Developing high quality music education in the community...
Welcome to the Yorke Trust!

Music can make an enormous contribution to a happy life. It is something which should be available to all young people, above all to those who have musical talent which might otherwise remain unfulfilled.  

Our aim at the Yorke Trust is to provide opportunities for students and children from all walks of life to study and to perform in the un-pressurised atmosphere of the North Norfolk countryside, away from the competitive environment of university and school.  We have been doing this to the highest possible standards since the foundation of the Trust in 1984, and we have been doing it virtually free of charge.  
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Our work began with the Yorke Mini-Bass Project, an innovative scheme to enable children to play the double bass, for which we received generous funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.  Acquisition of premises in Norfolk enabled us to broaden our horizons and focus on singing as well as providing facilities for instrumental courses and workshops for children.
Trustees invite you to join them in planning for the future and help continue this valuable work in the years ahead.  You can do this in a number of ways: by coming to events; by making a donation or by remembering us when making your will. 

Thank you for your support!

   -  Rodney Slatford, OBE
                                       

                                              Benefit Concerts

Last weekend saw the final concert in the first series of Yorke Trust benefit concerts designed to give experience to promising young musicians, many of whom have been unable to perform to a live audience in over a year. A new series will be announced soon, to start in the autumn, including some successful candidates at Royal Over-Seas League and Craxton Trust auditions. There are so many concerts in the area that we’re anxious not to clash or overload the market! However our series, essentially both informal and educational, has proved a successful formula. Thank you to everyone who has made it possible.

Our next event will be the regular visit from the Purcell School IMPULSE project on Friday 17 June when Alison Cox introduces some of their most exciting young talent in the school’s innovative outreach programme.
Two piano recitals are also on the horizon though neither connected to the Trust. This weekend, Sunday 20 March at 15:00 the international virtuoso Martin Roscoe plays at Wells Maltings including works by Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Liszt. https://www.wellsmaltings.org.uk/events/martin-roscoe-piano/
Then on Friday 29 April at 19:00 the young pianist Dominic Degavino plays Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Schubert at Holkham Hall in aid of All Saints’ Church Waterden, surely one of the most interesting and tiny medieval churches in the county. The Times says Dominic is a pianist ‘worth watching’. Tickets from lhodges@blueyonder.co.uk. He returns on Friday 1 July with the Mithras piano trio for a concert in the series Music in Thorpe.
Yorke Trust tickets can be booked from Carol Jennings at carol.jennings2@btinternet.com. The Yorke Trust website at www.yorketrust.org gives information about all the Trust’s activities.
Finally, if you’re keen on keeping fit, the Reel Fling begin their popular regular evenings of Scottish dancing in the Trust’s Old Chapel, South Creake, on Wednesday 30 March in the evening, with a light meal beforehand. No experience is required, though it does help to know one’s left hand from one’s right! Details from Lois Carrick at loiscarrick21@hotmail.co.uk.
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The Tempest by Henry Purcell  Summer Opera 2019

Photographs by Samuel McMullen 
Erard Grand Pianoforte, No 732, London, ca. 1840

​We are proud to promote this unique instrument we have in our Chapel!

Privately owned, this wonderful instrument is on loan to the Yorke Trust and, having been completely restored, resides in our Chapel ready for concerts.
The Sunday School Room has a new roof!

Many thanks to a generous private donation and grants from Geoffrey Watling Charity, Shelroy Trust and Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk (the latter two administered by Norfolk Community Fund), the leaky Sunday School Room roof, guttering and drainpipes have been completely replaced.

This room is vital to the work of the Yorke Trust as it provides storage for the props, costumes, lighting and staging used in the Yorke Trust productions.  It sprung a leak during a storm a couple of years ago and was patched up as a temporary measure having  not had any major repairs since it was built a hundred years ago. The builder recommended a full roof replacement and is now completely water tight, the timbers have been treated and hopefully the roof will not need any more repairs for another hundred years!

We are very grateful to the valiant volunteers from Wells-next-the-Sea Men’s Shed, Mark, Richard, Peter and Terry who helped to clear the Sunday School Room ready for the repairs and then returned three weeks later to put everything back and  to Robert McNaughtan for providing cake to keep us all going.​

The Yorke Trust launches a new Friends scheme!

Our aim at the Yorke Trust is to provide opportunities for students and children from all walks of life to study and to perform in the un-pressurised atmosphere of the North Norfolk countryside, away from the competitive environment of university and school. We have been doing this since 1984 and we have been doing it virtually free of charge.
Trustees invite you to join them in helping to continue this valuable work in the years ahead.

By becoming a Friend of The Yorke Trust, you join a group of supporters whose generosity provides a regular income to help us fulfil our aims.

For more information, visit our "Become a Friend" page on the website or download the Friends Application Form which has all the information you need.
The Yorke Trust           |          UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation No. ​1158927          |           Phone: +44 1328 823501