A lady living in West Sussex has very kindly made available to us three concert programmes of the "Bishop Auckland Musical Society" dating from 1913-1916.
She comments:
These belonged to my grandfather, Harold Shield Vinycomb (Harry) who sang with the choir (he is listed under the Tenors in 1913).
He is also listed in the 1914 programme, where I note that the advertised St Petersburg Quartet was unable to travel over to this country and it was a replacement programme that year.
By 1916 my grandfather had been sent over to France, he suffered a head injury in the war but survived and lived to be 96, always singing in choirs wherever he lived around the country.
I am not sure why we have this third concert, perhaps he attended it when he was invalided out and was unable to take part.
The Vinycomb family came originally from Newcastle and my grandparents lived in Bishop Auckland for a while where I believe my grandmother worked in the post office, they subsequently moved to Sunderland where my grandfather worked in the then National Provincial Bank (Nat West).
Concert 10 Dec 1913
Concert 11 Mar 1913
Concert 25 Nov 1914
Concert 22 Mar 1916
It is certain that these documents provide an important insight into musical activity and repertoire in Bishop Auckland a century ago, with the friendship of the conductor, Nicholas Kilburn, with Elgar being especially significant.
A very early performance of "The Music Makers" is listed on the last page of the 1913 programme, with a date of March 11th 1913.
The mentions of local families, dignitaries and businesses contained in these programmes will certainly be of interest to many people with a local connection; we therefore decided that their publication on the BAMS website was of real merit.
Some notes on Bishop Auckland Music Society Subscribers at that time
Elizabeth Varley has produced some notes, from her knowledge of the town, about some of the then supporters of Bishop Auckland Music Society.
Click here to peruse
Jean Young located the March 11th 1913 Programme and writes:
Click here to peruseIf anyone can offer to add to these, amplify or correct any errors, we shall of course be most grateful and will update the notes accordingly. Thank you.