Our new home is:

Victoria Halls,
37 Knowsley Street,
Bolton,
BL1 2AS

In the early 1970s Ernest Tomlinson became aware of how much music was being discarded by publishers, music libraries and the BBC. He began a rescue operation which resulted in the huge collection which is now the Library of Light Orchestral Music. With the backing of the Light Music Society the library continues to promote and preserve this music. It is staggering to think how much music would havebeen lost and never played again were it not for ET’s actions. The collection was originally housed in the barn adjoining his house and was largely funded, supported and administered by the Tomlinson family until ET’s death in 2015. The family continued to support the library but it was no longer possible for it to stay at Lancaster Farm. Fortunately, a legacy from an LMS member, Miss Sheila Mackellow, enabled the LMS to rent premises at Magna House in Long Preston and the music was moved there during of 2018. Our enthusiastic team of volunteers have worked hard to catalogue and rationalise the various collections of music within the library.

As explained in our treasurer’s financial update in the last magazine, the cost of staying at Magna House is immense. It has been a wonderful “stop-gap” until we could find a better solution for housing the library. We will be sad to leave the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales but we are looking forward to a new chapter in the life of the LMS in Bolton.

Part of our agreement in renting rooms at the Victoria Hall is the use of their magnificent concert hall twice a year for LMS events. The first of these will be our AGM play day and informal concert on October 1st, 2023. Those who attended last year’s playday in Bolton were most impressed by the facilities and the wonderful acoustic of the hall. Our new premises will enable the LMS to further promote our genre of music. There are other large halls available within the building and we hope to have more events for members in the future.