome back Robert Thurman and say a big hello to Emma Mills, making her first appearance with the Society.

Colin has already begun preparing the music with us on Friday nights, and this will continue through the spring and summer until September, when Margaret will start our floor rehearsals. More precise details will be available before long.

The Society online

And when these details are available, you will be able to find them on the Society website. You can see our internet address at the head of this Newsletter, and can use it to check up on concert, club night and show dates, to contact the Chairman or Secretary and (when booking begins) to book show tickets. We hope in due course to have an archive of show photographs and other Society memorabilia.

Thanks to Colin Fine for organising and taking on the maintenance of this website, and we must not forget the earlier contribution of David and Rachel Prosser, who originally proposed the idea of a website to the Committee and who set up the first site.

Steven Mellor

Many of you will have heard the sad news about Steven, who was severely affected by smoke in a fire at his home on the night of Sunday May 1^st. He remains very ill in hospital, and our thoughts are with him and his family.

Annual General Meeting

The Society’s AGM took place on Friday March 18^th. The Treasurer’s report noted that the Society had avoided a deficit over the year for the first time in several years, thanks to some profitable concerts and fund-raising activities. Efforts in this direction needed to be doubled this year to make sure that The Grand Duke enjoys sufficient financial support. Tribute was paid to the splendid publicity efforts of Peter Sugden and Paul Matthews.

We debated the ladies’ concert dress once more, and a working party will be set up to make a firm proposal before next concert season.

Nominations for the Committee were in as short supply as usual, and Trevor Roberts (Chairman), Sheila Simpson (Vice-Chairman), Kathryn Buxton (Secretary) and Richard Buxton (Treasurer) were re-elected. Peter Sugden, Paul Matthews and Christine Johnson join Stephanie Bolton, Jane Fellows and Colin Akers as general members. Please talk to any of these if you want something to be considered by the Committee. They are there to represent you.

Subscriptions and Performance fees were held at their current rates for yet another year. It was felt that a low fixed cost would encourage people to become and remain members or patrons, and that they would then feel able to contribute to the Society in other ways. We have been delighted to receive many subscription renewals since the forms were distributed with the last Newsletter. If you haven’t yet paid and have lost the address to send it to, please contact either of the names at the head of this Newsletter.

Easter Monday walk

A small but convivial group met at Jane Fellows’ house on Easter Monday, to take a walk around Almondbury’s South-Eastern environs, through somewhat muddy (but cow-free) fields to Farnley Tyas, where the party rested on the outdoor seats of the Golden Cock, while the two with the most presentable footwear were dispatched indoors to buy the drinks. The return route was slightly less adventurous, for the benefit of Anne Watson who was walking with a severely flapping sole. On returning to Jane’s the party enjoyed a reviving choice of soups and a look at photographs from her recent trip to Tanzania. Thanks to Jane for the hospitality that we always find in Almondbury.

Concerts and Club Nights

Our concert season is well under way. Following the opener at All Saints, we were in Mirfield the following day and Mytholmroyd at the end of April. May 6^th saw an excursion to Cracoe in support of the Skipton Dialysis Fund, where a packed Village Hall gave an enthusiastic response to our performance (if not to a particularly long raffle draw afterwards). We are preparing for our trip to Thackley on May 21^st, before our final planned concert of the season at Warley St John’s on Sunday June 12^th (this is at 6.00 p.m., for anybody intending to come along).

This concert season has displayed the versatility of the Society, with somebody different unable to get to each concert, but ably covered by Lord High Substitutes. We should mention Ian Henderson in dispatches here, since he covered manfully for two people at Cracoe.

Club nights have been enjoyed as much as ever. Michael Templeton, our Strephon from Iolanthe, was initiated into the tradition as Robin in Ruddigore, and lived to tell the tale. We had a fine mix of talent on display in the first of our two pot-pourris, and still have Yeomen (May 27^th) and the second pot-pourri (June 24^th) to come. Anybody wishing to perform their party piece in the pot-pourri please contact Trevor Roberts (you don’t have to be a member, and you don’t have to sing!).

What’s on

Colin Fine and Leon Waksberg are in BUSOM's Summer Concert at the Tasmin Little Music Centre, Bradford University, on Thu 26^th May: numbers from Kiss Me Kate, Guys and Dolls, Hair, The Producers and Phantom of the Opera. Tickets on the door.

Leon Waksberg is appearing in Leeds Youth Opera’s The Magic Flute at the Riley Smith Theatre, University of Leeds. It runs from July 6^th to 9^th at 7.30 nightly, and the Box Office number is 0113 224 3801 or 0113 267 4703. Leon has three parts (not simultaneously - They have alternate casts on successive nights) and will be Monostatos one night and a Priest and Armed Man the next.

For something completely different, Richard Buxton will be in Dewsbury Arts Group’s Spend Spend Spend at Dewsbury Studio Theatre, from June 23^rd to July 2^nd (except for Sunday 26^th) at 7.30 p.m. You can ring 01924 465647 for booking enquiries. Richard has five parts in this (although two of them only have one line).

Harrogate G & S traditionally finish off the local season, and they are presenting The Pirates of Penzance from May 24^th to 28^th at 7.30, with a 2.30 matinee on the Saturday. Harrogate Theatre Box Office is at 01423 502116.

For choral and brass band enthusiasts, Halifax Choral Society are giving their Summer Prom on Saturday June 18^th at the Victoria Theatre. As usual, their guests are Black Dyke Band, newly-crowned European Champions, and a fine evening of music-making is in prospect.

Saturday in the Park

Following last year’s successful stall at the Halifax Show, we are repeating the enterprise this year. The Show takes place in Savile Park on Saturday August 13^th, and Jane Fellows is once again co-ordinating our efforts. We will be advertising The Grand Duke, encouraging people to join us, and offering things (eatable and otherwise) for sale. Jane will be delighted to receive offers of assistance and ideas for activities on the day. Can somebody come up with a competition to follow last year’s Name-the-Fairy?

Trivia Corner

A few Newsletters ago we invited you to compile a Pangram. This, you may recall, is a sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet. Thank you to Sheila Simpson for coming up with these ...

• Rose Maybud’s book of etiquette influenced her viewpoint to just an amazing extent.
• Fitzbattleaxe is a jolly clever word to have in quirky pangrams.
• With quixotic zeal, Jack Point bravely rescued fraught maidens.
• Breezily docking in its wake, the Tom-Tit quickly hove to in juxtaposition to H M S Pinafore.
• Jolly G & S tenors quickly remove sopranos’ earwax with deafening “zing-booms”!

See if you can match these – suggestions on a postcard, please.

Back to Pfennig-Halbpfennig

All that remains is to ask you all to promote The Grand Duke wherever you can. We shall be producing flyers / booking forms soon, so that you can respond practically to people’s interest. In the meantime, the essential details are :

We’ll be in touch again before the summer, and hope to see you at the remaining Club Nights.

Au revoir!