Despite the miserable start to March weather-wise at Howden le Wear (and everywhere else), the snow, wind and freezing conditions were gone by the weekend of the 10th and 11th and the two enthusiastic audiences who came along to see  MICHAEL WOOLDRIDGE on his tenth visit to the New Victoria Centre were rewarded with one of the best and most varied musical programmes we have enjoyed for a long time!  Michael’s superb musicianship was evident, as ever, and made the best of the facilities of our Wurlitzer.

Someone else who knows his way around the New Vic organ is HOWARD BEAUMONT and we welcomed Howard back from Scarborough on 14th April to play once more.  If you haven’t got Howard’s new CD recorded on our organ yet, what better opportunity to acquire a copy than at a forthcoming concert? OR – go straight to the SALES page above and order one from Suzanne RIGHT NOW!

A big THANK YOU goes to all who helped out with organising and running our Annual Fair on Saturday 5th May.  As well as the well known Perlee street organ, Stuart Wright brought along the new addition to his collection, a Gavioli fairground organ which was playing away in the car park, whilst inside we enjoyed music at the Wurlitzer from professional organists Jon Smith, Chiho Sunamoto, Glynn Madden and Howard Beaumont as well as our own regular NETOA members.  The event was enjoyed by a record number of visitors on a beautiful sunny day and you helped to raise just over £1,000 towards NETOA funds, so WELL DONE to everyone.

Blackpool Tower Ballroom Star PHIL KELSALL MBE played to another enthusiastic full house in June with his usual mix of popular music and coaxed some beautiful sounds from the Wurlitzer.  Phil will be back in June 2020, so keep your diaries clear!

We lost count of the number of new faces coming through the doors on Saturday 8th September when we opened as part of the Heritage Open Days Weekend.  The team on site were run off their collective feet showing people aound, demonstarting the organ, making sure everyone was fed and watered, etc., etc.  A big thanks to all who came along and to all who helped out!

The young organists at our Stars of the Future concert in September continued the traditionally high musical standard of these events and then in October a packed house welcomed Chris Powell with his ever popular mix of all kinds of music.  After the busy schedule of Anniversary events in October and November (see seperate entry) and it was soon Christmas with a rare treat as we welcomed Dr Iain McGlinchey to round off the musical year with two superb seasonal concerts!