Western Daily Press (Saturday)
TREVOR’S BOWING OUT AT AGE OF 94
ONE of the country’s oldest violinists is bowing out – at the age of 94. Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra stalwart Trevor Pleass resumed playing the violin when he was 60, after a career in defence disrupted a hobby he has enjoyed since childhood.
When he was born in 1927, Gustav Holst’s The Planets was still considered radically new music and Benjamin Britten was a mere schoolboy.
The Gloucester nonagenarian said farewell to Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra this week after a remarkable 30 years.
“I have loved sitting in a big orchestra and making music – despite the odd ache and pain – but I have realised now that it’s all just a bit too much,” said the ex-serviceman, a father of three and grandfather of six.
Trevor, who was born and brought up in Cardiff, still plays the distinctive violin with its lion scroll that his father bought for him some 80 years ago.
Coming from a musical family he first learned to play the violin at elementary school, while his father used to sing in the choir at Llandaff Cathedral and was choirmaster and organist at several local churches.
Trevor’s hobby came to an abrupt end when he joined the Army, followed by a spell in the Merchant Navy, coastal communications with the GPO and then the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which eventually brought him to Radio Birdlip Station near Gloucester.
Then it was shift work which proved too disruptive for him to continue playing his violin so the instrument stayed in its case for 30 years.
It wasn’t until he retired 34 years ago from his last job, in the emergency control room at British Gas in Gloucester, that his late wife Enid persuaded him to dust off the violin and try playing it again.
”I got my violin out of its case and I remember starting all over again. It was a painful process for all concerned,” he joked.
Trevor went on to join the Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra, as well as other local groups including Newent Orchestra, the Elgar School of Music String Orchestra in Worcester and the Gloucesterbased Colwell Arts Orchestra.
Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra chairman Viv Hargreaves said: “Trevor is a remarkable player, who has been a member of the orchestra for 30 years and has been a joy to play with.
“He hasn’t lost his wry sense of humour and is a role model for us all – as well as an invaluable poster boy for the orchestra!”