Roger Clayden started 60 Minutes of Classical Music on the 6th February 2009 in the Studio Room of the Regis Centre with Carla Rees playing Flute, Andrew Rowe playing Piano and Roger Clayden playing Cello.
The aim of the series is to give all members of our community the chance to hear a different instrument of the orchestra each month and to increase their understanding of how the orchestra works.
The concert series continued there until May 2022 when the Regis Centre was closed down for a complete refit. Roger Clayden then signed a contract with the Bognor Club, 2 Sudley Road, Bognor Regis, PO21 1EU to hire their main room for a concert on the first Wednesday of each month for one year.
At the end of that year another contract was signed, this time for the first Wednesday and third Wednesday of each month. The third Wednesday was added at this point for concert pianists to come and play the new Bluthner Iring Baby Grand piano.
During 2024/5 we have had some fantastic pianists come and play and interest is building. It was also decided at this point to have two concerts every concert day. One at 4:30pm and the second at 7:30pm each lasting 60 minutes.
Clayden & Co Jewellers has invested £36,000.00 over the last 16 years in the concert series which includes the cost of buying the Yamaha B3 upright and the Bluthner Iring Baby Grand piano.
Local businesses have spent £25,000 purchasing adverts in the programmes for Opera Night and Orchestra Night. Bognor Regis Town Council has awarded around £12,000 in grant money. This has allowed the series to exceeded the 200 concerts mark.
The concert series has had an amazing collection of highly established musicians the age span of which starts at 14 years old and goes right up to over 80 years old. Each instrument of the orchestra has had a chance to perform from percussion to the harp, from violin to string bass, from trumpet to tuba. Brass quintets, string quartets, trombone quartets, string trios, piano trios, piano quintets, string orchestra, opera singers.
It has truly been an amazing 200 concerts, and many of the audience have told me how much they enjoyed the concerts as have many of the musicians that have played or sung. In 2012 I started Opera Night and Orchestra Night which are two much larger evenings and very popular with our community.
These have moved from the Regis Centre to Geneses Community Centre and Food Bank, 45 Linden Road, Bognor Regis PO21 2AP.
It is a church building purchased by Jenny Jones OBE who runs the building. The String Orchestra will return for another Orchestra Night on the 22nd November 2025 with the famous violinist Bradlet Creswick
Further information at roger60minutes@gmail.com.
