Clubs History
Dolgellau was host to the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1949, and more recently to the Urdd Eisteddfod (Youth version of the National) in 1994. In November 2002 it hosted the National Cerdd Dant Eisteddfod (folksong and singing of verses to harp accompaniment). It is also now firmly on the map as home every July to 'Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau', Wales's premier and award-winning street festival. One of the best-known Welsh hymn-composers John Hughes (1896 -1968), composer of 'Arwelfa', lived in Dolgellau. The town boasts two choirs, Côr Meibion Dolgellau (male voice) and Côr Idris (mixed). So its musical connections are rich and varied, and continue into the present.
Dolgellau Music Club had a successful first 'incarnation' in the 1950s, when its home was Neuadd Idris (now scheduled for major repair and adaptation), and guest artists included legendary names such as baritone Geraint Evans and harpist Marisa Robles, to name but two. In due course membership tailed away, however, and the Club lapsed in 1965, although it remained listed as a registered charity.
The 'reincarnation' came about 20 years later in 1985, thanks to the initiative of cellist Nicholas Jones, who not long after founded the Aberystwyth Music Festival and went on to become Head of Strings at Chethams in Manchester. Its new home, with the exception of a few concerts, has been the fine wood-panelled hall of the local tertiary college, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor. This was originally the hall of the old Dr Williams Girls' School, which had its own organ and a strong musical tradition. In 1978 the school closed and the buildings were purchased to provide new accommodation for Coleg Meirionnydd, the local further education college, which became one site of the expanded Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor under tertiary reorganisation in 1993.
Membership currently stands at 110, not including the several youngsters who regularly attend and for whom no formal membership is required.
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