LONDON
LIGHT MUSIC MEETINGS GROUP
SPRING
GATHERING
10th May 2026
at the Lancaster Hall Hotel
It was an overcast
and decidedly chilly day for our
first meeting of 2026 at the
Lancaster Hall hotel and only a
handful of people had arrived by
1.50pm. It turned out that there
was trouble on British Rail
(what’s new ?!). So we
started about 15 minutes late
– Tony Clayden read out some
apologies for absence –
mostly due to illness.
We were pleased to
welcome ace harmonica player,
Sigmund Groven to the
congregation who (according to
Tony) had swum all the way from
Norway to be with us! I
don’t think so, somehow. The
water would have been too cold!
We were also delighted to welcome
back Shima Kobayashi-Melvin,
Sigmund’s friend and
harmonica-playing colleague, who
had been our special guest at the
previous meeting in October 2025.
Tony opened
proceedings with Haydn
Wood’s Mayday Overture
played by the ‘Light
Symphony Orchestra’. Tony
explained that this was a
pseudonym for players from one of
the big London classical
orchestras, who ‘hid’
behind that name as – in the
past – it was considered
‘infra dig’ for them to
be caught playing Light Music
compositions. How times have
changed !
This was followed
by the well-known ‘Melody
On The Move’ by Clive
Richardson, performed by Tommy
Reilly, another virtuoso
harmonica performer, (and indeed
teacher of both Sigmund and
Shima), backed by a quintet led
by his regular accompanist, Vic
Hammett. This was a pioneering
recording from 1952, produced by
George Martin, and is a notable
early example of the use of echo
and multi-tracking techniques,
utilising at the time very
experimental – and indeed
rather primitive - studio
equipment.
Next, Festival
Scherzo for Piano and Strings
- a piece by the multi- talented
Madeleine Dring, written for the
1951 Festival of Britain –
which had, a few days earlier,
celebrated its 75th anniversary.
After this, Tony
played us an instrumental piece, Valsecito;
this was performed by Los
Machucambos, a South American
group who were very popular in
Paris nightclubs during the early
sixties.
To conclude his
presentation, Tony played us
Richard Rodgers’ My
Heart Stood Still performed
by the Robert Farnon orchestra
–arranged by the maestro.
Next, it was the
turn of Tony Foster to present a
selection of film themes
associated with World War 2.
He opened with A
Bridge Too Far, by John
Addison and followed this with
Ron Goodwin’s Battle of
Britain March. Tony
continued with a performance by
the Central Band of the Royal Air
Force of John Addison’s
theme from Reach For The Sky
– the story of legless RAF
flying ace Douglas Bader, who was
in real life John Addison’s
brother-in-law.
The American
singer Paul Anka was also a
composer and wrote the theme for
the film D-Day Overlord.
We then listened to another of
his compositions -- The
Longest Day – a
cracking good march!
Tony Foster closed
his programme with The Great
Escape by Elmer Bernstein
and the Battle of Britain
end theme by Ron Goodwin.
To conclude the
first part of the session, Tony
Clayden played us Arthur
Benjamin’s Jamaican
Rumba, played by our good
friend Sigmund Groven together
with Tommy Reilly; this is the
final track from a newly-released
CD which was originally issued on
LP many years ago, featuring
duets by the two harmonica
‘giants’.
We then paused for
our usual ‘tea / coffee and
biscuits’ break.
Suitably
refreshed, we returned to our
seats for Part Two - meeting our
special guest Mathew
Lloyd-Wilson, who conversed with
Tony Clayden about his career and
choice of light music. Matthew is
a young violinist and conductor
whose recent career has been
largely centred on classical
music. Let’s face it, he was
hardly likely to encounter Light
Music on BBC radio!
Matthew became
interested in the genre when he
was asked to become assistant
conductor of the Mark Fitz-Gerald
orchestra, which gives an
excellent Light Music concert
every June at The British Home in
Streatham, southwest London. Not
surprisingly, he began his
selection with this
orchestra’s signature tune
–Theatreland by
Jack Strachey and continued with
Edward White’s Runaway
Rocking Horse. Robert Farnon
was represented by his Jumping
Bean. Matthew continued with
Leroy Anderson’s Plink
Plank Plunk and followed it
with a movement from Eric
Coates’ Three Bears
suite. After listening to
Ronald Binge’s Sailing
By, we heard High Heels
by Trevor Duncan, and the Dream
of Olwen by Charles
Williams. Mathew ended an
excellent presentation with
Robert Docker’s Legend.
We then took our
second break.
My own
presentation of Radio
Recollections opened the third
section. I commenced with two
items from the BBC Northern
Ireland Light Orchestra –
Moonlight Over Tahiti by
Leslie Bridgemont (erstwhile
conductor of the short-lived BBC
Salon orchestra) and a lovely
piece by George Melachrino, The
Starlight Roof Waltz.
In the ‘70s I
was commissioned by the Household
Cavalry to compose a piece for
the late Queen’s Silver
Jubilee. It was called Elizabethan
Tapestry and I thought that
it was due an airing. It was
performed on a CD by the Invicta
Concert Band.
I had been asked
in the interval about the BBC
West of England Players directed
by Peter Martin. So, as I
happened to have some of their
music with me, I played Wedding
of the Painted Doll by Nacio
Herb Brown.
This
orchestra’s predecessor had
been the BBC West of England
Light Orchestra – conductor
Frank Cantell, and I played an
example of their work- Cresta
Run by Claude Yvoire. I
concluded my presentation with
Florian Zabach’s Runaway
Romance, played by Reg
Pursglove and the Albany Strings.
It was now time
for me to run away (!) and in my
place, we welcomed Martin Cleave
who gave us a selection of tunes
from the mid-fifties which
actually made the
‘charts’- despite being
non-vocal and which, in some
cases, could be classed as
‘light music’. Quite a
change from the cacophony of
today!
Martin opened with
The Creep, a composition
by Ken Mackintosh, played by his
orchestra. Next, we heard Norrie
Paramor and his Big Ben Banjo
Band with I’m Just Wild
About Harry. After listening
to Cherry Pink and
Apple-Blossom White,
(soloist – trumpeter Eddie
Calvert), we heard The
Elephant Tango –
featuring the Cyril Stapleton
orchestra – and Unchained
Melody by the flamboyant
pianist, Liberace. From the film
‘Picnic’ came Moonglow.
This was played by Maurice
Stoloff and the Columbia British
orchestra. Martin concluded with
a favourite tango – Port-au-Prince,
featuring Winifred Atwell with
the Frank Chacksfield Orchestra.
That brought to a conclusion, a
very entertaining sequence of
music from Martin Cleave.
To round off the
afternoon’s entertainment,
Former BBC Radio Two producer
Anthony Wills came on stage and
introduced a recording of Dicky
Bird Hop performed by
pianist Paul Guinery. This was a
foretaste of our next meeting on
11th October, when Anthony will
be interviewing Paul – who
is also a BBC Radio Three
newsreader – about his
career. We look forward to
hearing some really enjoyable
live piano music.
Tony Clayden then
closed the meeting, wishing us
well and asking people to invite
their friends to the next
session, in the hope of boosting
the rather depleted audience
attending this Spring Gathering.
© Brian
Reynolds, May 2026
The next
LLMMG meeting will take place at
the Lancaster Hall Hotel on
Sunday 11th October 2026 –
All are welcome, please tell your
friends !
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