Chairman’s Report 2025

At the last AGM on 14 April 2024, the following Committee was elected:

Chair – Kirsten Flores (also Website/Publicity)
Secretary – John Huthnance
Treasurer – Martin Steward
Member – Bob Foster (Membership Secretary)
Member – Elizabeth Dodd (Newsletter editor)
Member – Peter Syrus
Member – Tim Gannicliffe

Phil Parkinson was co-opted onto the Committee at a meeting on 7 May 2024.

Over the course of the past year, the Committee met 10 times by video conference. All meetings have been very helpful in working through the implementation of the various changes made during the year, and have also resulted in our workshop programme being agreed at an early stage.  

Key Committee documents are now stored centrally online and will help ensure a smooth transition for new Committee members.

We have created the post of Student Representative on the Committee to help encourage more students and young people to come along to our workshops.

Martin Steward is standing down after many years of service as Treasurer – he leaves our accounts in very good shape, and we are indebted to him for his thoroughness, diligence and insight over the years.

Bob Foster, our membership secretary is also standing down at this AGM. He has played a key role on the committee for many years, and has started many of the processes which we have built on over the past year. Again, we are all very grateful to Bob for his time and commitment to NWEMF.

At the date of this report, we have 152 members, up from 116 this time last year. This is very welcome news indeed, and comes about as a result of some of the new measures implemented in the past year including:

• Increased contact with members (monthly NWEMF Digest, regularly updated website and Facebook page, more communication before and after workshops, in addition to our usual members’ Newsletter published five times a year).
  
  
• It is now possible to book online for workshops, and there is an online application form for new members.
  
  
• Brief reports of workshops are now posted on the website and Facebook page with photos (and sometimes recordings) made on the day.
   
• The password-protected Members’ area on website now includes a Members’ Offers section.
  
  
• Workshop participants are invited to give feedback on workshops and any other matters through forms available at workshops, or via an online form on the website.
   
• Members’ questionnaire – our first questionnaire has been sent out in advance of this AGM, and hopefully will be a good way of finding out how we can best help members make the most of their membership.

Membership and workshop fees, along with our reserves policy, are set out in the Treasurer’s Report. At a meeting on 17 March 2025, as a result of increasing costs for both tutors’ fees and venue hire, the Committee agreed to reduce the members’ discount for workshops from £10 to £5 with effect from 1 September 2025, which results in the cost of workshops for members increasing to £20 (the cost for non-members remains unchanged at £25). The additional income generated will also be put towards the costs of our 50^th anniversary year in 2027 (see section 8).

Alongside more contact with members, we have also instituted a number of changes to how we promote and publicise our workshops.

• We have a mailing list for members and subscribers. There are currently 192 subscribers, 148 of which are members with email addresses. We send out a monthly Digest to the mailing list with workshop news and a list of early music events for the month ahead. Past Digests are archived on the website.
  
  
• We have printed colour leaflets to help promote NWEMF generally for distribution in libraries, museums, churches, etc. (do let me know if you’d like any to give out locally).
  
  
• We contact local choirs and orchestras to promote upcoming workshops in their area, with reciprocal promotion of concerts and events on our website and Facebook page.
  
  
• Leaflets for future workshops are available at each workshop – the 2025 workshops leaflet has been particularly popular.
  
  
• We have a YouTube channel where videos taken at workshops are hosted.
  
  
• Word of mouth – many new members have come from local choirs and other groups who have been encouraged to come by existing members. The best publicity is a well-run, enjoyable workshop that will encourage people to recommend us to friends and colleagues
  

Over the course of the year, we have held workshops at two new venues – Wilmslow URC (15 February 2025) and Bolton Parish Church Hall (5 April 2025). We are also revisiting some venues we haven’t used for several years – St Martin’s Chapel in Lancaster (17 May 2025) and St Agnes & St Pancras Church in Liverpool (13 September 2025).

We are always keen to hear from members who may know of venues that might be suitable for workshops.

The following workshops have taken place so far over the past year:

Overall, feedback from members for all workshops has been very positive. Tutors have been similarly impressed by the high standard of sight-reading and musicality shown by those attending. Participants are finding the online booking forms easy to use, and forms have been up on the website well in advance of each workshop, which has helped encourage early booking. We had our largest attendance for several years at Philip Thorby’s recent workshop, which hopefully indicates a healthy upwards trend for workshop numbers in the future. Name badges at Philip’s workshop also seem to have worked well.

We would like to thank all members who have helped make these workshops such a success, whether bringing home-baked treats, helping out in the kitchen and tidying up at the end of the day, or writing a review which forms part of NWEMF’s history.

Online booking is open for the workshops in April, May and June, and we plan to open bookings for the last three workshops of the year before our summer break.

Please note the change to our November workshop with Gawain Glenton, who will now be doing a workshop on Stadlmayr, instead of Palestrina.

We have made good progress in booking tutors for our 2026 workshop programme, although topics and venues remain to be decided. We encourage members to get in touch if they would like to help organise any of these workshops, with the support of the committee. This is a great opportunity to work with some of your favourite tutors to create a successful day for all participants.

14 February 2026 – Lisa Colton
21 March 2026 – David Allinson
11 April 2026 – Rory Wainwright Johnstone
May 2026 – TBC
13/20 June 2026 – Peter Wendland
12/19 September 2026 – Stephanie Dyer
17 October 2026 – Lizzie Gutteridge
14/21 November 2026 – Peter Syrus

In 2027, NWEMF will celebrate 50 years since its inception in October 1977. The Committee is looking at ways to mark this milestone, which include:

• A high profile workshop programme over the course of the year, possibly including joint workshops with neighbouring EMFs.
  
  
• A residential weekend workshop in the summer of 2027 with dinner and keynote speakers held at the NCEM in York
  
  
• A publication of NWEMF’s history, including a review of early music in the community throughout the UK over the past 50 years, with contributions from guest authors from the early music world.
  

Again, we would welcome help from our members in planning and arranging these events – it promises to be a very enjoyable and memorable year.

We are keen to document NWEMF’s history and make it more accessible. There are a number of ways we are doing this:

• Peter Syrus has compiled a comprehensive document charting all workshops and other events in NWEMF’s history based on a detailed review of all NWEMF newsletters, both printed and online. This document will be made available in due course, and will form the basis for the publication referred to in section 8.
  
  
• We are making available on the website past workshop reviews, articles, obituaries, etc. from NWEMF newsletters. The first phase is extracting these from the online newsletters from 2011 to date, and the second phase will be scanning reviews from the printed newsletters. Janet Evans has been working with us on this project, and we are very grateful to her for all her help. For more information see From the Archives page on the website.

• Joint EMF Meetings – The first online quarterly joint EMF (Early Music Fora) meeting was held in December 2024, attended by the chairs and other officers from the other eight EMF committees. These meetings are a chance to share ideas, inspiration and resources, and are already proving very useful. We also plan to set up a database of all EMF workshops going back at least 10 years to help with workshop planning.

• National Centre for Early Music – At a recent meeting with Chris Roberts of the NCEM, we discussed the possibility of creating a page on the NCEM website dedicated to the EMF network to include a list of upcoming workshops. The NCEM will also share details of touring professional ensembles so these can be factored into our workshop programmes. We also plan to work in collaborative partnership with the NCEM for our residential weekend workshop in 2027.
   
  
• National Early Music Association – NEMA was formed in 1981 and has since produced a large number of academic publications focusing on early music matters. It is in the process of launching a new website and membership structure, enabling all their publications to be freely available. I have been co-opted to their committee to work with David Allinson to look at ways in which NEMA can help the EMF network as an umbrella organisation. They have a temporary website where more information can be found.

• Others – We are working closely with Lisa Colton, Head of Music at the University of Liverpool, who is running a course for students interested in early music. Last year we donated some the NWEMF viols on perpetual loan for students to use. We are also in contact with Alex Patterson, Director of Music at Salford Cathedral, and we will continue to reach out to relevant organisations, charities, churches, schools and universities to discuss ways of working together to further our charitable aims.