I Binns Out For The Day

Although not officially part of the City Pulse event this year another summer music event kicked off on the same weekend.

The Albert Hall has had a troubled existence and if there are building councillors then this could well have been a case for one.

In the early 1870's the Good Templar's amongst other groups were looking for a site in Nottingham to build a Temperance Hall. The local architect, Mr Watson Fothergill won the commission and the foundation stone was laid in 1873, however funds soon ran out.

A rescue bid was put into place by the formation of a limited liability company and work began on what is now the Albert Hall, with the costing being £14,000.

At that time, the Albert Hall was Nottingham's largest concert hall and a major venue for political rallies. By the turn of the century it was realised that the Hall would never be able to generate enough cash to avoid frequent financial crises.

It was time for the Wesleyans to take over the mantle. When the venue came on the market in 1901 it was purchased by a syndicate of local businessmen for £8,450 and opened as a mission in 1902.

The outstanding debt on the building was a burden, however work on the mission was progressing well until the 22nd of April 1906 when fire swept through the building. The fire hit the Methodists hard as it was under insured, therefore they needed to raise a substantial sum of money to rebuild. The sturdy community managed to raise the sum required and brought in another local architect, Mr A E Lambert. His new Albert Hall Methodist Mission was built in the style of an Edwardian Theatre or Music Hall and, in the practise of temperance halls, concerts and other events were staged in the hall.

The new hall was dedicated in March 1909 and officially opened on the 15th September 1910 by Lady Boot, wife of Sir Jesse Boot.

The centrepiece of the hall is the magnificent Binns Organ, built in 1909 by J.J. Binns, gifted to the City of Nottingham by Sir Jesse. The walnut casework was made by Boots' shopfitters.

Back in the 1980's, Ian had the pleasure of being at a recital of Gillian Weir's, when she performed Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition". There was an audience of less than one hundred in the vast hall and the windows could be heard rattling when the bass notes were played.

The hall continued to function as a Methodist mission until 1984 and the City Council purchased the building in 1987, conducting a major refurbishment in order to link the venue with the Nottingham Playhouse. The work was completed in 1988 and HRH the Princess of Wales unveiled a plaque in 1989 to commemorate the refurbishment.

The Nottingham Playhouse managed the Albert Hall until July 1990 when the City Council leased the building to the Albert Hall Nottingham Ltd for use as a Conference and Entertainment Venue.

After the final service in the hall the organ lay silent for three years, being exposed to damp, dirt and the disturbance of the refurbishment.

When the hall was purchased by the council the Binns Organ Restoration Appeal Fund was launched. The group, representing local businesses, organists, art bodies and civic charities, needed to raise £200,000. Donations poured in and restoration began in September 1992 under the guidance of local organist and custodian of the organ, David Butterworth. Restoration was undertaken by Harrison and Harrison, of Durham, and in October 1993 was ready to sound forth again, which brings us full circle on this post.

On Sunday May 24th, John Keys, a former pupil of Gillian Weir gave the "Centenary Celebration Recital". This was the first of six free recitals for 2009. In it he performed music from Purcell, Mendelssohn, Wagner including Ride of the Walkyre (or should that be Valkyre?)

Unfortunately we only stayed for the first half of the performance as there were so many bands playing around the city centre. Ian did sneak in the video recorder and I managed to record the first movement from Handel's "Suite for the Royal Fireworks"

Enjoy.

Nottingham City Pulse 2009

As a one time Glam Rocker from the 1970's sang before he fell into shame, dishonour and tabloid public enemy #1. Hello, hello, it's good to be back!

Ian, Guzzisue and myself have just returned from our latest travels. Naturally I will be posting details on these, but I have so much to catch up on from this year for the time being. It will be difficult to follow The Long Not Winding Road series as this included new horizons, cities and emotional experiences.

When Ian found himself joining the masses of workers losing their jobs, things were not looking too hopeful for this summer, however it gave us chance to find cheaper options to be entertained. I will start with the Nottingham City Pulse 2009.

The event was held over the Whit Bank Holiday period at the end of May around the city centre. In all there were six stages around the centre with the usual buskers plying their talents as well.

With the sun shinning and Nottingham alive with saturday shoppers we sat ourselves down in St Mark's Square to listen to songs from the 1920's and 30's performed by the Hot Potato Syncopators, looking quite dashing in their dickies and evening suits. Music to give images of punting down a river, complete with picnic hamper and wind up gramophone abound. The group were so impressed with the recording of their performance that it now appears on their web site, so for your enjoyment, I give you the Hot Potato Syncopators.



Moving along to Nottingham Castle wall, by the statue of Robin Hood, a new stage and marque complete with a dance floor had been erected for this year. Previously there had been only a small stage. Admittedly I was convinced that this would not work, however, like most humans, this bear can make mistakes and the idea was a complete success with people dancing to big band music and local ceilidh bands amongst other types of music.

Five Go Off are a local folk/ceilidh band consisting of four talented musicians. Inside the marquee they managed to get people of all ages up and dancing by slowly talking the steps through slowly so the dancers could get an idea of what they were meant to be doing. Denny Plowman, one of the musicians also took on the mantle of caller for the dances.



The Henly Farrell Big Band, another locally based band. The band features a traditional line up of 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 5 saxes, piano, bass, guitar, drums and 2 singers. I was only able to be at the start of the band's set and the video below is rather mellow. Later on when I returned the marquee was in full swing with several dancers on their feet.



Leaving the marquee behind, it is time to head towards Chapel Bar, Nottingham's continental area. Here there are several restaurants with seating available on the pedestrianised area. At the top of Chapel Bar there is another small stage, occupied by yet another local group, The Hot Club Trio. They consist of two guitars and a double bass. Arriving here a little late Ian and myself only caught the last number, I Surrender The Win, a breathtaking performance. The Hot Club Trio certainly suited the ambiance and I would have liked to hear more from them.



From here it is only a short walk to the centre of Nottingham and the Market Square. A few years ago the square looked like the picture below.

However the city council decided that the area needed a revamp. In the foreground below the two grassed areas were public conveniences that had well passed their use by date. The central area was well used by skateboarders and people that liked a drink or five, whilst at the top near to the council house, there were two fountains. On many occasions these had to be switched off and drained due to detergent being thrown in.
The New Old Market Square now looks like this.

A vast open space that just shouts out "Use Me!" And so it gets used. Now we have craft fairs, continental markets, a large Ferris wheel and Nottingham Riviera. The Market Square's website for future events can be found here.

But I digress a little. The event is the City Pulse and taking the main stage is James Hunter. James is a talented bluesman from the Deep South of England, living in a caravan in Colchester, when he was nine. His ability to work the crowd is second to none. He was the ideal person to headline on the Monday and bring the Pulse to a close.




Walking along the left hand side of the Council House is Long Row. Here is the final band I shall showcase. The Big Beat are a collective that not only specialise in educating, but also pass on their eco message at festivals as well as planning corporate events. Their act is certainly lively and I struggled to keep the camera steady filming them.



In the local elections this year the council that has put the funding for the two City Pulses has lost power. I look forward to 2010 to see what happens next.

Diary Dates

With Xmas now a distant memory it is time to start planning this years activities, so here are a few ideas for 2009.

The 9th Japanese Bike Show at Castle Donnington is on next weekend, 7th & 8th February. Details here. I really enjoyed myself at last years event and Ian was pleased to pick up a gasket set for the Suzuki at a knock down price. A link to the 2008 event is here. We are hoping to be there sometime on Saturday so look out for us.

The sandracing continues over at Mablethorpe with four meetings remaining for this season. We hope to get over again sometime but a lot is dependant on Guzzisue's broken arm. She is off to the hospital this week for a check up, but has at least another four weeks with the metal support. Here is a link to the remaining meetings. Remember to wrap up warm if you venture out here and something to sit on is a good idea as well.

April sees the start of the Round Britain Rally an event that Ian and myself have done for the last three years. In this the entrant is given a list of landmarks, with at least one in every county on mainland UK. The entrant then has to take a photo of their motorcycle at the landmark to gain points. It is not necessary to do all of the landmarks, just as many as you are able. The points value for each landmark varies, so for example one in the Highlands will be worth more than one in Nottinghamshire. Here are a few examples from previous years.
The Tibetan Centre at Eskdalemuir.

Footplate sculpture at Flint railway station.

Welsh harp sculpture at Llangollen and

Victorian drinking fountain and trough, Norton. This landmark was a little elusive for a few entrants in 2008.

Easter's highlight is the Red Marley Hill Climb. We have attended the hill climb twice, see last years report here, so this time we are going on Easter Sunday to see the trials meeting.

One event that neither Ian, Guzzisue or myself have been to yet is the Thundersprint, held at Northwich. This year the event takes place over the weekend of May 9th and 10th. Here's hoping we can get there this year, if so I will give a bear's eye report.

The East Coast Challenge carries on, with the 2009 event starting on March 1st. Ian and myself managed to combine this with the Round Britain Rally landmarks for Norfolk and Suffolk last year. A rather sedate challenge by itself with a 200 mile trip to visit 5 given towns, ending back at your start point no less than 7 hours later but within 24 hours.

Nottingham often gets into the news for all the wrong reasons, one of the problems for a vibrant multi cultural city, but two events that we will be supporting are the Nottingham Light Night on February 12th and 13th. Last year for this event there was music in several places around town, the Nottingham Eye in the Market Square and several buildings lit up for the evening.
Here are some of my photos taken last year.
The Nottingham Eye with in Council House in the background.

The Nottingham Lion overseeing the activities in the Market Square.

A lady making her way down to the centre from the Angel Row area.

These pyramids are on Long Row.

Fire jugglers entertained on the Council House steps

while a samba band played on a stage in the Market Square.

The Dukes Box were playing requests in St Peter's Square.

Walking up Bridlesmith Walk towards the Galleries Of Justice, an old court building and now an award winning museum.

Finally over the Spring Bank Holiday in May there is the Nottingham City Pulse, a three day music extravaganza. Last year there was music from The Blockheads and The Beat as two groups from Ian's golden era, among with many others. Below are some clips I managed to record over the weekend. Listen and hopefully enjoy. The recording quality varies a little as it was a very windy weekend.

Kick 'N' Rush, a local skiffle band


Bombay Bajas an internationally known group of musicians.


Railroad Bill, who are undergoing a name change. Their website does not have much information at present.


The Real Macaws. A talented group from Yorkshire.


The Bikini Beach Band play well known tunes in a surf style. Great fun and look out for the dancers in grass skirts.


The Blockheads. I don't think any introduction is necessary here!


So these are a few of our plans for 2009. I hope some of these are useful to you. If there is any activity in your city go out and support it. these events are put on for your enjoyment.