In Memory of Clive Gandee
1958 - 2025
It was with great sadness that the Music Service received the devastating news that our friend and colleague, Clive Gandee, was diagnosed last year with Leukaemia. After several rounds of treatment and a courageous battle we received the sad news that he passed away peacefully earlier this year with his wife and daughters by his side.
Clive worked for Trafford Music Service for 30 years and was the conductor of our Concert Band as well as teaching brass pupils - predominantly French horns, of course! Clive was passionate about getting the very best out of everyone, his students and his ensembles. His dedication to musical excellence was unwavering. His energy was unrelenting – he was an integral part of our residential team accompanying us on residentials abroad and more locally for activity weekends away. Clive rarely sat still. At 66 years of age, for his most recent residential in May of last year, he put the rest of the team (and many of the pupils in fact) to shame as he effortlessly whipped up to the top of the Climbing Challenge. It was a success that many of our young fit teenagers were unable to achieve, and certainly something the rest of the staff team didn’t even attempt.
Clive was a stickler for rehearsal time and wasn’t keen on the idea of the students having time off during residentials to bond and chill, he believed that every moment not playing was time wasted! We arrived on residential one year at 9pm at night, having travelled for 22 hours by coach and ferry and Clive suggested that the students pop their luggage down, grab a quick bite to eat and then we should start rehearsals at 10pm sharp. There is no doubt that given the chance he would have gladly rehearsed them until midnight.
The students loved Clive, without exception. He worked them hard, never willing to accept anything less than their best efforts but also had the innate skill of being able to draw that from them. He had a very strict phone policy in his rehearsals (quite rightly) and regularly confiscated phones - in the absence of phones one rehearsal the trumpet section turned their attention to messing with calculators – so he confiscated those too which caused hilarity all round. Clive was always early for rehearsals - usually at least half an hour but often much more. “What time will Clive arrive” was a game played over the years by many students who would hang around in the foyer of our building awaiting his arrival having made bets on his arrival time through the door.
Clive had a gentle and soft side which slipped out from time to time and was caught on camera in our Zoo trip last year where he was unable to resist a quick cuddle with a baby goat!
The number of children influenced and inspired on their musical journey by Clive is beyond measure. Colleagues at TMS are immensely grateful to have worked alongside him, to have seen the twinkle in his eye and to have been some of the many people who got to know his mischievous sense of humour. We shall continue the residential stinky cheeseboard tradition initiated by Clive in his honour, ensuring that students screw up their noses when entering the staff room for generations to come.
Over 150 young musicians and singers from the Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen Music Hub came together for a special concert performance at Bridgewater Hall. The event featured Neil Brand’s evocative Wind in the Willows and Malcolm Arnold’s Peterloo Overture (Choral Version), with new lyrics by Sir Tim Rice. Actor David Threlfall (Shameless) starred as Badger, alongside Musical Director Stephen Threlfall and performers from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
As part of the performance, 20 students from the newly formed ‘Youth Voices’ Senior Choir sang alongside a specially assembled GM Hub orchestra, with 14 Trafford pupils participating as members of the orchestra.
This event was generously supported by The Bridgewater Hall Community Education Trust, which provides schools, community groups, and individuals with inspiring opportunities for creative music-making.
Wind in the Willows
Here’s some lovely feedback from one of our parents:
Our daughter thoroughly enjoyed her recent experience of representing Trafford Music Service in the Youth Voices performance of Wind in the Willows. Whilst the memorable final performance was an experience she will never forget, she also gained so much from the preparation days beforehand. She gained a first-hand experience of the commitment, drive and hard work which is needed from performers working together to create and produce something unique. All of which are fundamental life skills which she will be able to draw on for the rest of her life. Thank you so much to Miss Boardman and Mrs Henderson-Wilde and all the Trafford Music Service staff for all you did to make this happen.
String Quartet at Time to Shine Awards
Four string players from the Philharmonic Orchestra formed a string quartet to perform at the Trafford Council Time to Shine Awards at Old Trafford Cricket Club on Tuesday 11th February. The quartet rehearsed on three consecutive Friday evenings before the event and learned some challenging repertoire in a very short space of time. They learned Boccherini Minuet, Dvorak Slavonic Dance, Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Bizet Habanera (from Carmen) and Tarantella Napoletana (Traditional Italian).
The quartet performed a short concert towards the end of the awards ceremony and continued to play whilst the guests were leaving the event. They received many compliments from the attendees, who included the Leader and Chief Executive of Trafford Council. The quartet have been invited to perform at further council events, and we are immensely proud of their achievements and look forward to hearing them perform at other Trafford Council events in the future!
Aidan Smyth (first violin), Oscar Yau (second violin), Ruth Jeffery (viola), Simon Bayly (cello).
Trafford Council Time to Shine Awards
Each year, Trafford Council announce these awards as an opportunity to celebrate and recognise colleagues who have gone the extra mile and through their exceptional contributions have ensured Trafford continues to be a truly EPIC place to work.
Trafford Community Award
This award recognises colleagues that have enriched the lives of our local community, impacting families, children, or enabling residents to lead healthier and more positive lives as a result of their involvement.
We nominated our amazing Jenny Davies, for her work expanding our Early Years provision across Trafford, including school visits, facilitating Early Year Lead meetings, launching Rhyme and Chime sessions at The Claremont Centre, and delivering Library Sessions across the borough.
Unsung Hero Award
This award recognises those colleagues who are often under the radar, although consistently deliver, perhaps trouble-shoot when the need arises and are always happy to help in some way. This might be someone behind the scenes who does not usually look for recognition, although makes a substantial impact in their contributions and work they do.
We nominated our incredible Simon Fitton, who is an absolute beacon of positivity. Simon runs our junior and intermediate brass bands, as well as teaching brass and whole classes.
Battle of the Bands GM Hub Finals
Congratulations to Debut (pictured left, or above on mobile), our overall winners of the Trafford heats!
A huge well done to Firehawks (pictured right, or below on mobile) as well. Both bands had the incredible opportunity to perform at the prestigious Band on the Wall in Manchester, with Debut playing on the Main Stage and Firehawks showcasing their original song on the Songwriters’ Stage on Sunday 9th March.
The Big Recorder Project with Paul Harris
At St Teresa’s Primary, our students are taking part in The Big Recorder Project, an exciting initiative bringing recorders, books, resources, and teacher development opportunities to schools across Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen.
This project, led by renowned educationalist, composer, and performer Paul Harris in partnership with ABRSM, Chetham’s School of Music, and the Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen Music Hub, aims to inspire a new generation of recorder players.
Despite the recorder’s accessibility as a first instrument, the ABRSM 2021 Making Music survey revealed a 47% decline in recorder players. The Big Recorder Project seeks to reverse this trend by supporting teachers with expert training and culminating in a spectacular gala concert at Chetham’s School of Music on 18 May 2025, where more than 300 recorder players will perform together.
Here are pupils from St Teresa’s Primary on the day Paul Harris visited their school!
Teacher Spotlight; Musical Inspirations
We've been chatting with our amazing teachers about their musical inspirations, and each newsletter, we'll spotlight a different member of our team.
First up is Steve Sandiford! A key part of our curriculum team, Steve also teaches ukulele, leads singing sessions, and conducts our Concert Band.
I think the biggest musical inspiration was my secondary school music teacher, Mr Emyr Jones; I enjoyed his music classes but it was the extra curricular music activities that he led that inspired me most, from him conducting the school band to leading the choir. I just remember wanting to do my best for him. In one concert he sang “Only You” in the style of “The Flying Pickets” with a whole bunch of girls, and immediately afterwards we boys insisted that he did something with *us* the following concert - that was a measure of how much he inspired us all!
My instrumental teachers were also inspiring, from Mr Talbot (my first trombone teacher) and Mr Mather (long time principal cornet player for Besses O’th Barn Band) to conductors who directed me; Mr David Lever, Mr Jeff Wynn Davies, Mr Lawrence Yates, Mr Eddie Atherton and Mr Eric Langdon. Many became work colleagues later when I started conducting, and even played “under my baton” for musicals I directed.
Another major influence on my musical development was the Head of Music at my university, the composer Professor Patric Stanford. He was truly inspirational as a conducting tutor, and to this day one of the things he said in those sessions still inspires me when conducting - “Unquestioned tradition equals laziness” (when performing a piece of music a certain way because “that’s how it is always done” or “it’s traditional to play it that way” - he always stressed to look to the score itself and to consider anew what the composer intended). I also remember him once telling me in an aside after a heated debate, “Sometimes I like to act as Devil’s Advocate!” and then winking at me; a few months later I did the same thing in a different discussion and after the session him remarking to me with a smile on his face, “And I see I’m not the only one!” I hope that I have that same level of awareness as a teacher.
But perhaps I should remember too the first influence upon me as a musician - Mrs Smith in Year 2 at Primary School, with whom we learnt recorder as a class and who taught me to read music; without that opportunity to experience music making at such an early age, perhaps I would not have music become such a major part in my life, and maybe instead ended up doing what I planned to do as a teenager, which was be an architect!