DELIGHTED TO SUPPORT

THE MUSIC IN MALMESBURY EXHIBITION

AT THE ATHELSTAN MUSEUM

Produced by Stickybeak Studios at Jackdaw Towers.

Printed by Abbey Printing 01666 823989

Introduction by Jim Toogood

(Exhibition Co-ordinator)

One would expect the Oldest Borough in England to have a mu-sical history. We have come a long way from Plainsong sung by the monks in the Abbey a thousand years ago to the innovative happen-ings at the Malmesbury Music Academy and Malmesbury School today ... and now the town plays host to WOMAD, a music festival of international repute as well! The following pages give a sample of the Eight Groups exhibit-ing but I am sure that there are many other groups doing equally exciting things in the area.

Jim Toogood, man of many parts including

performing in Malmesbury Singers’ produc-

tion of Hannah and the Tyger (Malmesbury

Abbey, February 2006)

Contact details for organisations

Malmesbury Concert Band -

www.freewebs.com/malmesburyconcertband

Malmesbury Jazz Society

The Secretary, 34/36 St John Street, Malmesbury SB16 9BW,

Tel: 01666 824918, email: the.poole@btinternet.com.

Malmesbury Singers - www.malmesburysingers.co.uk

Malmesbury Music Society - The Old School, Little Somer-

ford, Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK, SN15 5JW 01666 824924

The Dubious Brothers -www.dubiousbros.co.uk

Music in Malmesbury Abbey

Malmesbury Music Academy -

www.malmesburymusicacademy.com

Malmesbury School

www.malmesbury.wilts.sch..uk

MALMESBURY

SCHOOL

Although Malmesbury School is celebrating its 40th birthday this year, the

tradition of good music teaching goes back further. Remarkably, there have

only been two Heads of Music during the history of Malmesbury as a com-

prehensive school - John Hughes (appointed in 1967) and Chris Bradshaw,

who succeeded John in 1996.

As well as the annual Christmas Concerts, John can recall joint musical pro-

ductions with drama teachers John O’Brian and Russell Blackadder such as

Oliver!, West Side Story and Grease. Chris has continued this tradition with

an excellent production of A Christmas Carol with Head of Drama, Bryony

Edwards and a cast of thousands.

Jim Toogood comments - “I never cease to be amazed that I used to sit as Gram-

mar School Chair of Governors in the 60s with the School Choir render-

ing Nymphs and Shepherds at Speech Day and then consider their wonderful Con-

certs today!”

To bring things bang up to date, the school is now about to become an Academy

with specialist status for the performing arts. As part of its outreach work it helps to

coordinate and subsidise the WOMAD Schools’ Project where several primary

schools, both large and small, from the catchment area work with artists of world

repute and perform in the Abbey and open the Festival at Charlton Park in late July.

WOMAD 2010, school performers

with Cheikh Lo (left) and Juldeh

Camara (Right)

www.malmesbury.wilts.sch.uk

Malmesbury Jazz Society was formed in 1976 after a meeting be-tween Tim Newman, Richard Poole and the late Marshall Clark. The Keith Box Band was to host the first session at the Kings Arms Hotel with an admission charge of 50p. A small profit was made, so a second session with the Nigel Hunts Band was held and live, traditional New Orleans style jazz has been played regularly in Malmesbury ever since. Over the last 30 years, Tim has been responsible for bringing some of the top jazz musicians from Europe and America to play for the Jazz Society. 1997 saw our first Malmesbury Jazz Festival, which was held over a weekend in September, with financial support form North Wiltshire Dis-trict Council, and practical support from many local pubs who hosted the musicians and audiences who came from all over the country. The proposed redevelopment of the Market Room at the Kings Arms Hotel saw the 2002 season move to a new venue at the Rose and Crown at Lea. Sadly, after 9 successful festivals, we were unable to run a 10th, mainly through lack of funding. But the Society continues with its traditional winter programme of excellent bands, on the last Sat-urday of each month from September through to April each year. If you would like more information about the Society and our pro-gramme of Traditional Jazz please contact the Secretary, 34/36 St John Street, Malmesbury SB16 9BW, Tel: 01666 824918, email: the.poole@btinternet.com.

Tim Newman and the Celebration Jazz Band playing in Malmesbury Abbey at one of our Jazz Festivals in Septem-ber 2003

MUSIC in Malmesbury Abbey

Today, in 2011, the Abbey has an established Abbey Choir to support Ab-bey services. The Choir sings both traditional music and more recent chal-lenging compositions. Exactly when a formal lay choir was created is unknown, but even 1200 years ago the Benedictine Monks would have sung at ser-vices. Composers were writing for Masses in the 1300s. As a result of Dissolution of the Monasteries, lay singers could be introduced for Parish Church services. A Choir, in the last 150 years and more, has been used for church services, including weddings, as well as Civic, County and special services. Sadly, there are only a few photographs of Malmesbury Abbey Choir available. Recently, the Choir sang at Edington Priory with St Mary’s School Calne for Cancer Research. Then in 2005 the Choir were invited to a church commu-nity in Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada and gave both concerts and a Ser-vice. What an experience! BBC Songs of Praise was broadcast in February 1995.

Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee Celebra-tion came to Malmesbury on 7th De-cember 2001, when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attended her Abbey Celebration Service. The Abbey Choir were joined by choirs of two schools - in Calne & Wootton Bassett.

The Choirmaster, John Hughes, composed the music for the ‘1000 years op-eretta story’ of the flight of Eilmer the Monk. This was first performed in 2001 with Abbey Choir members as soloists. On Good Fridays in recent years the Choir have performed major choral works including the Mozart and Fauré Requiems and Haydn Nelson Mass.

A Brief History of the Malmesbury Abbey

Music Society

The ‘Abbey Music Society’ came about at the initia-tive of the Vicar, Rev Arthur Beaghen (1944-1975) in 1971. He wished to bring more people into the Abbey—with the help of the Churchwardens Dr Mi-chael Pym, Jim Toogood and a small team. John Hughes was recruited to the team a year or so later. He is the present Chairman of the Society .

The PCC report on the 1972 season says that the aim of the com-mittee was to promote, help and encourage suitable musical or dra-matic performances of as high a standard as possible in the Abbey. They thought four performances per season of 60 to 90 minutes in duration. There are three ways of attending concerts, as Season ticket mem-bers, membership only, or tickets for individual concerts.

Over the 40 years in this small town of Malmesbury, MAMS have given about 180 concerts in the Abbey and so doing brought us some wonderful musicians with delightful and sometimes challeng-ing music.

The performers include Orchestras and Ensembles; the Choral tradi-tion has continued from the first concert. We invite young people, from schools and music colleges, and young professionals to perform as groups or solos. We arrange coach outings to a Promenade con-cert and other venues each year. The 2011 Season Concerts include the world famous, Harry Christo-

phers and The Sixteen singers.

The Dubious Brothers

Commonly known as “the Doobs”, the 5-piece band has been making music in Malmesbury for more years than they care to (or are proba-bly able to) remember. Well, actually it’s twenty this year! During this time we’ve progressed from playing 40th birthday parties to 60th birth-day bashes for the same punters. Doesn’t time fly!

Best known locally for their charity dance gigs, they play a variety of music and have played the clubs and pubs of Wiltshire and the South West for many years, as well as playing mainly at private func-tions. They specialise in providing audiences with sets that they can sit and listen to, or great dance sets that get people on their feet, con-sisting of songs from the 1920's to the 2000’s! They also write their own songs and have, so far, recorded 3 albums, two of well loved covers (Unhinged and The Front Room Sessions) and another self-penned (Uncovered), with a second album of their own music on the way. The Band is basically a mixture of two previous Malmesbury groups, Sailbad the Sinner and Hot Banana and is one of the most enduring and popular bands in the town.