OrganFax Directory

Ashford (Kent) Keyboard and Organ Club

Telephone Number :  01233 631196   or   01233 630717

Email address :  ronald.sharp@ntlworld.com

Contact name :  Ron Sharp

Venue address : BRSA, Bowling Green, Beaver Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 7RR

About Ashford (Kent) Keyboard and Organ Club

The Club was formed in 1983 by Frank Miller and has grown from strength to strength. He and his committees over the years created a friendly club giving a warm welcome to artistes, new members and visitors.

Until the end of October 2003 Frank and his wife, Olive, worked tirelessly for the club. Both were committee members and Frank held various offices on the committee including Membership Secretary, Treasurer and Chairman. He also produced the Club Newsletter until August of 2003. It was early in the 2003 season that they decided to retire. Frank had not been too well for some time and unfortunately he passed away in December 2004.

Ashford was the Market Town of Kent set in the Garden of England and within easy reach of the White Cliffs of Dover and The Leas, Folkestone's rather elegant cliff top gardens. Since the development of the International Station and the Eurostar Trains, there is a strong Continental flavour to the town, with regular French Markets in the town centre. Ashford has a large McArthur Glen Designer Retail Shopping Outlet which comprises of around 80 shops.

 In 2007-2009 the Town Centre was re-designed.  A new large Shopping Mall has been added to the original one - quite an impressive addition - together with a new road layout giving a much updated appearance to the outer edges of the Town Centre while still retaining much of the old world charm in the centre near the church.

Within a short drive there are some of Kent's biggest tourist attractions - Leeds Castle, Dover, Deal, Walmer, Bodiam, Scotney and Sissinghurst Castles; Howletts and Port Lympne Zoo Parks and the historic City of Canterbury with its beautiful Cathedral.

2008 saw the club's 25th Anniversary. 

Looking back over the concert performances we had in 2007 and 2008, we had no disappointments and some very memorable evenings.

At our Christmas Party The highlight was the our 'Two Ronnies' dressing up,  with Ron Kenny playing and singing and Ron Sharp singing they performed the classic ‘Sisters’ using the Tyros voice harmony to get high pitched sounds – at times they sounded like ‘Pinky and Perky’! It was hilarious. It is all on video and the 'Sisters' item has been made into a short movie which can be put on DVD etc.

 In 2008, on one of the sunniest days this summer, we took a party of about 25 people to Finchcocks Musical Museum at Goudhurst, Kent.   It was for many of us an almost magical place, where you step back in time to learn about, listen to and (as we were a music society) play some of the early keyboards. There are Harpsichords,  Grand Pianos, Upright Pianos, Spinets and Organs, to remember a few of them, dating from the 18th Century and some of a kind once played by people such as Mozart.  It was fascinating experience . A couple of photos are in the photo gallery below.

Every year we hold an Annual Christmas Dinner with music afterwards to round off the evening.  There are some pictures of this in our photo gallery below.

 Looking Back Over 2009

An excellent mix of players have entertained us this year. Lots of old favourites, and an interesting evening of excellent music from Mark Darley - new - using Tyros (1) - sequencing at its best. All his own work, sequencing equal to that done by Glyn Madden in my opinion. No one can get a keyboard to sound so good without a lot of hard work

Unfortunately Penny Weedon was unable to vsit us in April but we were most fortunate in obtaining Sarah Foley at virtually the last minute. We must thank Sarah very much for taking Penny's place. Coming all the way from Devon after working in the morning, she gave us a wonderful concert. We are so lucky to have been able to hear her this year as she is giving up the concert circuit.  She will be very much missed, but we wish her all the best for the future.  

Club Night 29th July, 2009 - unfortunately the members of the Brass Band announced were not all available after all so we had the Jazz Quintet - the Colrose Five -  instead.  We enjoyed a superb evening of Jazz and fun.

The two other Club Nights were a mixture of our own players, plus a few friends from the Canterbury Club - including Martin Cooper with his daughter Lucy playing the Saxophone. We had duets and solos and a musical quiz which was good fun, presented by Ron Kenny.

Our Summer Dinner in August went down well!  Food and Music very good.

Christmas Party 4th December

Once again it was a DIY event. The Committe (mainly) provide the entertainment and a the buffet. This year we ventured into Quartets!  The evening was filled with solos, duets and quartets (we only rehearsed twice with all four of us!) . With Ron Kenny on the Lowrie, Ron Sharp on Tyros 1 and Eileen and Terry on Tyros 1 and 2 we had a variety of music - including a few Christmas pieces and Ron Rharp dressing up as a clown for 'Send In The Clowns'. We ended the evening with everyone singing 'White Christmas'.

Christmas Dinner     Wednesday 9th December 2009 

Our annual Christmas dinner was held at the usual Venue. Once again it was an excellent meal and of course the company was great. The usual four provided the after dinner music in the bar.

Christmas Fund Raising Event for Charity 17th December 2009

The Two Rons and Eileen and Terry Smith played in the County Square Shopping Mall (near the Christmas Tree and Cafe) from 6pm until 8pm.  In spite of the bitterly cold, damp and misty weather we managed to raise over £66 for the local Kent Disabled. There was a steady but slow flow of shoppers - not as many as we and the shops would have wished for. We played a variety of lively music, not just Christmas pieces - solos, duets and impromptu trios this time as we only had the 3 Tyroses!  We were pleased that quite a few people stopped to listen and were interested in the club.

Current Activiteis - 2010

We hope we have chosen an interesting selection of Artistes for the year. One or two new ones to Ashford are included, with a number of well established players and some more recent additions to the circuit who entertained us well on their last visit.

We have had to introduce a charge of £2 for Club Nights to cover the cost of the venue.

Finchcocks May outing cancelled.

We will certainly be holding at least one dinner during the year.

5th June - Ashford Town Centre Bandstand - Some of our players will be performing in relays from about 10.30 am until about 4pm to raise money for the local Kent Association for Disabled.

 The club usually meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm, doors open at 6.45pm with preamble at 7.00pm.

Annual Subscription: £5.00

Members admission: £5.00  (concerts)

Visitors admission: £7.00 (Concerts). Visitors from other organ Clubs at members’ price with proof of membership.

Members Club Nights £2.00

Our Venue

Click on the map and drag around to get a better idea of where our venue is. You can also zoom in. Click on the marker to see address details.