I sat at the table near the corner of Huddle, swirling the ice in my blueberry matcha while talking to Erin, the chair of Garforth Musical Society. It was the start of spring, with blossoms starting to appear by the sides of Main Street. In April, it would be the start of celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the Garforth Musical Society.
She told me about the history surrounding the celebration. “Garforth Musical Society has been around now for eighty years. It started off as a male voice choir in 1946, and they did one annual concert at Garforth Country Club. It since evolved into what it is today, which is everyone welcome, all ages.”
“Our show in April is going to be a celebration of musicals. It’s called The Sound of Musicals… it’s a look back over our 80 years, and we’re singing songs from shows that we’ve done over those years. We’re doing some modern stuff (and) some older stuff.”
Erin explained how her and the wider committee decided on which songs to perform for the show.
“We started off as the committee, and we looked through all of the previous productions. We started off with a very long list of songs from all those shows, and we all submitted our favourite 20 songs, then Rich put everyone’s votes together and produced the final list.”
Erin also spoke about the capacity in the usual venue for the performances, Garforth Welfare Hall.
“Seating in rows is about 120, and with the cabaret style it’s 100. We get a good variety of people.”
However, Erin and I didn’t just talk about the show itself, but also her own experience with the Garforth Musical Society, including when she started.
“I’ve been a part of the society for twenty years, and my first production… was Oliver! The Musical and that was great fun!”
“It is always such a hoot backstage, I… grew up in these changing rooms with some of these women. We’ve got so many different members, so we’ve got members who have been in (the society) for 30? 40? Years?”
Erin explained to me that the society had trouble getting on its feet during the pandemic, and that there were serious doubts about whether it would continue running. When she was elected as Chair, she didn’t know what would happen.
“There was a brief period of time… where we didn’t know what the future would look like. Nobody did. But to say that we rallied… just shows the resilience of the society and the commitment of the people of Garforth, to keep coming back and seeing us.”
“We couldn’t do what we do without people buying tickets to our shows every year twice a year.”
Everything thankfully worked out for the best, in the end. This performance, a show of the resilience of the arts in Garforth, is different from previous iterations, Erin told me.
“We just wanted to do something a bit standout and a bit special. We wanted to do something that really paid homage to our history- our past, present and future.”
I asked Erin if she could leave a message to those reading this page in order to convince them to buy a ticket to the celebration. She obliged!
“It’s gonna be a really good, fun night out, it will be a nod to the history of Garforth and us, and it will be a family-friendly evening.”
“…There is a bar.’
“Support local. We do what we do for the love of the community, and we’ve had that love back.”
The Sound of Musicals will be running from the 29 April- 2 May 2026, at Garforth Welfare Hall, LS25 1AA. There are seats available cabaret-style (around tables) on the 1st and 2nd of May or in rows on the 29th and 30th of April. Check for particular days!
Tickets are available for purchase at SPT Uniform Shop, LS25 1AF. Tickets are £12.
More information about the Garforth Musical Society is available at their Facebook page here.
All photos belong to the Garforth Musical Society.
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