CHAIRMAN, Mike Taylor opened the meeting on Monday, February 1 noting the excellent attendance. Members enjoyed a number of very humorous jokes before business matters were attended to. Philip Rumney was thanked for refurbishing the Probus Plaque to be replaced on the front of the Abbey Hotel and three members were congratulated on recent birthdays. Letters of thanks had been received from Acorns Children’s Hospice and the Motor Neurone Disease Association for donations made from our recent Christmas raffle.
Our speaker David Briggs was then introduced and within a very short space of time had triggered so many memories as he recounted the story of ‘The Father of Hi-Fi’, an accolade well deserved by Gilbert Briggs who, 80 years ago, started his company – Wharfedale Wireless Works – in Bradford, England and launched what is arguably the best-known brand of loudspeakers ever.
Gilbert designed Wharfedale loudspeakers himself for over 20 years. He wrote 21 books on all aspects of audio for the layman between 1948 and 1967, which sold over a quarter of a million copies worldwide. He staged audacious concert-demonstrations featuring ‘live versus recorded’ performances in such venues as the Royal Festival Hall, London, and Carnegie Hall, New York, throughout the 1950s. In 1959 he sold out to the Rank Organisation but continued working until his death in 1978.
Gilbert Briggs’ cousin was David Briggs grandfather and as the story unfolded we appreciated the scale of the family history research undertaken, a point underlined by David Harris in his vote of thanks. David has written ‘A Pair of Wharfedales: The Story of Gilbert Briggs and his Loudspeakers’. This is available on-line from www.apairofwharfedales.com.
On Monday, February 15 we will welcome Paula du Four and her guide dog Cora. The talk is entitled ‘Sight Impaired’ and a donation will be made to Sight Concern.
Refreshments are available from 10am and meetings begin in The Abbey Hotel at 10.30am. Membership is open for retired business and professional men. For further information on the forthcoming 2016 programme, please e-mail the Programme Secretary, t.batesworc@btinternet.com
TONY BATES
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