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Musical Milestones

Posted on 23 August 2020

This lovely picture was painted for us by artist Tash Murphy for a project we ran in 2015, the 25th year of the charity’s existence. We called the project “Musical Milestones”. Our aim was to spread the word about NYMTC and to launch a new development plan for 2015 -18. I love Tash’s picture – it really captures the notion of Musical Milestones, with our history of travelling across beautiful North Yorkshire, passing that 25-year milestone, and heading for the future with music in the air.

To launch the project, our President hosted a party with Lesley Schatzberger of Jessie’s Fund playing with her ensemble; then we had a week of events involving local musical groups who raised funds from concerts, and we finished with a super party at the Yorkshire Arboretum along with Ryedale Special Families, where we played handbells, Tim Bayley entertained us with his pupils on saxophones, Declan Suddaby played his guitar, and we danced to Beatles music!

I’m thinking about that project at this time because Nick Hammond and I are just finishing the Annual Report for the Charity Commission, in which we describe the charity’s progress over the last year. Reviewing our progress makes me appreciate that, although the route we have taken over the last few years was not quite as planned — the road was a bit hilly in places — we did, last year, reach a major milestone. At the end of the 2015-18 plan, it says “New Home – New Horizons” – and we’ve got there! We arrived in Wath Court — new premises that give us a Centre at last, where we can see a new path with milestones set out by Laura in a new development plan.

Sadly, given Covid and so on, we won’t be able to meet together at our new home for the AGM that we would normally be holding at this time of year. However, we will host an on-line show (probably in September) and you can hear about our recent musical milestones.