Letter
The Hallé, Ida Carroll, Geoffrey Griffiths
Northern School Of Music (NSM)
1939

Griff writes to Ida while she's away at Stratford-upon-Avon, being very late home after a Rummy contest. "The sky was impressive at 12:40 this (Wednesday) morning, as I walked along Birchfields Road and Kingsway. The moon was missing nearly all the time, but its rays were thrown upon the low clouds and created the impression of a long band of white across the sky."
He met a chap on his walk who appeared to be being stalked by a cat, which promptly abandoned him when he accidentally stood on it.
He's had a busy day with "furious work" and "what must be recorded as definitely the craziest end to the craziest choir practice ever."
He said of the Hallé that "the boys of the professional choir again reduced me to pop-eyed wonder, and Mr Wilkes and the leading basso sang very prettily. Mr Leonard Hirsch was again the leader and Jack of course zoomed up and down the old organ."
He hopes she is getting nice weather and that "I hope you will soon resolve your difficulties of the moment, weather they be large or small, but I am sure you lead a most useful life already; for one instance you are able to influence the minds of your own pupils and you no doubt do so at School." He assures her that she does not count among the world's selfish people.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.