Helmsley Arts Centre

the arts for everyone in Ryedale

THE HELMSLEY FESTIVAL WIND ENSEMBLE
Director: Geoffrey Emerson

The programme will include Serenades Op.4 and Op.7 by Richard Strauss

The concert will be followed by a celebration party.

There will be a collection in aid of St.Catherine’sHospice, Scarborough

Admission is free but by advanced booking only



Book by Email: juneemerson@phonecoop.coop or Telephone: 0771 968 8099

OTHER LIVES

Valerie Watts was born in Wimbledon in 1942. While attending Wimbledon High School she started to learn the bassoon and became proficient very quickly. Although discouraged by parents and teachers her dogged strength of character took her to the Royal College of Music in 1961. She was soon taking on professional engagements and regularly played as a deputy in the Sadler’s Wells Opera Orchestra. When a position became vacant she was offered a full-time job and played with them for five years. After this she became a free-lance bassoon and contra player, based in London. She was often to be seen cycling carefully round Marble Arch with her instrument on a trailer. She was routinely booked to play contra for opera and ballet companies visiting London from abroad.

Val had a keen sense of what was good and what was pretentious. She was well-known for her trenchant opinions of the personalities of the music world, and her conversation was always peppered with humour, sometimes with a slightly edgy twist, carrying echoes of a difficult childhood.

In the 1980s freelance work became scarce, and living in London was difficult, so she moved to North Yorkshire. She had been regularly involved with the Helmsley Festival (later The Ryedale Festival) so had friends in the area. She continued to play professionally all over the country.

In 1990 by pure chance she experimented with brass instruments and was quickly recruited into the Swinton Excelsior Brass Band, progressing rapidly to principal trombone.

Her love of good literature was almost as great as her dedication to music, and her tiny cottage held about four-and-a-half thousand books. Wide reading made her a demon crossword solver and an impeccable proof-reader.

Valerie loved the English countryside and covered most of it either on foot or bicycle. In 1978 she took part in the Cyclist Touring Club Centenary Relay Ride round Britain and was one of the few people to complete the entire course within the year.

In 2002 she contracted breast cancer which was held at bay for some years, but eventually returned with relentless progression. She continued to play both bassoon and trombone right up to April this year. She died peacefully at St. Catherine’s Hospice Scarborough on June 22nd. Val’s life was lived unwaveringly to her own unique set of ideals and principles, and for this she has our greatest respect.