When we rearranged our season for 2021/22 we agreed to pay our musicians 50% of their concert fee upfront to help with the really awful effect the pandemic has had on musicians' livelihoods and they were really appreciative. 

This greatly depleted our funds so it was very gratifying when one of our members wrote to say that she was so pleased with what we had done to help the musicians that she was sending us 50% of her season ticket cost for next season upfront to help with our finances. Sure enough a few days later a cheque for £42.50 arrived. This was such a thoughtful response for which we are very grateful.  If anyone else feels moved to replicate this please make a cheque for £42.50 payable to Whitstable Music Society and send to Gill Smyth, Sardine Cottage. 6 Cushings Walk Whitstable Kent CT5 1EZ and we will credit this to the cost of your season ticket later in the year. 

Our new brochure will be coming to you in the Spring of next year and we hope that all our Members and Friends will be pleased and delighted to return to live chamber music once again after such a difficult year. 

John Walker, Chairman

We have spoken with all our musicians and fortunately they are all in agreement with this idea and have been able to confirm their availability for the new dates from September 2021 through to April 2022. The programme and dates for your diary are therefore as follows:

• Sat. 25th Sept. 2021 Charlotte Rowan (Violin) Charlotte Stevenson (Piano)
• Sat. 30th Oct. 2021 The Tippett Quartet with Emma Abbate (Piano)
• Sat. 27th Nov. 2021 The New London Chamber Ensemble (Wind Quintet)
• Sat. 29th Jan. 2022 The Odora Piano Trio
• Sat. 26th Feb. 2022 The Kosmos Ensemble 
• Sat. 26th Mar. 2022 Elizabeth Bass (Harp) Katherine Bryer (Oboe)
• Sat. 30th April 2022 Lara Melda (Piano)

We are very grateful to all our members and regular concertgoers who have been so understanding while we try to steer through this difficult situation and we very much hope that you will continue to support us in the New Year.

We will print our revised brochure in due course to send to you in plenty of time for the new season. If you are a regular season ticket holder we hope you will purchase your season ticket in the normal way. This gives us the confidence to commit to our musicians - sometimes up to twelve months ahead.

He was very well liked by our music society members and will be remembered with great affection.

It's largely due to John's input that the Whitstable Music Society is still flourishing 45 years later.  I've been a member of the committee for over 25 years and Chairman for about 15 years and pretty much everything I know about running a music society I learnt from John.

Our next season would normally start on Sat 26th Sept but at the moment we are not sure we can go ahead on that date due to the ongoing Restrictions around this sort of event. However when we do have a start date I will let everyone know straight away and I am sure we will want to dedicate this concert to John's memory.


With all best wishes