Early Days
The earliest minutes of the COA go back to September 1948. They are handwritten, very detailed (sometimes running to over four pages) and written very much in the style of the period.
A letter dated 1959 refers to the association as “having functioned efficiently for some 25 years”. That would therefore indicate that we have been in existence since 1934.
There were much fewer meetings in those days, (about four or five a year) and they tended to be in the towns with the bigger organs. Camborne and Liskeard Wesley and St John’s at St Austell were popular venues and it was their organists who played such a prominent role in those early days. There was Dr. Busbridge, for instance, at Liskeard and Mr. and Mrs. Morley Richards at St Austell, both offering their gracious homes for meetings and treasure hunts!
Famous Names
It was doubtless due to their enthusiasm that some of the great names of the organ world appeared in the county for recitals and in 1949 Thalben Ball came down to St Austell (playing his “Elegy”) followed by Dr Peasgood from Westminster Abbey who tackled part of the Reubke “Sonata”. Our very own David Wilcocks, still an Honorary Member, also came in 1950 and included two works of Bach.
But these were also the days of notable musicians in our own county and the minutes record Brennie Smith (ex Westminster Cathedral), Berkely Mason (ex BBC), High Branwell (Penzance) and of course Guillaume Ormond and John Winter who has given a huge number of recitals to the COA over many years.
By the late 50s the minutes were being typed and make easier reading though sometimes with the inevitable mistakes – “Lubster Jesu” appeared on one occasion! And there was even a splinter group for east Cornwall that presumably reflected the large number of members from that area.
We now read such loved names as Donald Little, Douglas Thomas and Donald Bennetts, who were soon to be joined by Melvyn Bennetts, Ronald Keeping and Lance Foy. By this time there were joint Secretaries – Dr Busbridge and Douglas Lewis – and the venues were getting somewhat more varied and included Kenwyn and Probus.
I myself joined the COA in 1969 and having served as Press Secretary and Review Secretary (with the fiddly business of actually packing up and posting the “Reviews”) I was appointed Honorary Secretary in 1986.
The COA Today
We now have some 10 meetings a year, a goodly number of members (in the 50s some were recorded as being in Her Majesty’s Forces!) and one of the highest attendances in the country.
We try and visit a much wider number of venues that might well include a country house or holy well. Indeed, who can forget that visit to the well at Laneast on a glorious summer’s evening when we sang a Wesley hymn, listened to intently by a curious but well behaved herd of cows? It was pure magic and long may the fellowship we can experience – whether over a Cornish tea or beautiful music – flourish.
Paul Richards, Hon. Sec.