27/04/2024
On behalf of the recent ‘Melodeons in Wensleydale’ organising team, we’d like to thank you all for supporting this event over the years.
We wonder, when Bob Ellis started it in 2018, did he expect it to be such a success, or to have such a loyal following? We hope this year he would have been happy with the way it went. Certainly the preliminary organisation - securing the venue, booking tutors, and giving guidelines - was all his until last October when he knew he would be unable to complete this year's event and he asked us to step in and run this year’s Melodeons in Wensleydale on his behalf.
Bob had already approached and discussed with Pete and Claire to see if they would be interested in running a similar event in future years. They decided to accept Bob's proposition and a Melodeon weekend will continue in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.
Claire and Pete run ‘Bellows and Buttons’, and in this name have organised events in Stillington, North Yorkshire, in 2021, and a tuition weekend in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, in 2023, after the closure of the Witney Supersqueeze. Both events have had great feedback.
After a discussion with the Dales Countryside Museum managers, it became clear that, from the perspective of both organisations, the time has now come to move away from the museum as the main venue. With no other suitable venue in Hawes, Claire and Pete decided to move the weekend to Settle, North Yorkshire, where there is excellent accommodation, a direct rail link, and a beautiful Victorian Theatre for the Tutors Concert.
Arrangements are well underway for ‘Melodeons in Ribblesdale’, 25th - 27th April 2025, and in hand for 2026 too, with tutors and venues already being booked.
Under GDPR regulations, the Melodeons in Wensleydale mailing list cannot be directly used by Bellows and Buttons, it needs to establish its own. Many of you signed up in Hawes, but anyone else wishing to receive information should email [email protected], or use the contact page on https://www.bellowsandbuttons.co.uk/contact.cfm to request entry into the mailing list.
We look forward to hearing from you, with continued enthusiasm for melodeon weekends together.
In the meantime, this is the final message you will receive from the Melodeons in Wensleydale team.
We wish you all the best.
Brian, Sheila, Claire and Pete.
Bellows and Buttons Music Tuition weekends
