A little glimpse into the past

[Dirge]

I did a short 'turn' at a local sheltered housing complex; a 'retirement village'. Half an hour of concertina and chat. My wife persuaded me that I needed to play for an audience more often to get over a certain amount of stage fright and set this up for me; she was right it's a good thing to do, and a good place to do it, and I will do it again.

 

Anyway, at the end after the Q and A bit, an old chap came up and said that he'd really enjoyed it, it was the first time he'd heard a concertina for 80 years and it had brought the memories flooding back. Apparently he grew up in Blackpool (England) and his grandfather was a concertina player and he remembered hearing Gran'dad playing hymns on it. At that stage he was 10 years old, and here he was 90, so that would have been about 1930. He said it was really impressive hearing Gran'dad and he'd never forgotten it, so hearing me had made him very nostalgic. Wasn't that nice?

 

Gran'dad also played the organ, and an organisation was mentioned, Band of Light or something? Sorry I've forgotten that bit; I assumed it was competition for the Sally Army from the conversation.

 

Quite unlooked for, I was handed an envelope with $25 in at the end, so that was nice too, especially as it wasn't expected.

[Rod]

I did a short 'turn' at a local sheltered housing complex; a 'retirement village'. Half an hour of concertina and chat. My wife persuaded me that I needed to play for an audience more often to get over a certain amount of stage fright and set this up for me; she was right it's a good thing to do, and a good place to do it, and I will do it again.

 

Anyway, at the end after the Q and A bit, an old chap came up and said that he'd really enjoyed it, it was the first time he'd heard a concertina for 80 years and it had brought the memories flooding back. Apparently he grew up in Blackpool (England) and his grandfather was a concertina player and he remembered hearing Gran'dad playing hymns on it. At that stage he was 10 years old, and here he was 90, so that would have been about 1930. He said it was really impressive hearing Gran'dad and he'd never forgotten it, so hearing me had made him very nostalgic. Wasn't that nice?

 

Gran'dad also played the organ, and an organisation was mentioned, Band of Light or something? Sorry I've forgotten that bit; I assumed it was competition for the Sally Army from the conversation.

 

Quite unlooked for, I was handed an envelope with $25 in at the end, so that was nice too, especially as it wasn't expected.

 

What were some of the tunes you played to them Dirge ?

[Dirge]

What were some of the tunes you played to them Dirge ?

 

The Whistler and his Dog.

Intermezzo from Cavallieria Rusticana

Sicilian serenade

Hunt the Hare (demonstration of what I thought they might EXPECT me to play...)

Schon Rosmarin (first bit to show where I was going)

 

I think I did more than that but I was busking the whole 'lecture' and that's all I remember offhand.

 

The intermezzo was a great hit they were all humming along before it got to the main theme.

[Dan Worrall]

I did a short 'turn' at a local sheltered housing complex; a 'retirement village'. Half an hour of concertina and chat. My wife persuaded me that I needed to play for an audience more often to get over a certain amount of stage fright and set this up for me; she was right it's a good thing to do, and a good place to do it, and I will do it again.

 

Anyway, at the end after the Q and A bit, an old chap came up and said that he'd really enjoyed it, it was the first time he'd heard a concertina for 80 years and it had brought the memories flooding back. Apparently he grew up in Blackpool (England) and his grandfather was a concertina player and he remembered hearing Gran'dad playing hymns on it. At that stage he was 10 years old, and here he was 90, so that would have been about 1930. He said it was really impressive hearing Gran'dad and he'd never forgotten it, so hearing me had made him very nostalgic. Wasn't that nice?

 

Gran'dad also played the organ, and an organisation was mentioned, Band of Light or something? Sorry I've forgotten that bit; I assumed it was competition for the Sally Army from the conversation.

 

Quite unlooked for, I was handed an envelope with $25 in at the end, so that was nice too, especially as it wasn't expected.

 

Dirge,

 

There were several rival temperance organizations to the SA in England; perhaps his grandfather was in one of them.

 

So he has been in New Zealand for 80 years and never saw a concertina there...amazing. Use of the Anglo crashed and burned in most places after WWI, but usually not completely. Must be the kiwi fruit.

 

In my own research of Anglo use in NZ (as you know---thanks again for the help!), I failed to find any reference after about 1930 or so, even though it had been very prominently used there for decades from the 1850s to about WWI.

 

Looks like you have a new avocation. Take a notepad along in your concertina case...you might pick up some more good stories from those old folks!

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Paul_Hardy]

There were several rival temperance organizations to the SA in England; perhaps his grandfather was in one of them.

 

Band of Hope is a prime candidate - it was very big in the temperance movement in the UK - see http://en.wikipedia....ki/Band_of_Hope

[wes williams]

Nice story Dirge!

 

We often tend to forget that concertinas are still within the memory of many of these older folk, so trips to your local sheltered housing, etc can be fun. My parents (who would now have been in their late 80s) remembered them being played in pubs.

 

I'd suggest the organisation might be the Band of Hope. Loads of links via google.

[Dirge]

Band of Hope does sound right. I think that was it.

[Guest HallelujahAl!]

Yep - sounds very like the Band of Hope - aka Hope (UK) these days, and still very active in the drugs awareness and child protection areas of social care. There were strong links between the SA and Band of Hope - they certainly would not have viewed themselves as being 'competition' with each other. And today they would consider themselves complementary partners on many fronts - with Hope (UK) being involved in many of the SA's social and community centres.

 

I totally love playing out to that age group - who are, in my experience, really appreciative - especially when it comes to bringing back memories for them.

AL