Scout group in desperate plea for cash

THE Benyounes String Quartet brought Huddersfield Music Society’s 2016/17 season to a close with a meaty programme from the serious-minded mainstream of quartet repertoire by Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

The Quartet’s previous appearance for the music society was at the final concert of the 2013/14 season, and there have been two temporary personnel changes since then. Emily Holland (second violin) and Sara Roberts (viola) are on maternity leave and they were replaced by violinist Hannah Dawson from the Sacconi Quartet and the Canadian violist Tetsuumi Nagata.

The replacements did not affect the Benyounes’ balance which tips slightly in favour of the strong cello of Kim Vaughan, ideal for the opening of Mozart’s ‘Dissonance’ Quartet K465 with its slow, tense harmonic uncertainties over a pulsating cello. The work develops with muscular texture and complex harmonies. The Benyounes’ intense, sustained sound did it perfect justice. Their spare tone in the exquisite but despairing second movement and the restless pathos they gave to the third were overpowering in emotional effect.

Beethoven’s ‘Serioso’ Quartet in F minor is a work unlike any other. It is short and tightly compressed as a coiled spring. Its five-minute first movement was brutal without breaking up the Benyounes’ beautiful tone. Its sudden conclusion forces the other three movements to develop its potential energy – and fold if they cannot raise the many thousands of pounds needed to replace the building at Coalpit Lane.

Justine Baird, a committee member of the 10th Holme Valley (New Mill) Scout Group and member of its “Big Build” sub-committee, said the old hut was in constant need of repair. The toilets were inadequate, there was a lack of disabled access, only limited cooking facilities and a deteriorating roof structure.

She said this had prevented the children sleeping over in the hut and limited Scouting opportunities for this the Benyounes carried out with relentless efficiency. Their sustained, inexorable intensity was almost unbearable at times, particularly the plaintive second movement fugue. This extraordinary work, having put players and audience through the wringer, suddenly ends in 30 seconds of giddy joy.

Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E those with particular disabilities.

In 2013, the group asked the National Lottery for advice on applying for funding. An architect was engaged to draw up plans for a new HQ which were submitted to Kirklees Council and approved in June 2015.

However, on going back to the National Lottery, the group was told that their postcode area was no longer eligible for the Big Lottery Fund.

Justine said the group sent out letters to businesses in the community flat Op. 12 is romantic in content and classical in form and owes much to Beethoven, who had died two years before its composition. It has a non-specific dramatic feel to it and much of it is more violin concerto than genuine quartet. First Violin Zara Benyounes was superbly operatic in her first and third movement aria-like melodies, with a big and clearly expressed emotional appealing for donations to boost their building fund. But with planning permission due to lapse in May next year, there has been no response from businesses – leaving the group struggling to find the money needed.

Justine said the group had been quoted up to £180,000 for a new building, but so far the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers and their parents and supporters had managed to raised just £5,000.

She said: “The Scout hut is not fit for purpose. We need a new hut if we range. All four players evoked the world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the charmed, quicksilver shimmer of the Canzonetta second movement and they brought the turbulent finale to its resolution – as with the Beethoven – at the very last moment.

Next season celebrates Huddersfield Music Society’s centenary. It starts on October 16 and promises to be unmissable. are to carry on for another 50 years. The group is thriving. We have a massive waiting list. The children have raised thousands over the last three years with bag-packs and sponsored events.”

She said the current council cuts in children’s services in the Holme Valley made the need for scouting even more important.

“It is a part of the community,” she said.

Contact Justine Baird on 07801 073828 or chairman John Broughton on 07802 936473.