£1m dream comes true

Oct 5 2006 By David Whetstone, The Journal

The 17th 'Geordie Proms' will see £1m raised for cancer charities. David Whetstone talks to Rosalynde Walker about the concert that marks her swansong.

As the guiding light of the annual North-East Last Night of the Proms concert, you would expect Rosalynde Walker to enjoy music. Since the very first concert at Newcastle City Hall she has been steeped in it, booking singers, negotiating with orchestras and helping to put together the concert programme.

But she has a couple of startling confessions to make. "I love singing but I can't sing," she insists.

"George (her late husband) wouldn't let me sing. When I ran a nursery I used to sing to the children but they were just little so they didn't know. And when I'm driving I enjoy singing along to a tape - but with the windows up!"

Then there was her childhood brush with the piano. "My music teacher paid me to ask my mother not to send me any more," she giggles. "I got a shilling and Mum took the hint. My sister continued but I didn't.

"But you don't have to play an instrument to be able to love music and I do. I like a mixture of light opera and popular music and I have my favourite tapes in the car.

"My father had a building business but he was really interested in opera. He used to travel to Leeds to see it. Like me he was tone deaf and couldn't sing or play an instrument but he loved music and every weekend we had music nights, either on Saturday or Sunday, with people gathered around the piano."

How might he feel, you wonder, seeing Rosalynde on stage at Newcastle City Hall in front of the Northern Sinfonia and with singers of the calibre of Jonathan Lemalu, Blake Fischer, Janice Cairns and Suzanne Manuell on either side of her?

The story of this popular annual concert has been told many times so it has become part of the region's cultural weave and weft. But here's a recap.

George Walker was a high-flying and hyper-energetic educationalist in the North-East - a teacher who rose to be assistant director of education at North Tyneside - when he was diagnosed with the blood cancer non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Initially he was given just weeks to live.

This grim prognosis was subsequently revised and George, after expert treatment at the Royal Victoria Infirmary from Prof Stephen Proctor and his team, was soon directing his energies towards beating the illness that was threatening to kill him.

Invited by old friend Benjamin Luxon to attend the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, George and Rosalynde were bowled over by the event. They decided to stage a one-off Last Night-style concert in Newcastle, a fund-raiser to say thanks to the medical staff who had treated George. Ben Luxon, the star turn that year at the Royal Albert Hall, agreed to sing at Newcastle City Hall.

The first concert, in 1990, went down a storm. More than 2,000 people packed in and raised the rafters, and at the end an audience member swept on stage uninvited, took the microphone and said how much everyone would enjoy doing exactly the same thing next year. Ros recalls that she and George, worn out after their exertions, were completely taken aback - and more so when Ben Luxon and the other singers voiced their willingness to return too.

And so a North-East institution was born. The 17th concert - now renamed the George Walker Last Night of the Proms - will take place on October 14 and it is certain to be an event infused with nostalgia. George died in 2001, having lived his 13 "bonus" years to the full, since when Ros has shouldered the burden of sustaining the concert.

Not only has it been enjoyed by many thousands of people, but it has also raised an enormous sum to support research into blood cancers and cancer care charities. This year's concert is almost certain to see the magic appeal target of £1m finally realised. "George was always sure it could be done but I wasn't so sure," says Rosalynde at her home in Westerhope.

She says it was the concerts which kept George going after his illness had forced both of them into premature retirement. It gave him something to focus his energy on, charming and cajoling potential performers and sponsors in equal measure. Ros herself reckons she has written literally thousands of letters in support of the appeal.

The charity NEPAC (North-East Promenaders Against Cancer) was set up as the conduit for the money raised and over the years has also benefited from the efforts of sponsored runners, cyclists and coffee morning organisers. All have contributed to the appeal fund due to break through the seven-figure barrier as the orchestra strikes up later this month.

"I couldn't have continued (after George's death) if I wasn't sure that the money was being put to the best possible use," says Rosalynde.

Since George was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, she has come to know many people whose lives have been blighted by the same disease and by other blood cancers. She knows that they have supported her efforts and talks of feeling "a wave of love" emanating from the hall when she took to the stage for the first time after George had died.

The concert programme used to be a compromise, incorporating the necessary staples of the Last Night such as Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem, the singers' preferred party pieces and George's favourites. The latter came to the fore at the concert which celebrated his life.

But this year's programme will feature a lot of Rosalynde's favourites, for this concert will mark her swansong. Having kept the Union flag flying on George's behalf and seen the £1m raised, she will be standing down now to make way for a professional fundraiser, the no less dedicated Brian Bell.

The Northern Sinfonia will also be taking their leave this year with the musician and conductor David Haslam contracted to provide the musical content of next year's programme. Newcastle Choral Society, stalwarts since year one, are also calling it a day, preferring to reinstate their own annual November concert.

So there will be a few goodbyes to be said. It is inconceivable, though, that the annual concert will disappear or that Rosalynde will not be seen at next year's. "They've said, `You're going to be the figurehead'," she says, clearly not entirely sold on the idea. In any case, she still plans to take responsibility for the two annual satellite concerts hosted by singer Suzanne Manuell and violinist Bradley Creswick.

But if the singing is a little bit louder this year, there's good reason for it. Maybe Rosalynde will be moved to join in.

• Tickets for the George Walker Last Night of the Proms on October 14 can be bought at the Newcastle City Hall box office. Tel. (0191) 261-2606

Page 2: Dedication which pays off for us all