Great Yarmouth 
Gilbert & Sullivan Society

A Short History of the Society

When the new power station was being built in Great Yarmouth, one of the engineers on the project, a Mr Michael C. Barker, moved down from his native Yorkshire.

He had belonged to the Bradford Gilbert and Sullivan Society, but found that in this area, although the local Operatic and Dramatic Society had performed G&S some years earlier, none of the operas had been performed recently.  He had the idea of forming a Society modelled on the Victorian Musical Evening where singers would meet informally around the piano in each others' houses for a bit of music-making together, in this case to sing specifically the works of Gilbert & Sullivan for their own enjoyment.

He placed an article in the local press to see how many people in the area were interested, and the first General Meeting took place in the restaurant of Hills Marine View Hotel, Great Yarmouth in October 1954.  To his delight over 80 people turned up from all over East Norfolk and North Suffolk and it was decided to hold monthly meetings on Friday nights, the first being on 10th December 1954.  A committee was elected and with the financial assistance of two recently disbanded music groups in the area, and help from the Bradford Society to which Mr Barker had belonged, the Great Yarmouth Gilbert & Sullivan Society was born.

The first opera they sang extracts from was 'The Mikado' followed by 'Iolanthe' which was sung before a limited circle of invited friends at the end of January 1955.
A constitution, which is largely unchanged to this day, was formulated and agreed and scores were borrowed from the Bradford G&S for members to practice at home for the following meeting.

It soon became obvious that this kind of evening would be short lived, so it was decided that in future, rehearsals would be on a weekly basis with a view to learning a particular score completely, including libretto.

As the strict copyright held by Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte was still in force in those early years, permission was sort and obtained to perform to members only and as long as no cash was exchanged in any form, Dame D'Oyly Carte would waive her right to royalties.
Each member was allowed to invite three friends, but by 1956 the membership had grown to such a number that a larger venue had to be found, so the meetings moved to the Town Hall. Anybody who attended any of these performances will remember the informality and spontaneous friendliness of singers and audiences alike which still holds good today, and did much to strengthen the aims of the constitution of the Society which is 'to further the love and the works of Gilbert & Sullivan'.

Gradually, over the years, small changes were made to add to the enjoyment of the operas. The principals wore costumes, and with the help of the 'libretto coach' Mrs Jeannie Gunn, they were encouraged to learn the words and act the part they were portraying.

In 1966, Mr Bernard H Gooch, who had previously been the conductor, became president of the Society.  Mr Philip Wills became conductor and Mr David Gunn became rehearsal pianist. With Jeannie as libretto coach, the collaboration of these four lasted for over twenty years with Philip becoming the Musical Director and Jeannie becoming Producer.  In time, a small orchestra was added and, as the copyright had long since expired, the Society gradually built up to a full-scale production.

The great day came on Wednesday April 16th 1973, with a fully staged production of  'The Mikado' at Great Yarmouth High School.  The following year the production took place in a REAL theatre 'The Windmill Theatre' where, thanks to the late Mr Jack Jay, all annual productions were performed until the closure of the Windmill in 1985.

The venue for the annual productions for the next 6 years was 'The Royalty Theatre' and then from 1991 to 1994 at the Wellington Pier Theatre.  Due to the closure of the Wellington, the productions for 1995 to 1997 were held at Great Yarmouth High school, but for 1998 the Society was very fortunate to be able to return to the refurbished Wellington Theatre to perform the ever popular 'The Gondoliers'.  The 1999 production, 'The Mikado' was also held at the Wellington.

The Society has achieved much in its 45 years and has performed a fully costumed production of all thirteen of the G&S operas, (some of them more than once) and has donated to many various charities by singing concerts all over Norfolk and North Suffolk.

It is hoped that with the encouragement received from members and public alike, the Society will continue its constitutional aim to 'further the love of the works of Gilbert & Sullivan'

© Dorothy Pearce 1999