Events 2020
The 2020 Annual Lunch was held on Friday, February 14th at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Cheltenham. We welcomed Andrew Burn (Chairman of the Bliss Trust), who treated us to a really enthralling talk on ‘Recording Recollections’, with particular emphasis on the Chandos CD issued last November of The Enchantress, Mary of Magdala and Meditations on a Theme by John Blow. This year there were 36 diners, including our President Ian Venables, Mark Bebbington and Carol Secombe, granddaughter of Sir Arthur and Lady Bliss. Always a stimulating and convivial occasion, it was particularly well timed to take place before the strictures of Covid19 so limited our ability to socialise in this way.
The 2020 AGM was held by Zoom on 31 October, enabling members from far and wide to attend for the first time. Many changes in 2020 were reported: sadly, the deaths of Arthur Bliss’s elder daughter Barbara Gatehouse, our Vice-President Terry Barfoot and three other long-standing members. Mark Bebbington, who had long been a Patron and supporter of the Arthur Bliss Society, agreed to become Vice-President. This year also marked the end of the two-and-a-half-year tenure as Chairman of the Arthur Bliss Society of David Wilby and thanks and tributes were paid to him by our President Ian Venables, Andew Burn (Chairman of the Bliss Trust) and Susan Crownshaw (ABS committee Secretary). It was proposed that David Salter should succeed David Wilby as Chairman and this appointment was approved unanimously. Fortunately, David Wilby will remain on the Committee as Vice-Chairman of the Society.
The meeting was followed by the 2020 Concert which was a piano recital by Rebeca Omordia, live-streamed on YouTube.
You can still attend the recital virtually by clicking HERE.
