Brings back memories.... doesn't it?

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While Strolling Through the Park
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While Strolling Through the Park
by Thomas N. Thurston

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Memories..... I was fortunate enough to grow up in Montreal in the days when life seemed so much more relaxed, when citizens regularly took time to sit in the park and listen to what was then known as a 'Concert in the Park'. Thanks to some philanthropist, Montreal, as many other large cities, offered those free concerts during the warm summer months.

Given that most performing bands were military bands drawn from local regiments, air force and naval bases, it stood to reason that the program included several regimental marches and so on. But the classics were not forgotten. Nor were the popular songs of the day; after all, it was the forties and it was not unknown to see the crowd break into an impromptu sing-along.

We are now well into the nineties and fast approching the new milleneum. Life is much more hectic. We seldom take the time to bend down and smell the flowers, to sit in the park and listen to a concert. And even if we wanted to do so, we'd sit in which park? What with the universal downsizing of everything that is good, concerts in the park went the way of the dodo bird. What a shame. But, for some of us lucky enough to have lived in that period, long ago, we still have our memories to cherish.

Staff

This new series of concerts in the park will attempt to narrow the gap between what was then and what is now. Oh, it will take a little imagination and a good dose of willpower but, I hope it can be achieved. Each concert will include a little of everything..... best from the classics, the popular and the extreme! There will also be numbers which were composed long after the forties. So why not relax, and enjoy the first of what I hope will become an ever growing series. Shown below is a photograph of the actual bandstand at Molson Park taken on 11 June 1938. The little bambino is yours truly, aged 15 month! Oh memories....

Photo taken 11 Jun 1938. Yep... yours truly aged 18 months!

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To Concert No 1

To Concert No 2

To Concert No 3

To Concert No 5

To Concert No 6

To Concert No 7

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