WE welcomed Jon Goldswain of Great Malvern at our meeting on Thursday, October 23. He told us about the life and music of one of Worcestershire’s greatest celebrities, Sir Edward Elgar who was born in 1857 near Worcester.

Jon has been a fan of Elgar for over 60 years and is currently Vice Chairman of the Elgar Society which has over 15,000 members worldwide. He played a variety of Elgar’s best known works, including of course, Land of Hope and Glory and Nimrod. We heard that Elgar learned the piano at the age of 5 and the violin at 7 years, and became a self-taught composer. Apparently he was a difficult and complex man who was easily offended. Nevertheless, he seemed to be able to attract the ladies.

He married Alice, much to her family’s disapproval, and through frequent financial difficulties, she managed him and their household. He eventually became well established, was awarded a knighthood in 1904, held 17 honorary doctorates was master of the Kings Music and made a Baronet. He had also at one time been the bandmaster of Powick Lunatic Asylum and was given the freedom of Worcester. He "slept away" in February 1934.

A total philistine myself, I was pleased to learn about Elgar and could see that fellow members were completely absorbed, not just in the music, but also the background to the man himself.

Tony Davies thanked him on our behalf and couldn’t resist showing off his own love and knowledge of Elgar and his music.

We have our annual lunch on October 30 at the Kings Court Hotel in Alcester and then on Thursday, November 6, we look forward to hearing about 175 years of P&O from John Hincks.

CHRIS DONOUGH