THE STAFFORD ORCHESTRA
In December 1964, under the musical directorship of John Devenport, the English Electric Orchestra was founded as part of the EE Sports & Social Organization. It soon flourished, staging sixty musicians for its first public concert at the New Theatre Hall, Stychfields in 1965. In December 1965 the orchestra attracted a big audience at its birthday concert. Stychfields Hall was to remain the orchestra’s rehearsal venue for 31 years, until moving to its present home, St Leonard’s Social Club, in April 1995. By 1969 the Orchestra was performing regularly. One musician was John Dunn, a lecturer at North Staffordshire Polytechnic, who played recorder and violin. In 1977 Trevor Stokes became Musical Director, being succeeded in 1981 by Leslie Smith. When Leslie left in 1993 to concentrate on his work with Stafford Choral Society his place was taken by Andrew Baker, the well-known Stafford Music Librarian and Composer. Andrew made great efforts to publicise the Orchestra and to recruit new players but, as ever, it proved difficult to attract a sufficient balance of good string players. In March 1995, under GEC ALSTHOM, the orchestra left Stychfields Hall for St Leonard’s Sports and Social Club, and had thereafter to finance itself. At the same time, it was re-titled the Stafford Orchestral Society. The enthusiastic Bob Birchall took over as Musical Director that year. Although he remained in the post for only sixteen months, he did much to change the focus of the orchestra away from “company band” to a Stafford town-centred organization. Tony Preece took over as Musical Director in August 1996, and through his contacts with Salt Parish Church and Sandon Church established those villages as regular concert venues. A joint concert in 2005 with Stafford Concert Band at St Michael’s, Penkridge, which started as a one-off fund-raiser for the Asian Tsunami, became so popular that it has been a repeated venture. Every Christmas the orchestra joined forces with the English Electric Company Choir (presently the Alstom Singers), for a concert which was later broadcast on Stafford Hospital Radio. Since the 1990s another annual event has been the Macmillan Cancer Relief concert held in Staffordshire County Council Buildings. Tony Preece injected a note of novelty into the orchestra’s normal light classical repertoire with his skilful parodies of well-known pieces, including the Strauss send-ups Tales from the Doxey Marshes and Bootle’s Waltz, the Brandyberg Concerto (including the sleigh ride), and the Last Night of the Proms number, the Plump and Circumspect March. Finally the orchestra has been renamed The Stafford Orchestra, to reflect its close association with the town. In November 2009 Anthony Rose was appointed Musical Director of Uttoxeter Choral Society and also Musical Director of The Stafford Orchestra. He graduated with a BA (Hons) from Durham University, where he was Organ Scholar at Hatfield College. With the choir of Hatfield College he has directed services in Durham Cathedral, York Minster, Gloucester Cathedral and St Albans. While still an undergraduate he founded Durham Baroque Ensemble and Players and performed concerts throughout the North East. Specialising in Early Music, Anthony is deeply involved in early music revival and Baroque aesthetics. He is also a keen composer and has been involved with Conductors and Composers workshops with the Northern Sinfonia, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Brian Ferneyhough and Martyn Harry. His work Expediency saves the Day was performed by the Northern Sinfonia at a Durham Composers’ Concert in Newcastle in 2003.
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Version: 01
21 November 2009 updated by John Wilcock