Members remember...

“The role of coordinator (later to be administrator then director) was not filled at the first meeting.  

“Juliet McFarlane was asked to do the job. She and husband Donald had run the early music festivals in Young previously and so had experience with musicians and funding which no one else had.  

“Juliet successfully applied to the Australian Arts Council for some money to help pay the costs of travel for tutors who came from Canberra, Wagga, Forbes, Bowning and Bathurst.”

Penny said YRSM faced many challenges in the early days:  

“There was a need to raise $2190 if the music school was to continue. 

The newsletter cried out ‘the responsibility of the elected committee is to provide tutors and administer the school. It is the joint responsibility of all members to help raise money to bring the tutors here!”

Jennie Peady certainly has some stories to tell. Jennie is still teaching piano, recorders and music theory and established a new adult recorder ensemble in the last 12 months.  

Jennie is the longest serving tutor at YRSM and has been with the music school for all of its 30 years!  

Jennie remembers:  

“We had no piano for concerts and so the concert pianist Carl Rafferty used to bring his own in pieces on the back of his ute!  

“Sometimes it was an upright and sometimes a grand piano. He would unpack it, tune it and use it for the concert, then pack it all up again.  

This happened quite a few times over the subscription series.”

Jennie also remembers the amazing student concerts held once per term in the Young High School Hall.  

“They were huge affairs and the highlight was the amazing suppers.  There was food galore!

“With no permanent residence  in the early days, we taught everywhere – in school grounds, storerooms, under trees, in church halls and even in a wood shed.”