CWB felt it was very important to have a committee that took decisions and in a choral society drawn from Ilkley, with its largely middle class population, there seem always to have been committee members willing to take them. The minutes of the Society's committee over the years show that, nevertheless, there have been recurrent problems, concerning which effective decisions have not been easy to take.  A shortage of male voices, particularly tenor, the recruitment of new younger singers, the late payment of annual subscriptions by members, disappointing attendances at concerts, and the late return of music copies after concerts, seem to have been the most frequently mentioned.  It took seven years (from 1974 to 1981) to reach a final decision on changing the form of dress to be worn by women members of the choir at concerts, from long white dresses to white blouses and black skirts.However, a testimony to the efficiency of committee members is that, despite the problems, the Society is still in a healthy middle-aged state.

OFFICERS OF THE ILKLEY CHORAL SOCIETY

PRESIDENT	COMMITTEE CHAIR	SECRETARY
1949 Co. Ald Mrs	1949 Mr. C. W. Bainbridge	1949 Mrs. I. Brown
-63 Ryder-Runton	1959 Mrs. N. Redhead	1951) Miss M. Porritt
	1951 Mr. S. Clarke	(Mrs. M. Kaberryl
		1957 Mrs. M. Tilcy
1963 Mrs. W. Brooksbank		1962 Mr. D. Rhodes
	1967 Mr. R. Lantaff	1966 Mr. P. 1-ithcrland
1970 Mr. R. S. Newiss		1970 Mr. M. James
		1973 Mr. J. Brown
1976 Mr. S. Clarke	1977 Mr. J. James	19771k. K. Lawson
	1979 Mr. D. 11. Clarke	1979 Mrs. M. Palmer
198.5 Mr. C. W. Bainbridge
	1989 Dr. D. Warwick	1988 Mrs. S. Kemp
TREASURER	LIBRARIAN	CHORUS SECRFI'ARY
1949 Mr. E. Lea royd
	1952 Mr. I. Humphries
	1963 Miss M. Stephenson
	1964 Miss M. Watson
1969 Mr. W. Rhodes
1971 Mr. G. Sunderland
		1977 Mrs. J. Prior
	1980 Prof. A. May	1981 Mrs.R. Wardle
	1983 Mr. L. Peak	1983 Mrs. R.Carne
1985 Mrs. R. Sampson		1985 Miss R. Knight
1987 Mr. D. Mathieson

Among the officers, some have served for long periods. The first president, County Alderman Mrs. Ryder-Runton, remained in the office for almost fifteen years and gave great support in the early years. Mr. Sidney Clarke was a founder member, attending the first meeting of the choir. He acted not only as committee chairman for overfifteenyears. but also was president for ten years until his death in 1985. His son, Howard Clarke, was also committee chairman for eleven years. The post of secretary, perhaps the most crucial ofall, has been taken by a number of people mainly for short periods but in the early days Moira Porritt, later to become Mrs. Kaberry, retained theoffice for seven years and Marion Palmer held theoffice through most of the 1980s. Keeping the choirfinancially afloat has been undertaken chiefly bytwo long serving treasurers, Eric Learoyd for the first twenty-one years and Graham Sunderland for fifteen years from 1971. Librarians have also tended to be long-serving, especially Mr. L. Humphries and Mary Watson. Others have served for long periods on the committee, or for the committee, undertaking invaluable work such aspublicity, like Tina Warnes, and general and socialcommittee duties such as Lydia Pettit and StuartWoodhouse. The house manager for concerts forfifteen years from 1968 was David Pyett who wasnever a member of the choir, but who has made a big contribution to Ilkley music, through the Concert Club and the Record Circle. There have also been many who have simply helped when needed in making and serving refreshments al concerts and rehearsals.

The membership of the choir has varied in numbers from the fifty who rehearsed for the first 'Messiah’ to over eighty in the first decade, and thereafter it has been between sixty and ninety, with, in the 1987/88 season for instance, thirty-two sopranos, twenty-seven altos, ten tenors and twenty basses. We have some long-serving members and others, who, like many of the people of Ilkley and district, tend to be mobile.

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