The rich and long history of the Wellington Minstrels was recently celebrated at the Breytenbach Centre with the launch of the book The Wellington Minstrels - 100 years of untold stories.
The authors of this publication, Dr Michael le Cordeur of the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University and his former student Marlene le Roux (now director of Artscape / KunsteKaap), spoke about this important part of history that has now, for the first time ever, been recorded. Three of Le Cordeur's students helped with the research and transcribing of interviews.
Drakenstein Municipality Mayor Gesie van Deventer also attended the launch and confirmed her support of the project. Former mayor Herman Bailey acted as master of ceremonies.
The evening ended on a high musical note with the performance of the Wellington Orchestra in the Berg River Secondary school hall. The orchestra was established by Artscape and the Breytenbach Centre and offers training to the young members of various Minstrel groups in Wellington. They thorougly entertained the enthusiastic audience.
Under music virtuoso Ian Smith's guidance, this group played several well-known jazz hits and some of the young soloists were very popular. No one was untouched by the raw talent yielded by the project. Some of the minstrel members now playing in the Youth Orchestra will be studying music full time and some have been invited to join the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. One of the singers received a contract for a year to sing at a hotel chain in Spain.
Le Cordeur and Le Roux has announced that all proceeds from the concert and the book will be held in trust for scholarships to needy students from Wellington who has a minstrels background.
