Page 29 - Real Rochdale Issue 12 Winter 2021

toad lane concerts

music at lunchtime

Hundreds of lunchtime concerts have been held over the last 20

years at the St Mary in the Baum church. Classically trained pianist Maria King Isabel Williamson and Jonathan Ellis

It’s often said that music is a language Music at lunchtime continued with occasional
understood by all, which is why the classical changes in venue until the millennium, and Almost as impressive as the display of
concerts at St Mary in the Baum on Toad Lane the development of the Touchstones Arts and talent from performing virtuosos is the array of
are open for everyone to hear stellar Heritage Centre. The displaced concerts used instruments featured over the years:
performances of rare quality. Drake Street’s Champness Hall for a short time instrumentalist piano, organ, piano Toad Lane Concerts take place every
until the Grade-I listed church, St Mary in the accordion, harpsichord, marimba, xylophone, Wednesday at 12.30pm at St Mary in the
You’d be forgiven if the weekly Toad Lane Baum, reopened after significant renovation. flute, clarinet, oboe, oboe d’amore, cor anglais, Baum, Toad Lane, Rochdale, OL16 1AP.
concerts of Wednesday afternoon have flown saxophone, bassoon, trumpet, cornet, horn, Entrance fee is £6.
under your radar, as the 30-minute concerts The late Revd David Finney and performer and trombone, tuba, violin, viola, cello, double bass, Contact 01706 648872 for further
are a hidden gem of auditory bliss – something reviewer Dr Joe Dawson – a double-Fellow guitar, classical harp, even the Celtic harp. information.
which everyone can appreciate on their lunch of the London College of Music in singing and
break – and right on your very own doorstep. composition who has also held senior positions The Toad Lane concert series was granted the Forthcoming concerts:
in schools and colleges across Rochdale – took Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2020, the 1 December - Ugnius Pauliukonis piano
The Toad Lane concerts originated from the on the project at the church as TOLPAC, Toad highest award a voluntary group can receive (RNCM Gold medallist)
‘music at lunchtime’ weekly concerts which Lane Performing Arts Centre. in the UK. The series had been preparing for
began at the old library and art gallery on the its 950th concert when the pandemic struck, 8 December - Angela Rowley soprano,
Esplanade during the 1960s. Back then, In 2001, John Cole, the council’s arts and forcing a hiatus, making the already-impressive choral director and adjudicator, Tim
recorded music played in gallery IV with light libraries chief, handed over the concerts with accolade even more precious. Kennedy piano (Cambridge & RNCM staff)
refreshments, before live performances the words, “If you are still going after five years,
became the norm. you can keep the piano.” Needless to say, the After pilots in May and August 2021, the series 15 December - More than Melody Ladies
piano was kept – and the concerts have now reinvented itself under Covid-compliant Choir Christmas Concert Party
reached over 950 in number. conditions, largely returning to its tried-and-
tested formula, temporarily without
Led by series director Dr Joe Dawson, the Toad refreshments.
Lane Concerts, as they were now known,
excellent classical music has been provided
over hundreds upon hundreds of concerts from
local talent, such as young soloists and adult
choirs, to professionals of the highest calibre,
including international postgraduate music
students.

Dulcet melodies which celebrate the superb
acoustics of St Mary in the Baum fill the church
on most Wednesdays, providing a welcome
escape from the day and some real food for the
Eclectic harpist Alice Roberts soul. Series director Dr Joe Dawson Duncan Reid and Jonathan Ellis

REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2021 28 29 REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2021