Featured here in the Factory’s Staff Magazine from the 1960’s is Paul Hastie -one of our longest serving players. (See more about Paul here.)
The Port Sunlight Orchestra (“PSO”) had its beginnings in the last decade of the nineteenth century.
Early in 1896 the formation of a Port Sunlight Band (for instruction purposes) was proposed and not long afterwards the Band is recorded as having 27 playing members – but only 24 instruments on which to perform!
In 1899 the “PortSunlight Musical Society” was formed. A conductor offered his services without renumeration, but could only offer his services on Monday or Friday evenings. After some consideration, Monday evening was chosen – and, 100 years later, the Port Sunlight Orchestra still rehearses on Monday evenings. Mr W. H. Lever (as he then was) consented to become its president.
The first known public performance by the orchestra (the progession from “band” to “orchestra” is not well documented – the storeroom used by the orchestra until 2000 was still commonly referred to by the staff at the Lady Lever Art gallery as “The Band Room”) was a performance at Port Sunlight School in January 1900 of Handel’s Messiah, rendered by combined Wirral choirs. On this occasion, the orchestra was reinforced by strong professional leaders from Liverpool.
The is no trace of when the Port Sunlight Orchestral Society as such was formed but there is music in the orchestra’s library stamped Port Sunlight Amateur Orchestral Society with the date stamp of 19th October, 1906. The conductor at that time was Mr F.H.Seddon, the Musical Director for Lever Brothers Ltd. Rehearsals were held in Hulme Hall – at that time an art gallery. They were regularly attended until 1914 when the society was suspended following the outbreak of war.
The Society reformed at the war’s end and Mr Lythgoe (of the Lever Staff Training College in what later became the Park Road School) proposed the formation of the orchestra. The response was favourable, and within a few weeks rehearsals commenced under the conductorship of Mr Lythgoe. The orchestra initially comprised 12 regularly attending players. At first it seemed a hopeless enterprise, and the unearthly noises produced for several weeks were enough to dishearten the bravest. Gradually, however, the noises became more harmonious, and order emerged from chaos.
On the 16th of December 1922 the Lady Lever Art Gallery was formally opened by Princess Beatrice a Grandaughter of Queen Victoria. The orchestra played at the opening ceremony in the first public performance by the present society. During that ceremony, Lord Leverhulme said, “We hope that in this hall where we are assembled this afternoon, the people of Port Sunlight will gather on many occasions for festivities, concerts and dance and be happy.”
The programme for this opening concert was as follows:
Herman – Overture, Le Diadene
von Blon – Sizilletta
MacBeth – Forget-me-not
Luigini – Ballet Egyptienne
Herman – Overture Le Chevalier Breton
Mornington – Wagneritis
Amer – The Wee McGregor Patrol
Hadyn – Surprise Symphony
Boleldieu – Overture: The Caliph of Baghdad
Gounod – Merche Militaire
Directly following that date, the Society gave four Sunday afternoon concerts. When Mr Lythgoe vacated his post at the Staff Training College in 1923 and left Port Sunlight, there were others at hand to continue the good work and preserve the Sunday concerts. The tradition of Sunday concerts established at that time has been maintained ever since.
Hallelujah Chorus – from Handel’s Messiah -featured in the very first performance given by the Port Sunlight Orchestra in 1900.