To a vestry meeting about a bassoon £0 2 6
To a bassoon 6 0 8
Two new “cleronets” and reeds cost £5 12s. 9d., and a new hautboy
£1. 8s.
At the same vestry the churchwarden was empowered to pay £1. 1s. yearly
to the singers “so long as they continue to sing such tunes as the
inhabitants of the parish shall approve of”; and William Snelson was
paid two guineas per annum “to teach the children to sing psalms in
church.”...
The abolition of the old church band has _not_ been of benefit to many
churches and villages.
Passing mention must be made of Handel’s visit to Chester, in 1741,
when he tried over the music of the “Messiah” before its first
performance in Dublin, and of the great Chester Musical Festivals held
at various intervals from 1772 to 1829, and of the celebrated political
song called the “Glorious Sixth of May,” which stirred Chester like a
second “Lillibulero,” just one hundred years ago.