Stockport Accordion Club is a focal point for accordion players and enthusiasts throughout the Greater Manchester area.
Stockport Accordion Club meets every Wednesday evening. Our Wednesday meetings take several different forms, with different activities and different timings - for details see further down this page .
1. Practice evenings, for our band;
2. Playrounds, when members play for other members;
3. Public concerts performed by members;
4. Public concerts with Professional Guests.
In addition, we give public concerts at other venues, often for charity.
PRACTICE EVENINGS
Every Wednesday of each month, except when there is a public concert.
7.00pm-9.00pm
The Stockport Accordion Band caters for players with a wide range of experience, and plays a wide range of music in one, two or more parts plus bass. The SAC Band’s repertoire currently includes Scottish, Irish, French, Glenn Miller, ragtime, military marches, jazzy tunes, and sing-along music. The Stockport Accordion Band is available for concert bookings, including charity events. We perform music to suit a wide variety of occasions, and can also provide soloists or small groups.
PLAYROUND EVENINGS
These take place occasionally when the band is not practising for a concert.Playrounds give club members a chance to play a solo, duet, or quartet in front of other members, who provide a supportive audience. The evening often concludes with all those present playing through a selection from the club's repertoire.
PUBLIC CONCERTS IN OTHER VENUES
The Club has a long association with the East Cheshire Hospice. Every year in December, we give a public concert at Broken Cross near Macclesfield, aimed at making money for the Hospice. We regularly raise well over a thousand pounds every year. The concerts are organised by Club member John Jones, who was awarded an MBE for this and other charity work.
CONCERTS PERFORMED BY MEMBERS
These start at 7.30 pm.
The music is played by the Stockport Accordion Band, individual members, and duets, quartets, etc. Members of the public are warmly welcomed. Usual admission fee is £5. Refreshments are available in the interval.
CONCERTS WITH PROFESSIONAL GUESTS
These start at 7.30 pm.
The concerts begin with short spots played by the Stockport Accordion Band, individual members, and duets, quartets, etc. Members of the public are warmly welcomed. Usual admission fee is £5. Refreshments are available in the interval.
New members or visitors are always welcome. Other instruments will be considered but players must be able to read music.
There is a list of local accordion teachers in the newsletter.
We have a bi-monthly club newsletter (Click here to see Page 3 of this website), available from Rob Howard (robaccord5@hotmail.com) on request.
HISTORY OF STOCKPORT ACCORDION CLUB
The first Stockport Accordion Club was formed in October 1937 by Jack Ridings and Ethel Ludlow, and based in Offerton. In November 1938 the Stockport Accordion Club Advanced Band (MD Ethel Ludlow) came a highly creditable 2nd in the Open Bands Section at the All Britain Accordion Championships in London. The club, closed down during the early war years, was revived in 1948, but folded in the early 1950s.
In 1956 Edgeley-based accordion teacher Clifford Wood revived Stockport Accordion Club by forming the Clifford Wood Accordion Orchestra, whose activities were primarily focused on National Accordion Organisation contests plus occasional concerts. The CWAO, based at Johnny Roadhouse Music, Oxford Rd, Manchester, competed annually in the NAO All Britain Championships in the 1950s and 1960s, but by the mid-1970s had disbanded.
In early 1987, Clifford Wood re-formed the CWAO, this time based at The Hollywood Hotel in Edgeley, with weekly rehearsals held on Tuesday evenings. Cliff took on responsibility for organising the 1988 NAO North West Area Festival, held in September of that year at Stockport Town Hall. This festival, the first of a series, was a huge success. The CWAO entered the NAO UK Championships in 1988, achieving 3rd place in the Entertainment Section.
By 1990 the CWAO, under its alternative title, Stockport Accordion Club, was organising bi-monthly concerts, known as Club Nights, featuring professional accordionists as guest artistes. In March 1990 Stockport AC/CWAO moved to the St John Ambulance Brigade HQ in nearby Cheadle Heath. Since 1990, Stockport AC has presented some of the world's finest accordionists, including Mauro Carra (Italy), Zhang Guoping (China), Emil Johannsen (Norway), Marcosignori (Italy), Dermot O'Brien (Ireland), Danielle Pauly (France), Oleg Sharov (Russia), Jorgen Sundeqvist (Sweden), and leading British players such as Deirdre Adamson, Tom Alexander, Ken Astin, Julie Best, Johnny Coleclough, Mario Conway, Jack Emblow & Tony Compton, Pearl Fawcett-Adriano, Gordon Glenn, Murray Grainger, Johnny Handle, Ken Hartley & Lindsay Garvin, Alan Helm, Ron Hodgson, Harry Hussey,John Kirkpatrick, David Lukins, Walter Perrie, Heather Smith, Karen Street, Romano Viazzani, Rosemary Wright, and Janusz Zukowski.
In 1996 Stockport Accordion Club underwent a period of internal reorganisation, instituting a Committee for the first time, and Clifford Wood became President, with Johnny Coleclough as Vice President. A couple of years later, Clifford Wood left Stockport AC, and Johnny Coleclough assumed the role of President. Walter Perrie, John Nixon (1927-2011) and Pearl Fawcett-Adriano subsequently became Vice Presidents. Brian Jenkins and Peter Whiteley (1940-2011) became joint Musical Directors in 1996 of the newly reconstituted Stockport Accordion Club, which henceforward dropped the name Clifford Wood Accordion Orchestra.
Since 2006 Stockport Accordion Club has been based at Woodley Methodist Church.
Club photo taken in 2007 in our current practice venue
Club photo taken in 2015 in our current practice venue
