Rydal 2025 – a week of two halves

Well, that’s a wrap! We had another amazing week of music making and laughter, in the beautiful setting of Rydal Hall.

Leo Byrne, our principal conductor, was back in the hot seat – and as charismatic as ever. And for the first time in 70 years (yes – our anniversary year) we were in late August rather than July. A mix-up by the hall! This meant that it got darker noticeably earlier in the evenings – but as we were inside focusing on the music, it made no real difference. It was also after the schools went back in Scotland, so our Scottish members had a bit of juggling to do. Finally – there was a bank holiday, which increased the traffic both on the roads and the pavements. Back to normal dates next year, though.

Weather

In summary – up and down! The first half of the week was gorgeous – as good as you could ever hope for. But Wednesday was quite wet, and Thursday was a washout. Friday? Not too bad – despite the forecast! You never can tell in the Lakes. See this year’s gallery for some example weather conditions.

Traffic

Worse than usual – see above. But lots of people park their cars in Rydal Hall on the first day and don’t use them again all week, so it tends not to matter what the roads are doing. Foot traffic into the dining room was busy because of the high quality of the food!

Parking for non-residents was slightly more of an issue because the hall are now charging day visitors to park – but it wasn’t a problem in the evenings. Easier all round if you stay in the hall!

Music

Musical highlights – Brahms 2, Dvorak 7, Mendelssohn 2, Dvorak violin concerto played by likely future member George. Our bassoonist Ben played percussion for one night – and dropped a cymbal on his foot. We wish him a swift and full recovery!

Other highlights

We welcomed several new members this week from various parts of the country – we loved having them and hope they will come back again next year!

The food in the hall was consistently excellent.

We had what we think was our largest ever string section on Wednesday – what a sound! People tend to come and go during the week, but overall it was a very healthy orchestra from a numbers point of view.

Leo, our conductor, was more visible this year because of the excellent new podium – made by Nick.

The Friday night quiz was a hard-fought battle. If you’d like to see the actual quiz questions – read here. Unbelievably, there was a seven-way tie at the end, but after the tie-break question the eventual winners were…. The Penguins!

Next year

Rydal 2026 is less than a year away, because we’re back to our usual dates (the last Saturday in July). We are likely to be full in the string and woodwind sections – but we could always do with some extra brass players.

But whether you’re a newcomer or an old hand – you will be welcome. See you next year!

P.S. the ‘two halves’ are really to do with the weather.