One of a number of picturesque locales stolen from Yorkshire in the ill-considered local government reorganizations of the 1970s (responsible for such creatures as ‘Cleveland’ ‘Humberside’ and worse), the West Riding village of Delph was long significant for its textile mills. The village centre has hardly changed from the 19th century, when it was a thriving centre of employment. In 1851 the railways arrived – part of the London and North Western Railway route from Oldham four miles away in a county called Lancashire.
The etymology of Delph is derived from the Old English ‘Delf’ (a quarry), and just to the north of the village are the remains of quarries from which ‘Bakestones’ were cut: thick tiles used to bake oatcakes and muffins.
Delph is home to the Millgate Arts Centre, the home of a thriving small theatre company, the Saddleworth Players. The Millgate also hosts concerts by the Saddleworth Music Society which has a very distinguished tradition of classical chamber music, and next Wednesday evening DeNOTE will be performing a programme of Viennese chamber music by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven there:
Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano in B flat, K.454
Beethoven Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.5 no.2
Haydn Piano Sonata in E flat, Hob.XVI:49
Mozart Piano Trio in C, K.548
Marcus Barcham-Stevens (violin)
Ruth Alford (cello)
John Irving (fortepiano)
This is part of the Making Music series, 2015-16. DeNOTE are Selected Artists for this season.
Millgate Arts Centre Wednesday 21 October, 7.30pm
Hope there are some muffins left…
