perspectives C H E LT E N H A M A R T S C U LT U R E Cheltenham Arts Council: awards _ funding _ publicity _ events listings
October 2020 – January 2021
Cheltenham Paint Festival • Scottish Dance Bletchley Girls • Suffrage in Cheltenham Pump Room Revival • Local History Society
Advertising Charges HALF PAGE ADVERT £25 for CAC members or £75 for non-members FULL PAGE ADVERT £50 for CAC members or £150 for non-members Please contact editor@cheltenhamartscouncil.co.uk for more information. Submissions must be with us by the following dates for consideration for the next issue:
End of November deadline for Feb/May Issue
End of March deadline for June/Sept Issue
End of July deadline for Oct/Jan Issue
CONTENTS DANCING THROUGH LOCKDOWN AND BEYOND
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POSTCARDS FROM WW1 AND THE STORY OF A LOCAL SOLDIER
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A LYRICAL LOCKDOWN FOR CHELTENHAM CHORAL SOCIETY
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BLETCHLEY GIRLS: LOCAL PLAY GETS NEW LIFE ON THE RADIO
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CONFRONTING COVID AT THE HOLST
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ORIEL SINGERS: MOVING ONLINE MEET THE MEMBERS - PUMP ROOM REVIVAL
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COVER IMAGE: by Mikal Ludlow, Freelance Photography www.mikalludlow.com This piece was created by @LucasAntics installed at St Paul's Parade for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, September 2020. See also a few other images taken in September to celebrate other paint festival works that can be found around the town. For more information about the festival please visit www.cheltenhampaintfestival.co.uk
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LISTINGS 11 CHRISTIAN ARTS FESTIVAL : EDEN 2021
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CHELTENHAM LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
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Perspectives is produced three times a year. The next issue will span February – May 2021. Submission (ads and events) must be with us by the end of NOVEMBER for consideration for the next issue. Please email event details to perspectives.listings@gmail.com
Cheltenham Arts Council PERSPECTIVES TEAM EDITOR Rachel Tedd LISTINGS Alice Hodsdon TEMPLATE DESIGN Chantal Freeman
PERSPECTIVES OCTOBER 2020 – JANUARY 2021 Issue
Dear Readers
I thought I’d begin with a quote from Emily Dickinson: “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” It seems appropriate in all sorts of ways at the moment. Putting together this issue has shown me that everyone involved in the Arts has fought hard to keep their soul bird alive and well during the pandemic, and while we may not be able to sing (with or without words), play, dance, paint, study or perform together yet – I’m writing this at the end of August – there are definitely green shoots of normality around. Long may it continue. And what an imaginative lot we are, finding all sorts of ways to keep the hopeful tune alive! I have sat through more Zoom committee meetings than I care to count, but never imagined that people would use the same technology to dance together – read on to find out more from the Cheltenham branch of RSCDS. Others, like the Oriel Singers and their intrepid conductor, have been on a long and complicated journey, learning how to use technology to perform a World Premiere. The Holst Museum has also made excellent use of the internet, both to bring exhibits to a wider audience on their website and to make a series of recordings on Holst’s piano available on YouTube. Cheltenham Choral Society has been enthusiastically embracing every opportunity to sing online, both as a choir and with thousands of others from around the world.
We’re always pleased to hear from recipients of grants from CAC, and we have a few articles in this edition that show how the funds have been used. As well as the article by the Oriels, there’s an update on a 2018 play from Parrot Productions that has transformed into a radio play, distributed nationally, because of COVID-19. We also hear from the Cheltenham Local History Society about some vital book restoration work that CAC helped to fund. You can also read two short but very touching articles from The Wilson, a preview of a 2021 Christian Arts Festival that has been refocused because of the pandemic, and an introduction to CAC’s newest member society – Pump Room Revival. Welcome! Don’t forget that CAC will like and/or share Facebook or Twitter posts from member organisations to help your publicity. If you have a Facebook / Twitter presence and don’t think we’ve noticed (which is entirely possible!) do drop me a line. By the time you read this, it’ll be October. I sincerely hope that by then our various organisations will be able to meet in person again, even if in smaller groups than normal to start with. On behalf of Cheltenham Arts Council, I wish you all a happy and culture-filled autumn, Christmas and New Year. Rachel Tedd PERSPECTIVES EDITOR
editor@cheltenhamartscouncil.co.uk
2 DANCE
DANCING THROUGH LOCKDOWN AND BEYOND ROYAL SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE SOCIETY
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ow can we dance socially when socially distanced? That’s the question our Scottish Country Dancers have been wrestling with since lockdown was imposed. Scottish dancing is all about moving to the lively music. We frequently take hands and dancing in a group does wonders for both physical and mental wellbeing. Could we, with lots of imagination, dance alone in a virtual group? An invitation went out to members to follow a programme of dances starting at our usual meeting time. Even at this early stage there was a flurry of responses including ‘best excitement of the day’. So supper was brought forward and furniture pushed aside, pets expelled and other trip hazards removed as dance floors of various dimensions were created both inside and sometimes out just to ensure neighbourly entertainment.
PHOTO TAKEN BEFORE LOCKDOWN
Edinburgh have organised a weekly Zoom class enabling us to join together with the wider international community of Scottish Country dancers. A mystery teacher from somewhere in the world takes us through our paces. Over 1000 dancers from St Andrews to Tokyo via Minsk, Ottawa and Cheltenham to Wellington via LA join in the fun.
Was it a success? Did people join in? Was it fun? Judging by the feedback we would say yes – but of course not a patch on the real thing. Here are just a few of the comments received: ‘Thanks, that was a challenge but good fun…’ ‘…My heart is racing but missed the company.’ ‘Thanks, a bit of a hoot’ ‘Dance class is a great idea’ ‘I have just completed the dances. It certainly warmed me up.’ One of our dances took the opportunity to dance with her heroes: ‘Well I’ve found my dancing companions – Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose and Schrodinger’s cat.’ In addition RSCDS headquarters based in
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We are all still dancing and improving our fitness and spirits and are very much looking forward to dancing together again with old friends and to welcoming newcomers. See our website: http://www.cheltenhamrscds.btck.co.uk
HISTORY 3
POSTCARDS FROM WW1 AND THE STORY OF A LOCAL SOLDIER SALLY FERRERS, A VOLUNTEER AT THE WILSON, REPORTS
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f you like to browse in antique shops you may have come across the beautiful silk decorated postcards which soldiers sent home during WW1. I was asked to research and write about them while at the Wilson Museum. It’s a fascinating story. The cards were being made some time before WW1, when the nuns in Belgium and northern France used local women as outworkers to embroider the designs in silk. It provided useful employment. Move forward to the outbreak of WW1, when soldiers became aware of these beautiful cards and wanted to send them home. The nuns could see their growing popularity, so the designs went on to include patriotic flags, messages to someone loved, sister or mother, flowers etc. They were a very poignant link with home. The postcards are blank and rely on the embroidery to convey the message. The surround is embossed paper and glued to a frame to hold the central piece of silk. They were too fragile to send through the post so were enclosed with letters. The saddest part of the story is that too often they arrived home when the soldier had already been killed. So perhaps the dreaded telegram preceded the postcard, but who knows? Alfred Watts, the Local Soldier Poor Alfred Watts. I felt so sorry for him, despite his story being over 100 years old. He was a married Cheltenham man and went to the Great War leaving a much loved 5-year-old child, Billie (a daughter it turned out). While in France he sent over 150 postcards to Billie, each with the
simplest of allowed messages - no mention of where he was, in case they fell into enemy hands. He discovered his wife had kept secret an older daughter fathered by another man. Bad enough, but on his return from fighting for King and Country, he found his wife had given his only overcoat and other personal items to the pawnbrokers and all the money had been spent. Worst of all, she refused to let him see or spend time with Billie. A very acrimonious divorce ensued. His wife made terrible false accusations, CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
4 HISTORY luridly reported in the local papers (which I was able to read). But, despite all the bad publicity, finally Alfred got a job as a caretaker at Boots the chemists in the High Street, now quite different, but the same location as today.
Poor Alfred, he went through some dreadful times, and I wondered if he had found more kindness and comradeship in the trenches than after his unwelcome return home.
STAFF AT BOOTS THE CHEMIST
NEW WORK FROM CHELTENHAM PAINT FESTIVAL
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MUSIC 5
A LYRICAL LOCKDOWN FOR CHELTENHAM CHORAL SOCIETY ALEXANDRA BROOKE TELLS US HOW THEY HAVE COPED
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n March 2020, while we were looking forward to our forthcoming St John Passion concert, Covid-19 raised its ugly head and the landscape of live music underwent a major change. Tutti suddenly became solo and singing in the shower seemed to be the only option for our vocal output. Not to be outdone, however, nor condemned to months of silence, our members got busy with the many and varied options which sprung up in the shadow of lockdown. Gareth Malone was very quick off the mark, bringing his fun, approachable Great British Home Chorus into our homes each evening. Several CCS members have ‘chatted’ to each other via his live YouTube broadcast and we have sung pieces ranging from Duran Duran to Vivaldi – some brave souls have even dared to record their voices in shiny new GBHC t-shirts!
Notes’ project in which we completed questionnaires about our personal experiences / tastes and then read each other’s answers. It seems that our favourite George may actually be Harrison rather than Gershwin or Handel - best not tell the MD! Also, musical memoirs are being written and maybe a Corona Chorus has secretly been composed…. Now we are all experts in Zoom, we are delighted that rehearsals have moved online with great attendance and enthusiasm. It’s a wonderful opportunity to try out a different part and admire your fellow choristers’ home interiors! The county may have been in lockdown, but, as you can see, our passion for singing certainly has not. We don’t know when we’ll meet again in person (cue the late Dame Vera) but until then we’re keeping busy!
Others have enjoyed taking part in the huge Messiah project with the SelfIsolation Choir, as featured on the BBC and International News. A wonderfully uplifting concert at the end of May was a great success. For those of us yearning for a second Hallelujah, Radio 4’s Concert for Ascension Day provided that very opportunity – and another chance to record ourselves, oh joy! Some of us seeking more contemporary offerings have been attending large Zoom rehearsals with Sir Karl Jenkins and Sir James MacMillan - a further musical adventure courtesy of the Stay at Home Choir. Away from the score, members have been sharing their melodious memories with each other via our summer ‘Comparing
“… How great and how wonderful the joys of meeting will be” Translation from Quanta Qualia by Patrick / Andrew Hawes
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
6 Drama
BLETCHLEY GIRLS: LOCAL PLAY GETS NEW LIFE ON THE RADIO LOU BECKETT OF PARROT PRODUCTIONS TELLS US MORE
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play sponsored in part by Cheltenham Arts Council has a new life. Secrets, Lies & Spies performed to three full houses as part of the Cheltenham Heritage Open Days in 2018; now called Bletchley Girls, it is being distributed as a radio play. The play was written by area playwright Lou Beckett and produced by David Elder, both of Parrot Productions. Ten performances of the stage play were planned for May/June 2020. Venues included Cheltenham Playhouse, Parabola Arts Centre as part of the Cheltenham Science Festival Schools programme, and various area festivals including Winchcombe and Nailsworth. Jenny Wicks, Deputy Manager of the Everyman and founder of Jenny Wren Productions, directed the new production. Stopped by the virus, we transformed Bletchley Girls into a radio play. The Gloucester History Festival featured it as part of their digital City Voices programme in September, with three 30-minute episodes on consecutive evenings.
We are grateful to Cheltenham Arts Council for the initial funding we received to help make the play possible. Other sponsors have included the GCHQ alumni organisation, Boom - a London film company (The Crown, The King’s Speech) which did the sound for the radio play, and Thirty Percy and Gloucestershire Funders.
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As part of the History Festival, Bletchley Park will deliver codebreaking workshops to children from disadvantaged areas in the area. These will be delivered remotely and will accompany the play.
The Hospital Broadcast Association also distributed the play to its 180 hospitals, and the Community Radio Network has made it available to their stations across the country. For dates and further details, see www.loubeckett.com
H e r i ta g e 7
CONFRONTING COVID AT THE HOLST TOM CLARKE DESCRIBES THE MUSEUM’S ONLINE OFFERINGS
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ike most small museums, the Holst Birthplace Museum in Cheltenham went through the five stages of grieving when Covid struck, and eventually had to close. Luckily we seem now to be on the home stretch or at least at the end of the beginning. At the height of Covid, what better way could there have been to keep a closed Holst Museum ‘open’ to the public, online, than to use his piano or play his music? Holst was a great 20th century British composer, the third generation of Holsts to have enduring musical links to Cheltenham. Moreover, the Holst is proud to house his 1854 Collard & Collard piano on which much of The Planets Suite was composed. We are only permitted to hear it played on a small number of occasions. With careful social distancing it became possible to allow some local musicians in for recording sessions. Robin A. Smith, our local pianist and composer, started us off by playing Mendelssohn, Brahms, Britten, English folk songs, Beethoven and spirituals, as well as beautiful interpretations. Robin was joined by the singer Hannah Hughes for some of the pieces and you can still hear the event at https://youtu.be/sl-GalYFp3E Holst's all-time best-known I Vow To Thee My Country completed Robin's mini-recital and then became the core of our next event. This was a digitally blended choir from Cheltenham College's Preparatory School and some Holst Museum volunteers, led on Holst's piano by Kit Perona-Wright from the School. The performance is at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=aCey9YpZ27g and our thanks go to all our volunteers who supported this opportunity and of course the College.
Andrew Auster at the Cheltenham Music Festival Society was instrumental (forgive the pun) in getting Robin Smith for us as well as some very talented younger musicians who are in the pipeline. Go to our website https://holstmuseum.org.uk/ whats-on/ to see other offerings such as Object of the Week, and the piano played by rising young talents Tsukushi Mitsuda, Aaron LeMaistre, and Adam Heron. Cheltenham's well-known John Wright will also perform in this series. Our volunteer Catherine Martin even prevailed on Radio 3's Essential Classics presenter Ian Skelly, a Holst enthusiast, to give the Museum a good plug during his programme. Sustenance of a different kind was not overlooked, and in June The Holst played host online to Lits Philippou, ex-restaurateur, wine educator and more besides, with a Zoomed look at Victorian wining and dining, and another on the history of Gin in September.
These have been strange times but at The Holst, enthusiasm and imagination remains undiminished. By the time Perspectives is published, we hope to be open again for a couple of days a week – see our website for details.
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
8 MUSIC
ORIEL SINGERS: MOVING ONLINE THE VALUE OF MUSIC SOFTWARE WHEN CHOIRS ARE SILENCED
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s with so many that work in the Creative Arts industry, I have had to reinvent how I work over the past few months. Whether through online choir rehearsals and singing tuition, or attempting to recreate the sound of my choirs virtually, it has been all change.
refining performances in ‘rehearsal’ and then putting the tracks together to result in something cohesive if done well, and with a sense of musical integrity if you are lucky! (Though luck rarely comes into it!)
‘singing heads’ would appear creating the virtual performance. At best, these videos are a compromise to make up for the live music making we all miss so much and, rather than waving a magic wand, these projects are time-consuming to create, from learning tracks to train the singers,
recordings of those songs so that the boys had something to work towards, while also giving them a feel for what a real session might be like. I have also been involved in a project based on ‘Walking on Sunshine’ with members of Gloucestershire Youth Choir.
Image by PETER YOUNG
One area that quickly became very popular amongst choral singers is the ‘Virtual Choir’ project. The idea is for singers to learn their part, record themselves singing it, and then send it in to me. Soon afterwards, as if by magic, a video of
I decided quite early on that this would be the right sort of activity for a couple of the choirs I direct. I felt that live ‘Zoom’ rehearsals would be more of a challenge for younger singers, so for Gloucestershire Boys’ Choir, I produced a series of YouTube videos teaching them the music they were to learn and then put together audio
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MUSIC 9 For the Oriel Singers, we were due to give the World Premiere of a piece commissioned for the choir, a setting of Sonnet 18, ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’, written by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange in memory of Michael Porter, husband of choir member Clare. This should have been part of our concert at the Winchcombe Festival in May so it made perfect sense for this to become a virtual choir project in order that a piece so close to the choir’s heart could become a reality sooner rather than later. With my a cappella group ‘The Songmen’, I had experience of using older versions of Logic Pro, but no longer owned the software. As a Mac user, I already had access to Garageband, a digital audio workstation (or DAW) that comes free with most Apple products. This is a super piece of software, but when it comes to mixing the voices together effectively, it has its limitations. So when the subject of applying for a grant from the Cheltenham Arts Council came up in an Oriel Singers committee meeting (on Zoom I should add), I was asked if there was anything that would make production of virtual projects as good as they could be, and I immediately thought of Logic Pro X, an industry standard DAW used by such popular musicians as Jacob Collier and Ed Sheeran, amongst many others. I have found using Logic Pro X a revelation and one of the various ‘silver linings’ that I have encountered since live group singing has been put on hold. It enables me to line up the individual tracks submitted by choir members, blending, balancing and positioning them as I would do in a rehearsal. I then go through various processes to create a more cohesive sound through adjusting levels and other effects. Once this is done, I add some reverb to create a sense of space.
Writing it down this way makes it all seem rather simple, but this has been a continuous, steep learning curve. Every turn in the maze produces a new challenge, but the volume of help videos on YouTube has been invaluable in finding ways around problems that I never thought I would have to face three months ago. What’s more, as part of the ‘Education Bundle’ that includes ‘Logic Pro X’, I have access to top quality video editing software ‘Final Cut Pro X’ and have now moved on to video editing too, having just completed work on my first ‘singing heads’ project with Gloucestershire Boys’ Choir. If you would like to hear some of the work I have done, please visit www.soundcloud. com/bencanalto. In addition to this, visit www.orielsingers.org.uk to hear the first ‘performance’ of ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?’, as well as ‘Like a Rainbow Shining’ by Will Todd, sung by Gloucestershire Boys’ Choir. We are still patiently waiting to hear when group singing will be returning to our lives. It has left an enormous hole in what we do and who we are as people. The social side of choral singing has been able to continue to some extent through online sessions, but this will never come close to the real thing. In the meantime, the advanced music technology capabilities I have been afforded through the generosity of Cheltenham Arts Council enables us to at least make music together in some capacity and this has opened new doors not just for the current situation, but for how I might work in the future. With gratitude. Ben Sawyer
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
1 0 H e r i ta g e
MEET THE MEMBERS - PUMP ROOM REVIVAL CAC’S NEWEST MEMBER ORGANISATION
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ump Room Revival became an independent organisation in 2019, after several years as a sub-committee of Friends of Pittville.
We are the only group which speaks for the local community as users of Pittville Pump Room – whether as visitors, local historians or performers. The Pump Room has been described by Historic England as “the finest building in Cheltenham”. Our aim is to breathe new life into the building, which in the recent past has too often stood empty and unloved when not being used for weddings and other private hire events; to improve the visitor experience; and to campaign for the building’s unique heritage to be preserved and celebrated. More details about our work can be found on our website, www.pumproomrevival. com Since 2018 we have held regular meetings with the Chief Executive and other senior representatives of the Cheltenham Trust to explore ways in which the building’s history can be properly acknowledged and the visitor experience improved. We have also undertaken two extensive “mystery shopping” surveys, the results of which can be found on our website.
summer. We believe that commercial and heritage interests can be successfully combined (as they are at similar buildings in other spa towns) and would like to see the café become a permanent feature in some form. We are also aware that many of Cheltenham Arts Council’s members use the Pump Room as a performance venue. Public performances of music and other performing arts are part of the building’s history and we are anxious to retain and indeed develop this aspect of its use. PUMP ROOM DOME AND CHANDELIER BY ROB RIMELL, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
We have watched with interest the success of the outdoor café and associated event programme at the Pump Room over the
PUMP ROOM IN AUTUMN. PERMISSION BY FRIENDS OF PITTVILLE
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If you would like to support us, just send an email to pumproomrevival@outlook.com requesting to be added to our mailing list. At present there is no membership fee.
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
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EVENTS
EVENTS 11
LISTINGS: EVENTS DIRECTORY OCTOBER 2020 - JANUARY 2021 Events are subject to change or cancellation. Please check via the details provided before attending. VISUAL ARTS AT THE GARDENS GALLERY, MONTPELLIER GARDENS: 2pm-5pm Wed, 10am-5pm Thu-Mon, gardensgallery.co.uk Abigail Waddell, Rachael Thorogood & Jayne Tricker: Looking for a miracle in the madness, Wed 30 Sep- Mon 5 Oct Mike Duckering, Betty Harrison & Sally Wyatt: Viewpoint, Wed 7- Mon 12 Oct Tim Turton: A life in painting, Wed 21- Mon 26 Oct Rosemary Frith: Elements of Expression and Design, Wed 28 Oct- Mon 2 Nov Jilly Hamilton: Land, sea and mountains, Wed 4- Mon 9 Nov Tony Davie: Art for imagination, Wed 11- Mon 16 Nov Adele Riley, Wed 18- Mon 23 Nov
NEW WORK FROM CHELTENHAM PAINT FESTIVAL
NEW WORK FROM CHELTENHAM PAINT FESTIVAL
Wendy Mckenzie: Exploring the landscape, Wed 25- Mon 30 Nov Nikki Seville: Festival of stars, Wed 2- Mon 7 Dec Mhairi Treharne: Making something special, Wed 9- Mon 14 Dec Sophie Wardle: Not perfect, but good, Wed 16- Mon 21 Dec MUSIC Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra: Celebrating Beethoven - Happy 250th Birthday Sat 14 Nov 7.30pm, £17/14, students: 50%, 18 and under: free Pittville Pump Room, cond. David Curtis, violin Michael Foyle. Beethoven: Overture Coriolanus, Violin Concerto, Symph No.3
‘Eroica’. For latest info: cheltenhamsymphony orchestra.info Charlton Kings Choral Society, please see ckcsonline.org.uk for up to date details of the concert of Christmas music we hope to give this December Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra, Sat 9 Jan, 7.30pm, St Andrew’s Church, Montpellier, music by Schubert and Tchaikovsky, cond. Jonathan Mann, cello Rebecca McNaught, leader George Ewart. See cheltenhamchamber orchestra.org.uk Cheltenham Opera Society, the society hopes to resume activities as early as possible in 2021. Please see cheltenhamopera society.org.uk for details Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra: A Scottish Fantasy, Sat 16 Jan, 7.30pm, £17/14, students: 50%, 18 and under: free, Pittville Pump Room, cond. David Curtis. F. Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture, M. Bruch: Scottish Fantasy, J. Sibelius: Symphony 2. For latest info: cheltenhamsymphony orchestra.info
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
EVENTS 13
EVENTS 12 Events for OCTOBER 2020 – JANuary 2021
Cheltenham Philharmonic Orchestra, hoping to restart as soon as the situation allows, please see the coronavirus link on cheltenhamphilharmonic. co.uk STAGE & STAGE STAGE & DANCE Bletchley Girls, transformed from a stage play to a radio play and featured as part of Gloucester History Festival’s City Voices programme, please see loubeckett.com to find out how to hear the performances on the radio or online Cheltenham Operatic and Dramatic Society, The 39 Steps, please see codsonline. co.uk for latest details LECTURES & MEETINGS Prestbury Local History Society hopes to restart meetings in January, please see prestburyhistory.com Historical Association, Gloucestershire Branch: AGM & Talk, Mon 28 Sep, 7.30pm Zoom AGM, followed at 8.15pm by The perspectives
NEW WORK FROM CHELTENHAM PAINT FESTIVAL
Victoria County History in Gloucestershire: Progress and prospects, with James Hodsdon. See hagloucestershire. btck.co.uk/ Currentbranchprogramme for latest details and how to book for the online talks Historical Association, Gloucestershire Branch: Slavery and Motherhood, Wed 7 Oct, 7.30pm Microsoft Teams, Black History Month event with Dr Yvonne Battle-Felton. See hagloucestershire. btck.co.uk/Currentbranch programme for latest details and how to book for the online talk Historical Association, Gloucestershire Branch: Picturing the West India Regiment 1860-1914, Mon 19 Oct, 7.30pm Zoom Black History Month event with Dr Melissa Bennett.
See hagloucestershire. btck.co.uk/ Currentbranchprogramme for latest details and how to book for the online talk Historical Association, Gloucestershire Branch: Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy, Mon 23 Nov, 7.30pm Zoom, with Jo Loosemore. See hagloucestershire.btck. co.uk/Currentbranch programme for latest details and how to book for the online talk Historical Association, Gloucestershire Branch: William Gilpin and The Picturesque Wye Tour, Mon 7 Dec, 7.30pm Zoom with Ruth Waycott. See hagloucestershire. btck.co.uk/ Currentbranchprogramme for latest details and how to book for the online talk
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CHRISTIAN ARTS FESTIVAL : EDEN 2021 RESTORING PARADISE
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ll our festivals are about inclusivity and diversity in the arts, encouraging as many people on board as possible.
Whilst the festivals have a Christian impulse, we believe that Jesus’ invitation is to everyone regardless of religion, race, gender, age or background. Like so many, we are re-imaging how we do things next year. Instead of our usual 2/3 week festival format, next year we will be providing a programme of events over a longer period for sharing our Christian arts heritage, fresh expressions of faith, and unique artistic gifts. So many people are receptive and hungry to explore faith in non-traditional ways - and how readily they soak up what we offer. With continued restrictions on large social gatherings likely into the foreseeable future, we are sowing seeds to reach those curious about faith and spirituality, not just in our traditional church buildings but in the heart of the community – a celebration of Cheltenham’s incredible green spaces, reflecting the theme of next year’s festival: EDEN. What better time and place to explore the theme of EDEN by taking as many of our events outdoors as possible to the parks and green spaces, with prayer walks, singing, telescope astronomy, foraging, God’s pharmacy (herbal remedies), music, visual artists, comedians in the sunshine etc. In addition, The Inspire Sessions will offer a variety of creative workshops led by experienced artists to focus on uplifting spirits and improving wellbeing as we emerge from lockdown e.g. brush lettering, journaling, soulscaping through art, songwriting, etc. We are also planning projects to offer hope and purpose for
ARTIST: SHILOHA LEVI
young people suffering the aftermath of disruption to schooling and restrictions of freedom e.g. Teenage Survival Kit. And to reach wider audiences, many of our live activities and events will be streamed online - a continuation of our spring 2020 YouTube festival initiative Living Room Fest. Adding strength to our vision of a paradise regained, we are also looking to partner with environmental organisations actively responding to pressure on the natural world. Together we can all support Ourboretum – an initiative with BBC Radio Gloucestershire and Cotswolds Conservation Board leading an army of volunteers to grow at least 2,020 saplings at home over the coming year. There’s more! We hope 2021 will include our Festival of Stars in Whaddon, with workshops preparing local youngsters to perform on the stage, the Live Arts Trail, Music in the Park, a ‘Planet of the Plants’ musical, challenging debates with key speakers, a textile banner project, a university student film initiative, an art competition and exhibition etc. Keep up to date with our developments by visiting christianartsfestival.org and sign up to our mailing list. Nikki Seville
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
HISTORY 14
CHELTENHAM LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY RESTORING A UNIQUE DOCUMENT ON WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE
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grant of £300 from Cheltenham Arts Council enabled Cheltenham Local History Society to facilitate the repair of an important document on the history of women’s suffrage in the town. The document, reference number D5130/6/6, is held at Gloucestershire Archives and is titled: Signatures of members of the Conservative & Unionist Women's Franchise Association, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Society and the Women's Freedom League and "Sympathizers" presented to Sir James
UPPER BOARD BEFORE TREATMENT
SPINE BEFORE TREATMENT
T. Agg-Gardner (M.P. for Cheltenham) in recognition of his part in forwarding the Conciliation Bill [concerning women's right to vote] in the House of Commons, 28 March 1912. This book is a unique archive in the history of the women's suffrage movement because it includes nearly 500 names of those who were either members of a society or supporters of the cause in Cheltenham and the immediate area. Only a handful of membership lists from this period have survived in the UK, and researchers have had to rely on local perspectives
and suffrage newspapers to glean names of leaders and supporters: inevitably, more leaders are named than rank and file supporters. The Agg-Gardner book, however, has enabled, with the help of the 1911 census, the identification of personal details of many women and men, and has enriched the picture of the early 20th century movement in the locality (Sue Jones, Votes for Women: Cheltenham and the Cotswolds, The History Press, 2018). As a result, a comprehensive database of 467 Cheltenham individuals is now available – for details, see www.google. com/view/cotswoldsuffrage/local-
REPAIRED UPPER BOARD
SPINE FOLLOWING CONSERVATION
suffrage-supporters. CLHS volunteers have also mapped the majority on the KYP (Know Your Place) website (https:// maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/?edition=glos), which can be accessed, together with guidance on how to use it, through the Cheltenham Local History Society website https://www.cheltlocalhistory. org.uk/research.html The repair work was undertaken by Rhonda Niven, a professional conservator based at Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service. The initial
HISTORY 15
assessment of the volume described the significant damage to the binding, boards and spine. The conservator recommended that the existing binding could be repaired with toned Japanese tissue and aero linen to match the original. The upper cover could be re-formed over the existing felt and new linings could be added to the text-block spine.
The volume is now housed in a ‘Clamshell’ box and has now been returned to the secure storage facilities at Gloucestershire Archives and will remain permanently preserved there. Sue Jones, Claire Collins and Sue Brown.
For more details of research that has been carried out into the content of the volume, you can have a look at Dr Sue Jones’ website https://sites.google.com/view/cotswoldsuffrage/home and the Know Your Place website: https:// maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/?edition=glos
CHELTENHAM ARTS COUNCIL.CO.UK
FINANCIAL PLANNING AND INVESTMENTS
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