This letter was sent out to all members in July 2020

Dear Members and Friends

I hope you are keeping well and starting to enjoy re-engaging face to face with loved ones.  At this time of the year you would have been anticipating the receipt of the brochure for the upcoming season.  However, the Committee have decided, given all the complications attendant upon the pandemic, that it is not possible to present a full season in 2020/21. No brochure will therefore be issued.

However, we have not yet decided to cancel all the planned concerts. We are taking a gradual approach, to take advantage of any changes which occur during the year. We have resolved now that the first three concerts will not take place and have arranged with the artists involved to postpone until the 2021/22 season. We will continue to monitor Government advice about social-distancing protocols, the availability of the King’s Hall and our artists to enable us to restart live concerts as soon as it is safe to do so. Given the difficult financial situation of many of our artists, we have also decided to pay those whose concerts are postponed at least part of their fee now to help to keep them going through these difficult times.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who completed our online survey.  Your views were very useful and contributed significantly to our decision making.  Not surprisingly, the vast majority of respondents wished to experience the full live concert experience that for the last 74 years the Club has brought to Ilkley.  There was some appetite for exploiting the possibilities of technology to enable us to use the King’s Hall for socially distanced concerts. Many felt that there was enough recorded music already available without the Club creating special recordings for its members.

The Committee concluded that our priority had to be the safety and well-being of our artists and audience members as well as the volunteers and staff who help out at our venues on concert nights. Because it was clear that a full season was not possible, we decided to forgo holding a subscription season for 2020/21.  Please be assured that every member from the 2019/20 season remains a member through 2020/21 and will have their seats held over to 2021/22, by which time we hope a normal subscription season can be held.  Members are due a refund for the last two cancelled concerts of 2019/20: we very much hope you will allow us to keep this money to give the Club some financial flexibility during the year.

If and when it becomes possible to hold a concert or concerts during 2020/21, we will reassess the situation and inform members about how we propose to put these on. In the meantime, we plan to continue sending an electronic newsletter (mailed to those where we do not hold an email address) on or around the date of each cancelled concert to keep you informed of progress.

I am very much looking forward to seeing you all again as soon as we are able to start bringing live music back to Ilkley. With very good wishes from all the Committee.

Yours ever

Chris Skidmore
Chair

FURTHER INFORMATION

 Refunds for last season

If you were a member last season and you would like to reclaim the refund you are due for the cancelled concerts in April and May – which amounts to £17.50 – please contact the treasurer Don Williams, via email donaldwilliams@btinternet.com or call 01943 873104.

Cancellation of the subscription season

We will not be asking members for any subscription for 2020/21.  However all current members will continue as members through the season and will be able, when we launch the next subscription season – we hope in 2021/22 – to take up their usual seats again. If you were going to ask for a change of seat this season we will now deal with that at the beginning of the next subscription season. Those who applied for tickets last year and were unsuccessful will also retain their priority in the applications process until the beginning of the next subscription season.

If you had intended to discontinue your membership of the Club this season, please let our Membership Secretary know in the normal way by contacting Pam Harris by e-mail at olicanapam@gmail.com or by phoning 01943 608585.

Donations

We were delighted that many of you indicated, in the survey, a desire to ensure that either artists or the Club continue to be supported financially.

Our Help Musicians appeal is still open and if you wish to support this fantastic organisation donations continue to be welcome.  Either go online to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/help-musicians-ilkley-concert-club or send a cheque to Help Musicians UK and mail to 7-11 Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JS.

If you wish to donate to the Club, you can send a cheque, made out to Ilkley Concert Club, to Don Williams at 18 Hillway, Guiseley, Leeds, LS20 8HB or make a BACS payment from your bank account to the account of the Ilkley Concert Club, sort code 77-14-05, account number 28672168 with your name and DONATION as a reference.

E-mail addresses

We are eager to have e-mail addresses for as many of our members as possible as it reduces the administration and costs of keeping you in touch with the Club. If you have an email address and it is not in our contact database, would you please let Robert Templar know at rdtemplar@btinternet.com