Our first season was fully-subscribed … Dame Myra [Hess], who opened the series, gave an unforgettable recital including a performance of the Chopin Funeral March Sonata that I have never heard surpassed in person, and only rivalled by Rachmaninov’s historic recording.  (The Dame will, I hope, forgive the comparison as being far from invidious!).  I was happy to have been sitting between two gifted young pupils of mine, Stephanie Bamford and Allan Schiller, because the spiritual side of such experiences cannot be passed on at second hand, and I said more or less the same thing to the audience when I thanked them for their support.