Yes listeners. We DO have our very own symphony orchestra! Who knew?! Not me until relatively recently. Yet it’s been here for twenty-eight years! We also have people performing chamber music recitals in Swindon too. Who knew that?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: WHAT are people looking for when they say there’s nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to see and no culture in Swindon? Aside from big West End plays and musicals – and get real this is a town not a city – what is out there that’s not here? I truly don’t understand it.
‘Did you know Swindon has it’s very own Symphony Orchestra? Described by the organisers of Swindon175 last year as “Swindon’s best kept secret”, the orchestra has been performing in the town for twenty-eight years!
A brief History
The Swindon Symphony Orchestra performs two concerts each year, with members who are talented musicians from Swindon and surrounding areas. They play because of their shared love of music, their desire to be something bigger than just a lone person practising at home and because they want to do some good for local and national charities whilst providing entertainment for people in and around Swindon.
This is how it all began . . .
The orchestra was the brain-child of late, enthusiastic local musician John Birkin. His original plan was simply to bring high-quality musicians together for a one-off concert at the Wyvern Theatre in 1989, to raise funds for what was then the Wiltshire Youth Orchestra. However, the music-making was so popular, with audience and musicians alike, that John was persuaded to continue running the orchestra. The initial concert had been a huge undertaking, organised solely by John, so a committee of willing volunteers was formed to spread the workload, and that is how the orchestra still functions today.
Despite its roots reaching back to the 1980s, there have been surprisingly few conductors of the orchestra over the years. Malcolm, our current conductor, has done much to increase the range of music and composers that the orchestra tackles, helping to increase and retain membership in addition to stretching the abilities of the orchestral members and occasionally filling the hearts of the players with fear owing to the sheer number of notes on the page!
Our Concerts
There have been many memorable concerts over the years (very often because the previous concert venue, a church, was so cold!). On one occasion a brave, local conductor Jonathan Trim had to be enlisted to conduct the orchestra with only a few hours’ notice on the day of the concert without prior sight of the programme, as Malcolm had put his back out. One sell-out occasion was a concert at Bath Road Methodist Church when the orchestra performed Peter and the Wolf with the very entertaining and greatly missed Jonny Morris, of Animal Magic fame. On the basis that ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’ the orchestra invited him along, cheekily adding that it had no money to pay him a fee but hoped he would perform anyway as the concert was to raise money for charity. Sometimes, being cheeky pays off!
Concerto soloists are often regular members of the orchestra, with flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello and violin works performed in recent years. Other recent guest instrumentalists have added trumpet, oboe and piano works into the mix.
The orchestra’s repertoire not only includes the standard classical and romantic composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich, but also lesser known works by Suk, Rautavaara, Khachaturian, Reinecke, Horowitz, Arutiunian and Kodaly.
In Autumn 2016 the Orchestra were proud to performed to a sell-out audience in the Great Western Hall at STEAM, Museum of the Great Western Railway, as part of the Swindon 175 celebrations, with the very talented soloist, Daniel Lebhart, delighting us with his skilful performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
Although he is no longer with us, hopefully John Birkin would have been proud of the progress and development made by the Swindon Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestra members are grateful for his insight and unrelenting hard work in founding the Orchestra all those years ago.
Our next concert
Our next concert is this coming Sunday, 5th November 2017, 7:30pm at St Joseph’s Catholic College where you will be able to hear two of our members, Nikki Young (viola) and Ruth Foxman (clarinet) play Bruch’s Double Concerto for Viola and Clarinet. Other works in the programme are Johann Strauss Jr’s Die Fledermaus Overture, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade No. 2, Sibelius’s Finlandia Op. 26. and Shostakovich’s – Symphony No 9.
Join the orchestra or follow us
We are always very interested to hear from musicians who would like to play with the orchestra, especially advanced string and brass players.
All of which is really fab and I’m trying not to be irritated by the fact that they’ve spelt ‘programme’ as ‘program’ all the way through their website. In British English it’s programme for everything apart from computer software when it’s ‘program’. That aside – well done them on recognising Swindon’s greatness!
‘Handpicked Top 3 Places To Visit in Swindon. How do we actually find the most highly rated places to visit? Our 50-Point Inspection includes everything from checking reputation, history, complaints, local reviews, nearness, satisfaction, trust and cost to the general excellence. That’s not all… businesses do not pay us to list them. You deserve only the best!’
Now, there’s lots of other fab things in Swindon of course – let’s not run away with the idea that these three places constitute the entirety of Swindon’s attractions. But it’s lovely to see them on this website nevertheless.
But it was only relatively recently that I had the pleasure of meeting him.
Carole Bent, a friend of Joel’s for 18 years and latterly a close colleague facilitated the introduction. As part of their work together , Carole introduced Joel to a range of people also positively engaged in Swindon – some of whom he knew – and some previously unknown to him. The common factor being that all were taking positive actions in reference to Swindon.
Anyway, the nice upshot of all that was Joel taking an interest in this here blog and signing up to follow it – which thrilled me to death of course! I love a new blog follower of any description!
Always the lawyer, chatting with Joel felt ever so slightly like an interrogation. But it was a privilege to be so interrogated. 🙂
Last night’s event, organised by Carole at the request of Joel’s wife and daughters, constituted a wonderful opportunity for representatives of Swindon’s community organisations and businesses to pay fitting tribute to him.
Held in the central atrium of the UTC this was a splendid affair, in a super splendid building, in a splendid town honouring a splendid man. This man who had saved Nelson Mandela from execution was the biggest champion for and advocate of Swindon.
There’s no finer tribute to Joel than this film from Swindon’s Create Studios. He tells his story in his words and pays tribute to the Swindon people who worked for him.
My favourite bit? I‘m paraphrasing slightly: ‘Everything is good about Swindon. But I sometimes don’t think the people of Swindon realise how good it is. I want everyone to be proud of Swindon and say ‘hey – this is a good place, we’re proud to be from Swindon.’
He’s right. Everything IS good about Swindon. Well – almost everything anyway. And I can’t begin to convey the frustration I feel when I hear people knocking the place.
I like the entire thing, but in particular the last sentence: ‘There is only one thing that I will not concede and that is that might be meaningless to strive in a good cause.’
Thank goodness for the Václavs and the Joels of this world. And thank goodness too for the groups and individuals in this town that continue to strive for good causes. I’m in awe of the effort they put in. There’s too many to mention here but Swindon would be poorer without them for sure.
It was a delight to know you Joel – albeit briefly. From one Born again Swindonian to another: RIP.
It’s good to see what was – many years ago – the Wiltshire hotel and latterly The Thistle, back in use as the Thistle Express. It’s in a super fab location for sure. Literally a spit from the railway and bus stations and the town centre. The Kimmerfields car park is just across the road and only a further little spit up to Regent Circus and the Cineworld cinema and eateries up there. What you might call at the heart of things.
I have an opportunity to try the place out soon so I’ll report back on that soon. I look forward to the bottomless breakfast. It sounds good to me! In the meantime, the official press release follows to give you a feel for the place.
‘Thistle Express is aimed at the savvy, value-conscious, modern traveller, providing more choice when it comes to booking trips.
The latest addition to the next generation of Thistle hotels in Swindon is opposite the future commercial quarter, ensuring the 95-bedroom hotel is conveniently placed for both business and leisure travellers. It’s the ideal location for guests to drop their bags, head off to that wedding, get ready for their big presentation, or get some well-deserved shut-eye. For those travelling from further afield, Thistle Express Swindon is just an eight-minute walk from the main train station.
The hotel offers fast, free Wi-Fi, bottomless tea and coffee and free breakfast for all guests.
Smart TVs in every bedroom allows those staying to stream their own content, along with blackout curtains and Hypnos mattresses for a good night’s sleep. Guests can fuel up for the day with the hotel’s delicious, free buffet breakfast, offering a selection of hot food as well as lighter continental options of fresh fruit, yoghurt and pastries. And with no need to check out, Thistle Express is turning the traditional hotel experience on its head.
The unique interior concept has been beautifully executed by Faber Design who recently created the Formula 1 R&D Centre, now used as the new headquarters for a leading Formula 1 motorsport company.
Thistle Express Swindon’s General Manager, James Preece, says; “As the latest addition to the Thistle Express family, I am delighted to be a part of the team here in Swindon. We’ve got a great team lined up, all of which are local to Swindon, and we’re all excited to welcome our first guests this autumn.”
Neil Gallagher, CEO at glh hotels says, “We are very proud to be extending our new Thistle Express brand. With increasing investment going into Swindon and the surrounding area and the new shopping hub and commercial quarter opening, we’re ready to welcome guests to this new, modern hotel. We listened to our customers and responded to the demand for a value proposition with fantastic amenities, such as free Wi-Fi, which is crucial to all guests regardless of the purpose of their stay.” ‘
Photography by Brydn Webb (c)
Launch Group 37284 Thistle Express , Swindon.
Ribbon Cutting, Swindon Mayor, Maureen Penny with Neil Gallagher, CEO GLH Hotels.
Launch Group 37284 Thistle Express , Swindon.
Team with Neil Gallagher (Right) CEO GLH Hotels.
It’s a great opportunity to undertake a gastronomic tour round the participating pubs, bars, coffee shops and stalls. It’s also great fun if you do it with friends – as I did. Cos then you can share lots of different burgers/bangers/fish stew etc. Even better. And that’s exactly what I did with my good mate Carole Bent and her friend Muriel. The photos below are Carole’s – she has a good eye for a photo I think. Unlike me.
‘We serve delicious, fresh juices and smoothies that are made to order every time. All the ingredients are juiced and blended right in front of you, so you can be sure that the nutrient content is at its absolute peak for you to enjoy. For anyone not in the mood for juice, then we also have a wide variety of hot drinks, including: teas, herbal teas and freshly ground coffee.’
Kris Talikowski founder of The Core
Now I have to be honest here listeners and tell you that I would probably prefer to eat my own feet than embark on a juice programme. It’s really not for me. I have to confess to being a die hard meat eater. That said, committed carnivore that I am, I can be tempted by an occasional vegetarian or even vegan dish. And The Core has some delicious offerings in that department.
Only a few days ago I had a meeting in there over lunch time and enjoyed a rather delicious avocado on toast. Rather than being smashed, as is usual, it was arranged in beautiful slices and was tasty indeed.
For the sausage and ale trail this year The Core offered a vegetarian burger. Come on – that’s surely an oxymoron or a contradiction in terms at least? 🙂 From the Collins English Dictionary:
‘A burger is a flat round mass of minced meat or vegetables, which is fried and often eaten in a bread roll.’ As opposed to a resident of Hamburg that is …
Not that I’ve any clear idea of how else you’d describe such a beastie. A pattie perhaps?
Anyway, Be all that as it may – I have to say that it was totally scrumptious. So scrummy in fact that I would love to have another one – all to myself this time! Who’d a thought it?
Here I am diving into it with some gusto and relish!
So, my personal reservations about juicing aside, there’s lots of epicurean attractions for me at The Core. And that’s nice!
Well done Kris and your team. The offerings at The Core are a great complement to the other other refreshment stops in both Old Town and the town centre. And YES – there’s some great food and great coffee down the hill too! #justsaying
