I didn’t entirely know what to expect but I didn’t leave disappointed. It initially looks a little spartan as the displays are mostly constrained to the walls but each corner uncovers another delight. The pictures tell the story and there was much more to see than what I was able to snap, including displays on set design, models, appeals, presenters, animals and production team. There was even a model of Tracy Island. (Instructions here, pdf)
The exhibition is on until January 11th and the museum is generally closed on Mondays.
Morley Town Hall apparently had a very successful Lantern Festival on Thursday night- the organisers had to go and get more milk. (An interesting measure of success, how much coffee they served the Parents). This year, the lanterns were arranged round Terry & Judy, the two statues, followed by a disco in the main hall. (It was for children up to 11 but David decided that he was a bit too old for it).
He was still keen to go trick or treating though and we went round the local streets collecting. I instigated some ground rules- only knock at doors of houses participating (i.e. with a lantrn or decoration) or where we knew the people. A couple of houses had trick-or-treat pots on their front doorsteps and David was careful to only take one item there, although he was frequently offered a second dip at some houses (he is very polite).
One house had a do not call sign which had an ironic twist- Neighbourhood Witch.
In case you are wondering why this post is headed Rummy- we saw a door that said “Knock if you dare - R E D R U M” written in fake blood on the glass. David asked what Red Rum was and I said it was a famous race horse that was stolen and never found. I then remembered that I was mixing up Red Rum with Shergar.
When we told Karen, she twigged in an instant- it was mirror writing for “MURDER” as seen in The Shining.
(It turns out that Shergar had a rather grisly end, according to the Daily Telegraph, not for the squeamish)
This is a small zoo in the Lake District, visited by Karen and David yesterday, along with David’s Cousin. (I was at work!)
Ring tailed Lemurs had the run of the park and the strapline for the place is the ultimate interactive animal experience as you could do lots of close-up stuff like feed the giraffes. It was a cold day however and the taps in the toilets were cold, as were the hot air hand driers. Kids in halloween dress or with a Jack o’ lantern could get in for free so David had scooped out a pumpkin a couple of days before.
We had a family trip to the Morley Proms Concert on Saturday night. In some ways it was a bit amateurish as some of the musicians were still arriving five minutes before the show was due and the dignitaries were ushered in after the orchestra had started, very unprofessional in my book as they were sitting in the front row.
The flags were certainly out in the hall but St. George ones mostly with only a smattering of Union Flags. The Legion people had St. George flags on sale and we also brought a Union Flag from home.
Downstairs was somewhat empty, although the balcony was busy. Even the great and the good in the posh seats were a bit thin on the ground, lots of Councillors being absent.
There were 56 musicians listed in the programme, however, I worked out that there were about fourty squashed onto the platform, more a Chamber Orchestra size. It was the West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (WYSO) and I was bemused to see the strapline in the programme promoting equality and diversity in classical music. (Chasing PC grant aid, perhaps?)
One thing that the programme did NOT say was that this an amateur orchestra- this totally changed my perception of the event on reading this afterwards on Sunday. This is because I thought they were very good for amateurs but rather ordinary for professionals. Some music they played very well, others they didn’t quite carry off quite so well because they weren’t big enough or some of the musicians weren’t quite polished enough. The strings were generally fine (often a weak point in lesser orchestras, although I felt that the #1 violinist solo was lacking in timbre) but the brass wasn’t always smooth enough and they didn’t have enough percussion on occasions. The orchestra was well conducted (by two conductors, one in each half) although it sometimes felt that the orchestra weren’t always following him and his baton work was sometimes more controlled and subtle than the musical output.
(I didn’t realise that I was quite so perceptive about the quality of orchestras but all of those “Classical Spectaculars” must have rubbed off, along with the TV series of Maestro!)
The first half featured several pieces from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro along with his Symphony No. 40 first movement, Vaughan Williams’ English Folk song suite (Seventeen come Sunday), Puccini’s O Mia Babino Caro and Souza’s Stars & Stripes forever, finishing off with an extract from the 1812 Overture. When I saw this on the programme I suspected that they would not be able to do it justice and I was right, they struggled a little and it wasn’t a rich enough sound. It was also distinctly lacking in explosions…
The interval was muddled somewhat by some non-existent refreshments being announced. It also became apparent that many of the audience were friends and family of the musicians so the Morleian turnout was even lower than I initially thought. I was hoping that the dignitaries would make a late entrance again but they were in their seats early this time- shame really, as there would have been an irony in their entrance, the first piece being Sousa’s Liberty Bell, better known as the Monty Python theme tune!
Most of the pieces in the second half were standard last night of the Proms stuff, although the two soloists were able to excel with Delibes’ Flower Duet, the so-called British Airways advert tune.
When it came to the patriotic stuff the enforced jollity was a little contrived and there weren’t exactly a sea of flags waving in the air. It was still good fun though. Here is a shot of the orchestra in action and a brief footage of Rule Britannia. (Apologies for the focus & colour temperature, the Kodak makes a very mediocre Camcorder).
Christmas Concert 13th December at 7.00 in Morley Town hall. The music includes Swan Lake and 1812 Overture as well as Christmas Carols featuring the choirs of local schools. Inkeeping with the music there will be an soldiers and faries fancy dress competition for young audience members.
We’ll be there. Karen suggested I offer to do the bangs but 16 hydrogen filled balloons along the front of the stage would be asking for trouble…
The Proms are a long running series of summer orchestral concerts mostly held at the Royal Albert Hall and culminating in the last night of the proms. I’ve been tempted to go but when I was living in London in the late 80s, you had to go to at least four other Proms and enter a ticket draw (or pay a very large sum of money for a season ticket).
I have been to one Prom Concert though and was paid for it. That is because it featured an 1812 overture (with mortar and cannon effects, or more accurately, 16 theatrical maroons) and my mate with the special effects business had another booking elsewhere so I was called in as the reserve crew. (I’ve also had the opportunity to do that at Birmingham Symphony Hall and Brighton Dome over the years).
We set up the “bomb tanks” on the gallery level which is beyond the archway to the left of the red Proms sign. The gallery encircles the entire hall, although behind the stage is a former bar area which was used for storage and technical space last time I was there (which is quite a long time ago now). The firing was under control of a rather hubristic percussionist whose sole contribution to the musical proceedings had been to play a triangle in the first half.
During the interval, the Gallery promenaders were extremely unchuffed to find themselves cajoled into the far half of the gallery and crash barriers moved to keep them there- the safety elf had spoken. (Of course, there were people seated within yards of the bomb tanks on the upper circle level, but as they were slightly lower down they were considered safe. (& they had paid more for their tickets, of course).
The explosive score for the 1812 features consists of two distinct sets of bangs- five about three quarters of the way through the piece and eleven more during the grand climactic tubular bell-fest. It typically lasts around 14-15 minutes, although I have seen it played in twelve before at a very furious pace. That night, in the Albrt Hall, I noted that the percussionist’s timing on the five was a bit sloppy and when it came to the eleven, he was all over the place, even firing off an extra one when there shouldn’t have been. Consequently, when he pressed the last button, he had already shot his wad, so to speak. I assured him that there had been sixteen bangs but he wanted to check the debris in the bomb tanks to convince himself he had fired them all.
Tonight, in Morley, we are having our own last night of the Proms, although there doesn’t seem to have been too much publicity for it. I did find a mention on Breeze though:
The Mayor of Morley to hold concert in aid of The Royal Legion
The Mayor of Morley Councillor Terrence Grayshon, will be singing along and waiving his Union Jack at a “Proms” concert to be held on Saturday 25th October in Morley Town Hall.
Sopranos, Lucy Appleyard and Alison Eastwood will join the full orchestra on stage to perform, O Mia Babino Caro (Puccini, Gianni Schichi) and The Flower Duet from Delibes Lakme (as used in the British Airways adverts) amongst others.
The concert, in aid of The Royal British Legion begins at 7.30pm and will see Morley Town Hall turned into the Royal Albert Hall for the evening, as proms favourites, Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No: 4 ring out through the building.
The concert, given by The West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, will see a number of classical and operatic pieces played, together with the ever popular proms night classics.
Unfortunately, the Morley Alexandra Hall does not quite have the impressive scale and grandeur of the Royal Albert Hall, but it will hopefully be a fun evening. In the meantime, here is Jerusalem (minus the Jam) from the 2008 Proms.
