9th April 2025
Dear Friends and Supporters
Our last concert
We are still recovering from our highly successful – and, by all accounts, much enjoyed – concert “Divine Music for Trumpets and Voices, a celebration of the life of GF Handel”. Our particular thanks to Ben for putting together, rehearsing and conducting the excellent orchestra, choir, soloists and narrator, no insignificant task given the numbers involved. We were delighted that all the performers turned up on time for the rehearsal in spite of Gloucestershire Highways’ attempts to disrupt proceedings by closing some of the access roads to Wotton-under-Edge.
A big thanks also to our audience who were out in such numbers, and who, likewise, arrived in good time so that our contingency plans for late arrivals proved completely unnecessary. We are also indebted to St Mary’s for allowing us to use the church, and to our volunteers who were so helpful on the night.
Regarding the practicalities and the seating arrangements, after three concerts following our re-launch we would welcome any comments or suggestions for future concerts. The seating in a building such as St. Mary’s is never easy to organise, although we are blessed with excellent acoustics almost everywhere. That said, on this occasion it became necessary to make some slight seating adjustments on Saturday for reasons outside our control, including a damaged piano propped precariously against the front row pews. We were very grateful for the understanding of those who were affected.
Our next concert:
On Saturday 28th June we shall delight in welcoming once again The London Mozart Players. Since their foundation in 1949 the LMP remain one of London’s leading and most popular chamber orchestras and this will be the orchestra’s sixth visit to the Series. Alongside LMP, we will also welcome the brilliant young horn player Amadea Dazeley-Gaist in a programme that will include Richard Strauss’s effervescent 1st Horn Concerto and a performance of Beethoven’s ever-loved 4th Symphony.
Priority booking via the Wotton Concert Series website will commence at 10:00 am on Monday 12th May for our Sponsors, followed by our Platinum and Gold Friends on Friday 16th May and Monday 19th May respectively. Tickets will go on general sale on Monday 26th May.
Friends…
In the meantime, many thanks to those Friends who have already renewed their support for WCS for another year – as well as those intending to do so. You are the lifeblood of WCS, without which we would not be able to bring you the music and performances we aspire to. A reminder too that your donations benefit from Gift Aid.
On a practical note, in recognition of the contribution of our Friends and reflecting widespread practice we plan to list the names of our Friends in future concert programmes. If any of you would prefer that your names were not included in the programmes, please do let us know.
…and the reality of future funding:
We are presently focussing on the three-year period from 2025 to 2027, at the end of which we will re-assess the future of WCS and its finances.
Our aim this year is to return to the pre-Covid model of three concerts/annum. For this, we still need to increase the funding by some 50% over last year’s level, i.e. by some £7,500, if we are to meet the anticipated shortfall in funding three concerts, bearing in mind that WCS will not compromise on excellence as we believe our concerts would lose their appeal to our supporters if we were to do so.
This brings us to reflect on the three concerts we have organised since last year’s re-launch. While they have all been well-attended and well-received, none more so than the last, we realise that the combination of some 40 performers in the church and some 260 guests places somewhat of a strain on the facilities (including the loos and the bars), and more generally on the available space, causing congestion both before the concert starts and during the interval. It also makes it more difficult to see, let alone meet one’s friends, which is an important aspect of our concerts.
Therefore, after discussing this aspect with representatives of St. Mary’s, we have decided to limit ticket sales to 250 in future so that it will be easier to circulate, and there will be less pressure on the facilities.
As a consequence those wishing to buy tickets will need to be quicker off the mark. Moreover, the benefits of being a Friend – priority booking and discounted tickets – will increase accordingly.
So, if you are already a Friend please consider increasing your donation and/or encouraging your friends to “join up”. If you are not yet a Friend but have enjoyed one or more of our concerts please consider becoming a Friend. WCS enjoys no paid administration, so all your donations go towards concert costs, principally the artists’ fees, but including the associated costs of the staging, venue hire, the medical team etc.
New Trustee(s):
Lastly, if any of our Friends or Supporters would like to help the present Trustees, please don’t hesitate to let one of us know. You would be welcomed with open arms!
With best wishes
The WCS Trustees
PS. To those fans of Mozart Opera, we would like to draw your attention to a performance by Kleine Opera of the Marriage of Figaro which will be taking place at St Marks Church, Leigh Delamere SN14 6JZ on 31st of May at 7.30pm in aid of the Churches Conservation Trust. The Gardens of Leigh Delamere House will be open for picnics prior to the start of the performance from 6pm. Further information H_Tupper@hotmail.com
Kind regards
Edward Harford
Communications Manager
