My wife, Viv, and I went to all 32 of the Accordion Festivals at St Audries Bay. The first was in November 1988. Malcolm Gee, who organised a huge accordion festival in Caister each year, decided he was too busy to hold one in 1988 because he was getting married. He was eventually persuaded to change his mind but by then someone else had booked the Caister venue, so he turned to St Audries Bay in Somerset (right).

I had first put on an accordion in 1987, fell for it, bought it, and was teaching myself from a tutor book. Our piano tuner gave us a copy of Malcolm’s magazine, Accordion Monthly News, we saw the advert and we booked for St Audries. It proved a momentous decision!

It was our first encounter with more than one accordionist at a time. We were placed in one of the circle of chalets – I think they were “the yellows” – i.e. they had yellow doors – in the general area that is now Quantock. Most of those around us were members of the TVA (Thames Valley Accordion Club and Band) and they immediately invited us into the family with warmth and enthusiasm. During the week I found out that my accordion was old and leaky and I ordered a beautiful new one from Chris Woodard on John Leslie’s Trade Stand.

John recommended Tracey Goldsmith to me as a teacher, and she was later to take me all the way through to Grade 8. I played in an accordion band for the first time, using my old accordion, and then at the end of the festival, I put it into the hands of Geoff Holter of Darlington who returned it a few weeks later, restored as it deserved to be. I played it in the Vintage Band at every subsequent St Audries Festival. (Right, Malcom Gee with Danielle Pauly.)

Everyone enjoyed the activities in the first St Audries Festival, as I believe they did all Malcolm’s festivals, but they also saw what a lovely place St Audries was. As well as all the facilities, the good food and friendly staff, the environment was spectacular and we wanted to enjoy it at a pleasanter time of year.

Malcolm was persuaded to run a festival in July 1989 and for a few years he ran St Audries in July and Caister in November, but eventually decided that was too much of a burden, so he would have to drop St Audries. The festivals which Malcolm ran were broadly in the Caister tradition, offering invited international celebrities as the highlight of the entertainment (and to run a few workshops), as well as the bands, performance opportunities and trade stands for the ‘ordinary’ players.

When Malcolm decided to drop St Audries, we, the participants – leaders and grass-roots, decided that we wanted to come anyway and organise what we could ourselves. The Camp was willing to do all the administration of booking and accommodation. Essentially, the festivals continued, but without the international stars – the highlights of the concerts provided from within – by the orchestra leaders and other talented participants, with some British star visitors, including The Wurzels.

Much has changed over the years, but there have been important constants: the variety of scratch bands, covering different skill levels and also Scottish and Vintage, the opportunity for everyone to play solo, duet or group in the evening concerts – as well as informally at any time in any available space, the Mass Busk after every evening’s official concert, John Leslie’s Classes and his Trade Stand (taken over by his family when he died) and, perhaps most important, the infectious enthusiasm of all the other participants. Accordionists are a wonderfully friendly bunch from all walks of life and playing all sorts of music.

One outstanding individual – at every accordion festival in England as far as I know, from our first visit until 2016 – was Harry Hussey, an amazing jazz player, who knew by ear virtually every tune anyone could mention, could transpose into any key without any apparent effort and could instantly recognise complex chords. He would be playing his massive Borsini accordion at every meal starting with breakfast, give some jazz classes, compère the evening concerts, and play jazz with his group or others in the bar after the concert had ended. Nigel Pasby ably took over the evening compère job from 2017 and also gave some afternoon classes.

One of our overwhelming impressions at our first festival was of seeing an accordionist wherever you looked – from every corner and every chalet came the sound of an accordion. That’s not been quite the same as the years have gone by. One factor may be the loss of the older generation, more used to uninhibitedly playing the old tunes by ear wherever they found themselves. Another factor must be the change of accommodation from chalets to caravans. After our first year, we moved into ‘The Blues’ in Little Cliff, with the view straight out across the green to the sea and Wales.

A row of chalets with their own patch of green outside is wonderfully conducive to making friends and playing together with the neighbours. Particular friends I remember on our row are three ladies – Marianne, Mary (an ace swimmer in the pool) and Pat, three pupils of Ken Dingle (see below) for whom he wrote trios, and who liked being joined by a fourth. Marianne became a close friend of Geoff and Irene Wilkinson. Geoff was an enthusiast for the rare Uniform Keyboard accordion. Geoff sadly died in around 2009, so I lost Irene as a keen dance partner, and Marianne and her friends were too sad to come again.

Then there was Brian Berry (and wife Gladys) who were our immediate neighbours for a good few years. Another regular chalet group stayed in the reds, with their rather private little patch of grass looking across to Wales. They were mainly the members of the Banstead Accordion Club (with whom I played for a good many years) – led by Judy Brown, who had been a member of Graham Romani’s East Surrey Band. Graham’s band had competed successfully in the triennial International Competitions in Innsbruck. After their success there was a long period before there were any more representatives of the UK at Innsbruck – until the banner was taken up by the Morley Accordion Orchestra which grew out of the Accordion Club I set up at Morley College.

For almost all of our time in the Blues, we stayed in Blue 52. For our first visit we just stayed for the festival, then we started coming a couple of days early, then on the Thursday, and then for two whole weeks. I first noted that caravans had started to appear on site in 1995, but it was a few years before Mary Randle phoned Viv to tell us that Blue 52 was going onto a lorry – at least it was going off to a new home – so what did we want to do with our booking? We opted for the nearest caravan to our old site and our familiar view rather than for a chalet elsewhere, and that led us to Little Cliff 28 where we stayed every year until 2016. It may have belonged to the camp when we first used it, but it was sold and we rented it each year, from two successive owners.

Moving from a chalet facing directly onto “the road” into a caravan entered from the side and up some steps didn’t give the same immediacy with your neighbours. It also gave you substantial space to practice and play together inside with the convenience of not having to peg your music to the stand against the wind. It gave relative luxury, but you had to make the effort to go and see people. In 2016, we fell for SeaSpray Lodge 6, so for the last two festivals we were owners ourselves – living in still greater luxury, but back to visibility on the road. (Right, Ron Hodgson and Margaret Mitchell)

One of the leading personalities of the first festival was Ken Dingle, an elderly, partially sighted accordionist, prolific composer and teacher who organised numerous quizzes and competitions. He was with us for several years, and later on Ron Hodgson transcribed much of his hard-to-read hand-written music onto the computer. Ken was, I believe, responsible for inviting Ivor Hyde, an accordion repairer from Chard, to the Festival, where for several years he gave a session entitled ‘Inside the Box’. Here he took an accordion apart and showed us how the accordion worked, usually doing a few minor repairs gratis for attendees as part of the session. I found those sessions enormously helpful giving me the skills to deal with minor issues on my own accordions and to help friends with theirs. Ivor also played for afternoon dancing on the green outside the Sundowner.

Alas, all those personalities are no longer with us, nor is Ken Owens, an authority on vintage accordions and an enthusiastic player of them all – I remember with particular affection one of his favourites, The Sharpshooter’s March – and he also introduced me to Whistling Rufus and many others. After the vintage meeting, he would tell us about our accordions. My vintage accordion is a Settimio Soprani, a model made specially for the British market in the Coronation Year, 1937. It would have cost £24-10s.

Subsequently on a visit to Castelfidardo we saw the huge building in which it had been made – now converted to other uses – and we visited the factory (still operating) where the Brandoni I bought from John Leslie at the first St Audries was built. (I could tell you lots more, but perhaps that would be a bit technical for these memoirs.) However, I discovered recently that if you Google ‘Neil Sanders, accordion’ you will find a U-tube link to Jean Hanger playing that very instrument.)

Ken has gone, but a Vintage Afternoon with a recital by the band followed by a session showing and talking about our accordions was an enduring feature of the Festivals, led by Jean Hanger (right), who conducted us throughout the years (except for one which she sadly had to miss because of her daughter Julie’s illness. Marion Burch stepped into the breach and contributed to several other festivals).

That takes me conveniently to the subject of spouses. One of the great advantages of St Audries was the opportunities it provided for the non-playing spouses. The entertainments programme continued much as it did for family weeks, including organised games and weekly championships, and there were loads of opportunities for walks. Jean’s husband, Peter, was a keen leader of walks for the non-accordionists, as well as a determined competitor in the camp’s sports and games championships. Despite Peter’s best efforts, Viv was twice dominoes champion of the week and has the signed certificates to prove it. Viv, Paul – husband of Alice, and Trevor, husband of Pat who also experimented on the button accordion (see below) – were also leading lights of the walks in the early years – and Max, the son of Jennie, an accordionist who came with her disabled husband, was another keen gamesman. Viv as a keen botanist compiled lists of plants species on the site (and also butterflies).

These interests – and interest in the birds of prey – are shared with Ian, the Entertainments Manager. Viv’s species lists helped the camp in achieving (and maintining) the Gold Level of the David Bellamy award. I particularly remember the baby badger I saw scampering across the grass from the Little Cliff caravans many years ago – around the time that Gordon, the chef before JP, was feeding and filming the badgers – and I think of the peregrine I photographed perching high on the cliffs a couple of years ago.

From the start, and as long as he lived, John Leslie gave accordion classes every afternoon, sometimes presenting material of his own choice – such as how to use the bass side to create more complex chords than those provided by individual buttons, and sometimes just inviting questions and letting the session develop from them. He was a strict teacher and a perfectionist in matters such as how to hold the accordion.

Viv used to sit in on these classes sometimes, just for their musical interest, though she supposedly didn’t play the accordion. Significantly, however, when Viv and I went to a rather seriously-minded music summer school in Canford in 1995, Viv found herself playing my Brandoni piano accordion while I played my Russian instrument (of which more below), and a teacher of the Alexander Technique came round looking at all the playing techniques of participants in all sorts of classes on different instruments.

Viv was the only accordionist in the group whose playing posture was beyond criticism – and it was all down to observing John’s classes. John also ran the most exalted orchestra of the week – recruited by invitation only from among the most advanced players present – which he drilled in playing one of his own arrangements. (For convenience I will refer to this the ‘stratospheric band’) Several of John’s extremely talented and rigorously taught children came to St Audries when he was alive as well as carrying on his traditions when he had died. It was always a high spot of an evening concert when one of them could be persuaded to play. John also ran ‘Folk and Accordion’ events at St Audries – I heard enthusiastic reports of them.

One particular debt I owe to John requires a digression: When we went to the Caister Festival in November 1989, one of the international stars was Oleg Sharov (right), Professor of Accordion and later head of the whole Traditional Music ‘Cathedral’ at Russia’s senior Music Conservatoire, the St Petersburg Conservatoire (now named after Rimsky-Korsakov). He is the most superb performer – plays everything from memory, as the Russians do – and is a consummate all-round musician.

When I saw what he could get out of his Russian button accordion, I said “I have to have one of those”. These instruments, technically described as ‘converter-bass button-key accordions’ are generally referred to in Britain as ‘Bayans’, though to the Russians the term ‘Bayan’ is used much more generally. You can get many more buttons under your chin on the right hand side of the accordion than you can piano keys, so you can accommodate a range of more than 5 octaves rather than the 4 of the piano accordion. The left-hand side of the traditional accordion gives you powerful single notes and, to go with them, a fixedset of chords played from single buttons – hence the name ‘aCCORDion’ – and the traditional accordion referred to as a ‘fixed-bass’.

In a converter bass, you can switch over the chords into single notes, so you can play the buttons on the two sides like the manuals on an organ or a piano keyboard – and sometimes you can use the powerful single notes which are still there from the “fixed” arrangement to play an organ pedal part with your little finger while the other fingers are playing the manual. So you have a portable reed organ with complete control of the wind pressure.

John Leslie was keen to promote all sorts of accordions, particularly button keyboards and single notes in the left hand, and at the St Audries festival in 1990 he brought half a dozen small buttonˇkey accordions (not converter basses – only the single notes in the left hand) – and ran a daily course on how to play them. That was exactly the opportunity I needed to see if I would be able to get my head round the sort of accordion Oleg played. I decided I could, though it would be a lot of work, so I bought a second-hand instrument from John. Tracey, my teacher, played both systems, so there was no problem on that front. Malcolm Gee invited Oleg as the guest artist at St Audries in 1991 so then we had him full-time!

We vividly remember him sitting in the Sundowner in the afternoons, playing all sorts of music for us on his Jupiter accordion. Someone asked him to play a particularly formidable piece (I think it was one of those Latin-American ones). He said “I haven’t played that for 20 years”. Then he frowned and thought for about 45 seconds – and gave a perfect performance! He told me it was possible to buy Jupiters and he gave me the address of the factory. I did eventually get one (from Moscow, with Oleg in 1992) and Viv and I went back to St Petersburg in 1994 so I could play it in a festival. That is another story, but it started at St Audries.

Another international star was Veikko Ahvenainen from Finland (right), who came in 1992. He specialised in stunning and elaborate bellows-shakes – I bought his book on learning the accordion through bellows-shake, and I once got much better at it than I am now. Danielle Pauly, a famous player in the French musette style also starred one year. I don’t remember which year it was, but I do remember being delighted that for a lot of the time she played on the acoustic accordion without the electronic additions she generally used in public performance.

The move to home-grown talent changed the structure of the evening activities, but the also developed in other ways. There have been at least two enduring features. One evening the main concert is followed by the ‘French Circle’, which was invented by Ken Dingle at the very first festival: participants sit round in a circle playing in turn tunes in the French musette style. The other enduring feature is the Ceilidh. I think the Scottish orchestra provided the music for the Ceilidh in the early years, but recently we have had our music from the wonderful Lukins Family Band. Since 2014, I have had the pleasure of calling for them, often assisted in demonstrations by Zena Tibbenham, an able accordionist who has also recently taken up percussion for the bands.

In the early years, when the camp had evening activities including quite elaborate cabaret, I recall that there was an element of competition for the evenings in the ballroom. From 2003, however, the accordions were given all the main evening time for ‘The Accordionist Entertains’. Certainly good for the accordions, but I’m slightly sad that it meant there was less dancing. I was interested to see from my notes that I was much more willing to play solos then than I am now – maybe because I knew at the time that I was pushing at my limits and practising hard. In 1998 I played two pretty tough Russian pieces on my Jupiter in the evening concert (Solatariev’s First Children’s Suite and Liadov’s Musical Snuff Box), and in 2002 I played my Grade 8 pieces. Since then I’ve retreated!

Going back to the Accordion Orchestras: I have already mentioned the ‘stratospheric’ orchestra; then there was the ‘Senior’ orchestra (officially called by the rather cumbersome name of ‘Higher Intermediate’), the ‘Intermediate’, the ‘Beginners’, the Scottish, and the Vintage. In the early years the senior band was conducted by the grand old man of the English accordion world, Graham Romani – a prolific composer and arranger who was taught composition by Mátyás Seiber (pseudonym G.S. Mathis).

In our first year (1988), I played in the Beginners’ band, conducted by Mike Naidoo – a really talented conductor, from whom I learned a great deal in a few days. Sadly, shortly after that he disappeared from the accordion world as I knew it. I pushed myself to get into the seniors a year or two before Graham retired and found it a considerable challenge to begin with, particularly as I changed over to the button accordion. I noted that I was at the limit of my ability in 1995, but felt I was one of the leaders of the Seconds in 1997.

I always played in the Vintage Band (below) – different and fun – and keeping my eye in on the piano keyboard when I had changed over to buttons, and for a lot of years I played in the Scottish as well – also fun and excellent sight-reading practice – but latterly I hadn’t got the stamina for 3 bands. The Intermediate Orchestra always had a good popular programme, but it was mid-afternoon by which time I had played in my other orchestras, so it just wasn’t possible.

The only person I can remember who managed to play in everything was Sue Padget, one of the people from my Morley College circle who we brought in 2018. Other Morley College folk who came and enjoyed the festival were Rose Heatley (1999) and Vivienne Colchester and Christine Gowdridge (2008). Back in 1996 we invited a Spanish accordionist and teacher, Angeles Flores, who had her own blue chalet near us. I met her in St Petersburg in 1992 when she was studying with Oleg and I visited him so we could go on to Moscow to pick up my Jupiter. When we returned to St Petersburg in 1994 for their Baltika Harmonika Festival, she was one of the international adjudicators (and I had the temerity to play my Grade 5 pieces on my Jupiter). She provided another special input to St Audries.

When Graham Romani retired, some time before 1995, the senior band was taken over by Ron Hodgson who, with his wife Margaret, ran an accordion school and a series of bands in Carlisle (the RonMar Accordion Orchestra). Margaret played the timps in the RonMar Orchestra; I don’t think the timps ever got to St Audries, but she led the bass accordion. Several times Ron brought the Leader of his orchestra, who was also his duet partner, Julie Best. Julie (right) was a stunning player, particularly, as far I remember of the lovely ‘accordion standards’ from the Italian/American tradition of Pietro Frosini and Pietro Diero and others.

Ron introduced a ‘Last Night of the Proms’ element to the final concert, which was the climax to the Festival, on the Friday evening. The bands all played. The ‘stratospheric’ played last but one, and then the seniors, finishing with the St Audries Waltz, which Ron had discovered, to which Ian, the camp entertainments manager, sang the words – and then an arrangement of Land of Hope and Glory, Now is the time to say goodbye, and Auld Lang Syne – a great sing for everyone, and a great end to the festival. I also recall that Ron’s orchestra played several pieces composed by his son, Ivor, a viola player with the Manchester Camerata. Ivor also composed a Concerto for Accordion, which we heard premièred by Oleg Sharov in 1996 in Lancaster.

2002 was a sad year because Viv’s father died during the festival, and I had to leave the band in mid rehearsal, passing leadership of the seconds on to Claire Mitson, my long-time colleague in that section of the orchestra, and another Little Cliff regular. 2011 was Ron’s final year as conductor – he would have been 81 – the same age as Harry Hussey. Rene Mairis took over in 2012 and continued to conduct us in her arrangements of classical and more modern music – and her own compositions, which I particularly remember – until the final festival. She maintained the ‘Last Night’ tradition, and also contributed to the festival from her professional skills on the flute. Happily, Ron and Margaret came and played in the band in Rene’s first year, 2012, although Ron had given up conducting.

2013 was the 25th accordion festival and the 80th anniversary of the camp. The Senior band, under Rene, played the 25th Anniversary Waltz, specially composed for them by John Hilton, a professional violinist and husband of Mary, who became part of our accordion circle when she was given the vintage accordion that had belonged to my singing teacher’s father.

After Mike Naidoo, the Beginners were ably taken over by Brenda Webster from Devon – a talented player herself, and one of a number of West-country folk who made a distinctive contribution to the festivals. For a number of years Viv played the keyboard for them. They always included some absolute beginners and always impressed at the final concert.

I can’t remember the details of the conductors of the Intermediate Orchestra – for a substantial time it was Bill Booth – up to 2008 (expected to be his last) or 2011 when Adrienne Griffiths took over. Adrienne sadly died during a folk event at St Audries (at least she died doing what she loved) and Samantha (Sammie) Catling took over in 2017.

The Vintage band must have been taken by Ken Dingle to begin with, but for all the years I remember, it was taken by Jean Hanger, an enthusiastic teacher who was able to get the best out of the very diverse group of people who play vintage accordions – including inveterate buskers who are really happier without the score in front of them. She was also Leader of the Seniors.

The Scottish orchestra was taken from the early days by Alastair Cameron (certainly from 1999 and maybe from the start). In 2008 he was joined by Pete Denham, and they both retired in 2010. Harvie Sharp took over for 2011 and 2012, then Angie Lukins took over from 2013. I guess this was the time when the Lukins (David (left), Angie and Andrew) family became such an important part of the festival. Their friends the Bennett family (Ron, Sue and George) have been important contributors to St Audries festivals for many years. Both families were fine players, but while I will remember the Lukins for their splendid ceilidh band, Sue on the cowbells and George in his lederhosen will be forever unforgettable as the insanely funny Family von Scrap.

There was also one insanely funny visiting English star, who sang his own songs to the accompaniment of the bandoneon – a funny enough instrument in its own right as it snaked across his needs. I can’t remember his name, and only snatches of his songs – such as when he tried to get his own back on a Mexican bandit by stealing “his woman” from behind him on his horse, only to discover when he got her home and “unwrapped her” that he had stolen the mother-in-law. There was also a Cornish couple who provided a reliable contribution of humorous songs most weeks – that’s another feature of St Audries – it’s rare to find Cornish accordions any further east!

The essential background to all this happy activity was, of course, provided by the Randle family and all their staff. The successive chefs and kitchen staff – providing consistently excellent food and looking after Viv’s special dietary needs, and the much more perilous ones of David of ‘Amaryllis’. The camp very sensibly put them on the same table as us. (David and Tracey’s duo, Amaryllis – renowned for Playford music – were star visitors for several festivals. I also remember buying some accordionist dolls from Tracey’s mum). Mealtimes were smoothly adjusted to cope with the festival’s needs – and the swimming pool always opened earlier to support the tradition of the accordionists’ swim before breakfast. The entertainments manager was always there to keep accordionists and non-accordionists alike happy, and to facilitate the evening activities. Farewell, festivals, the world will be a poorer place without you, but thank you for the memories!

Neil Sanders