OrganFax Directory

Swale Electronic Organ Club

Telephone Number :  01795 470562 (Freda Gisby, Chairperson)   or   07891 239689 (Neilson Matthews, Entertainments Secretary)

Email address :  peter.clarke@blueyonder.co.uk

Contact name :  Freda Gisby

Venue address : UK Paper Leisure Club, Avenue of Remembrance, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 4DE

About Swale Electronic Organ Club

The Swale Electronic Organ Club was formed in 1976 by Ken Ratcliffe and meetings were held in the back room of the Ivy Leaf Memorial Club in Sittingbourne. At that time it was known as The Swale Amateur Organ Club and meetings consisted of a few members playing in turn on a small electronic organ which Ken brought along.

After Ken passed away, John Claridge became the new Chairman and, as soon as funds permitted, the club bought its own organ and occasionally booked professional artistes to entertain. In 1983 the venue for the club meetings was moved to the Fountain Hotel and later to the Kemsley Concert Hall.

Early in 1984 a new committee was formed headed by our present chairperson, Freda Gisby. In 1987 the Co-op provided a new venue at the Regis Suite and meetings were held there until the Suite was demolished in 1994. The club name was changed in 1990 to the present name of The Swale Electronic Organ Club.

Since 1994 meetings have been held at the Wyvern Hall, Swallows Leisure Centre, in Sittingbourne on the 4th Tuesday of every month, January to November and the second or third Tuesday in December.  The club has recently changed their venue to The UK Paper Leisure Club with which they look forward to a long and happy association.

The club has gone from strength to strength, now having a membership of around 105.  Members of The Swale Electronic Organ Club have enjoyed not only a variety of entertainment each month but have taken part in organised trips to organ festivals at locations all over the country.

The club meets on a Tuesday at 8pm

Subscription: £10.00

Members admission: £5.00

Visitors: £6.50

 

Reviews of our December, January and February concerts extracted from the club newsletter for March 2009

 December marked the first Swale Organ Club meeting in our new venue, namely The UK Paper Leisure Club. James Goff was our selected artiste for the meeting and true to form, he gave us an evening to remember. He played on his rather battered EL90 which, in spite of its age sounded first class in James’ hands. He started the concert with a quickstep medley and continued with music from the shows. After a varied selection James concluded the first half with an excellent Big Band arrangement of The Woodchoppers Ball.
The second half included some seasonal music in the form of a carol singalong and James’ own very amusing version of The Twelve Days of Christmas in which the audience were invited to participate. Music for dancing was also included.
His performance was punctuated with a number of jokes which were related in his own particular “Tommy Cooper" style.
James’ encore concluded with We’ll Meet Again, which, no doubt, we all look forward to when James visits the club once more. We thank him for a very enjoyable Christmas meeting which was a great success.

 What an unforgettable evening we had in January, provided by that very talented artiste, Jean Martyn on her Yamaha EL900. In spite of returning from Egypt at 1a.m.  the previous night, Jean was on top form. She informed us that she is now in her 28th year as a professional artiste and we congratulate her on this wonderful achievement.
Her concert began with a medley in quickstep tempo. This was followed by All By Myself, made popular by Celine Dion. Jean’s concert continued with a varied selection of pieces in differing styles, including a selection of marches, A Whiter Shade of Pale (played in the Hammond C3 style), Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, etc.
During the second half of Jean’s concert we were treated to an Abba medley, a theatre organ selection (which concluded with the Vidor Toccata) and her own Crematorium Medley, including Smoke Gets in your Eyes.
Jean’s humour along with her amazing technique gave us all a most entertaining and enjoyable evening. We very much look forward to her next visit to us.

 

Alastair Kiernan made a very welcome return to the club this month. Alastair’s concert was played on his Yamaha HX1 in conjunction with the Tyros 2 keyboard. The stage backdrop, which Alastair uses, provides a very pleasing effect with curtains illuminated by coloured lighting.Alastair informs us that he works for Titan Airways which, combined with his concert work, must make him a very busy man.His concert commenced with a showtime medley followed by songs made famous by Judy Garland. Lovers of Latin music were treated to an arrangement of Besame Mucho  and I Wish You Love. Alastair demonstrated his amazing “waterfall” technique on all 3 keyboards with his version of Twelfth Street Rag. Before finishing the first half of the concert Alastair played a selection of music based on London titles. The second half was equally pleasing with songs such as Misty, Blue Skies, Memories, Can’t take My Eyes Off You, etc. The audience participated in a singalong before Alastair’s encore of The Stripper and We’ll Meet Again.We all enjoyed Alastair’s return visit to us and let’s hope it’s not too long before we see him again.

 

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