Louise Munden – Chair

I started playing clarinet when I was about 7, after a music teacher brought in a range of instruments for us to try.  Via a school scheme, Mum bought me a classic Boosey & Hawkes that had had at least 2 previous owners. Over the years, I took it to its limits playing in school orchestras and the various wind bands at Holme Valley Music Centre – lots of school summer fairs and Christmas Carol concerts! I’m proud to say I was the solo clarinettist in the Senior Wind Band for a time. 

After I left school, I joined the Holme Valley Orchestra which was still in its infancy then. Life took over and I stopped playing, but every once in a while, I’d get out my clarinet and attempt to play my old favourites: The Rondo from either Weber’s Grand Duo Concertant or Mozart’s Concerto K622. Don’t ask me why but I love 6/8! 

Some 25+ years later I decided to take it up again, buying myself a new clarinet at last, and joining HVO once again. It took me a while to get back up to speed but I enjoy playing more than ever.  I think now I’m older I have more confidence to just play and enjoy, being less self-conscious, and after a day at work it’s wonderful to come to orchestra and just get lost in the music. 

Anne Sheard – Cellist

This is our second instalment of ‘Who we Are’, introducing various members of our orchestra. Here’s Anne Sheard, who plays the cello.

‘Music has been a part of my life since childhood. I started learning the piano at the age of nine, and not long after, I was offered cello lessons at school. I took up the opportunity and soon found myself playing in the school orchestra, enjoying the experience of making music with others. However, as I grew older, other commitments took priority, and for many years, both the cello and piano were put to one side.

It wasn’t until my children grew up and left home that I rediscovered my love for playing. I lived in Leeds at that time and joined a community orchestra there, and the joy of making music in a group setting returned. Being part of an ensemble once again reminded me of how much I had missed playing.

Four years ago, after moving house, I found a new musical home with Holme Valley Orchestra. Since then, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed rehearsing and taking part in concerts. The orchestra has given me not only a renewed passion for music but also a sense of community. Picking up my instruments again later in life has been incredibly rewarding, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share in the joy of making music with others.

Andrew Griffiths – Musical Director

It has been my privilege to be the Musical Director of Holme Valley Orchestra since April 2024. I believe this year has been a celebration of everything a community orchestra represents: enjoyable and welcoming music making, with an ambitious and interesting range of repertoire and projects. 

Originally from Huddersfield, I became passionate about music spending my evenings and weekends singing in Halifax Young Singers, and playing in the Kirklees Youth Symphony Orchestra, Kirklees Youth Brass Band, and Sellers Youth Band. These formative experiences had a significant lasting impact leading to a career in education that allows me to share my passion with the musicians of the future. 

I graduated from the University of Manchester in 2009 with a MusB, followed in 2010 by an MusM. During this time my studies included tuba performance with Ewan Easton and conducting with Mark Heron. My interest in musicology has led to commissioned musical analyses and schemes of learning for the educational website Focus on Sound. 

Before becoming Music Director at HVO, I played with Hammonds Band, performing regularly at the Championship section National Finals, British Open, and becoming French Open champions in 2023.

I am also an experienced orchestral and chamber musician, having performed with the North East Wales Sinfonia and National Festival Orchestra. Locally, I have played for Huddersfield and Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestra of Square Chapel and several brass quintets and 10-piece ensembles. I also enjoy arranging music, particularly for brass, and have several works published through Music For Brass in Canada. 

I am very much looking forward to continuing my role with the Holme Valley Orchestra in the years to come, and hope you will join us at one of our concerts soon’. 

Introducing . . . . . James McMenemey, our lead cellist and long-standing member of Holme Valley Orchestra . . .

‘From a vaguely musical background, I took up cello at 16 to complete our family piano trio, and at the age of 19 went to a summer chamber music course for the first time; this year will be my 68th anniversary attendance at the same course.

During a lifetime as a physics teacher, I became distracted by dabbling in too many different musical instruments, so took early retirement, feigned a bad back in order to give up the double bass, and resolved to become a better cellist. While still teaching part time, I took private cello lessons leading to Grade VIII, and did music courses with the Open University, the Oxford Cello School and innumerable others. Intonation remains my biggest challenge; as a physicist I can calculate the required frequency of any note to a microHertz, but as an amateur cellist I am chuffed when I manage to play within a semitone of the right note.

I am passionately fond of playing chamber music. All of us enjoy the fruits of our coordinated efforts in making orchestral music; those most fortunate also get to play in small ensembles such as string quartets.’