It’s hard to believe that the group promoting chamber music in Allendale has been going since 1992. A brainchild of members from the Northern Sinfonia, the idea caught on and helped to place Allendale on the musical map of the…
Category: Cultural Life
Susie Tate, dancer
In an earlier item, I promised to feature Susie Tate’s work in the diary, and I’ve spent a delightful half-hour chatting with her on the phone for this piece today. Recall that Susie was featured on Look North for her…
A rave in the hall . . . how times change
It does sound like fun, and a long evening of dancing frantically to music lined up by a small host of DJs . . . a rave by any other name, and a great evening of excitement after the day…
A truly terrible orchestra, but a sheer delight
Listening agog to a rendition of a classical favourite on Friday morning’s BBC Radio 3 by the so-called Portsmouth Sinfonia, reprised in a Youtube upload straight from the vinyl, I wondered why the sounds, still recognisable as music, but nearly…
Mr Robin is back
I’m no ornithologist, but I kind of suspect that the crowds of finches that gathered around the bird feeding pad, along with assorted jackdaws, collared doves, the blackbird family, and Earnest the pea cock shaking his tail feathers, might have…
Media attention for the arts in our midst
It will behove the diary to run a feature, sometime soon, on each of the two local artistes who garnered significant regional media attention this past weekend, but for now it’s probably more important to note the fanfare. Anna Harrison’s…
Lord of the Dales Dance
One of the most popular hymns in English-speaking congregations, and possibly a featured request at the upcoming Hymns & Pimms at St. Cuthbert’s, is Lord of the Dance, written in 1963 by English songwriter Sydney Carter to fit with an…
Where’d Allendale’s music come from?
Effectively, music has always been in Allendale, probably courtesy of the churches, and certainly courtesy of the Silver Bands that were a socially cohesive force in most mining communities throughout the 19th century. But for some of us, anything prior…
Allendale’s oldest Book Club
Liz Sandison writes to chat about the Book Club at Arnison Close: “I believe there are several Book groups/ book circles flourishing in the area but this one was the first! It was begun in 1981 by Sue Bates who…
‘A Child of Our Time’ at Hexham Abbey
Not many folks from Allendale, this time, have managed to get through the exhausting rehearsals for the Orpheus Choir’s concert yesterday evening. It’s a hard piece. But often for these concerts, several Allen Valley singers do swell the ranks of…