Funding music for lunchtime minds
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Woburn?s St Marks Church has played host to lunchtime winter melodies for nearly three decades, and the concerts organisers are busy putting their first council grant to good use. Hutt City Lunchtime Concerts coordinator Bernadette Lindsay, who has helped organise the concerts for 14 years, says the $2,500 donation will help pay musicians who give their time to play at Woburn. ?It?s wonderful and we?re just thrilled to have received help from the council,? says Mrs Lindsay. Experienced musicians and young players from Victoria University travel to the church to reverberate the walls with their art. ?Some professional musicians come to play, but a lot of them are younger players and the experience for them is very good. ?Some Victoria University musicians who have played here are now with New Zealand?s youth orchestra,? says Mrs Lindsay. Mrs Lindsay recommends New Zealand youth orchestra cello player Lucy Gyfbers, who is accompanied by Heather and Amy Lewis on flute and piano respectively. ?We like to pay the students who come over a little, it costs them to travel here and they have student loans, so they can do with any money they come by. ?The grand Bosendorfer piano is another story; it?s being done up at the moment and we are really looking forward to Richard Mapp playing it on July 22. She says many people bring their lunches to watch the concerts, and people find it a great way to relax. ?We get some good crowds, but it would be great for people to see the quality of music that we have here. ?There is a charge of five dollars on the door and we serve lovely cups of tea and coffee,? says Mrs Lindsay. The lunchtime winter concerts started on Wednesday June 3 at Saint Marks Church in Woburn, and run through until October.
