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FOSM 2020 Trustees' Report
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Bukolika for Tenterden
Christmas Edition
Please click on the link below to see and hear our special Christmas Greetings from our favourite trio recorded especially for FOSM by
The Bukolika Piano Trio
Here's hoping for a return to live FOSM performances in 2021 and the chance to welcome back
Anna Szalucka, Joanna Gutowska and Gabriela Opacka!
Wishing everybody good health and the best of the season in spite of all the restrictions!
Music to One's Ears!
The Friends of St Mildred’s are delighted to unveil another recording by our two star Polish musicians Anna Szalucka (piano) and Joanna Gutowska (cello) who have so generously shared their time and talent with us over the months of Lockdown. Here they perform two beautiful pieces by Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saens: (please click the link below)
If you wish to make a financial donation to support our two musicians in making their new CD, you can do so by visiting this link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/bukolika-piano-trio-debut-cd
Similarly, any financial donations you wish to make to FOSM will be gratefully received by payment into the FOSM account:
Friends of St Mildred’s Tenterden.
Sort code 60 21 20.
Account number 53778723
(mark donation as SZALUCKA).
Music for Tenterden in Lockdown 2020
CDs available for sale, see below...........


We are happy to announce that we do have a fundraising event planned, albeit a 'virtual' one! As you may remember we were treated to some videos of performances by Anna Szalucka and Joanna Gutowska earlier this summer and we are excited to offer a CD available for you to purchase. Please read on for details.....
Copies of the CD Music for Tenterden in Lockdown 2020, made especially for the congregation and Friends of St Mildred’s by Anna Szalucka and Joanna Gutowska are now available. The CD contains the four recitals and personal messages recorded for us by Anna and Joanna earlier this year in their own homes in Gdansk (Poland) and St Albans (England). The elegiac, tender and technically superb recitals include works by Bach, Bridge, Boccherini, Chopin, Debussy, Popper and Vivaldi.
If you would like to purchase this CD please contact the FOSM Treasurer Malcom Kneller, 14 Eastwell Meadows, Tenterden, TN30 6QR indicating the number of copies you wish to receive, and he will arrange for delivery to your home. Malcolm can also be contacted by email fosmtrea@gmail.com or phone: 07760 161536.
The price of each CD is £10.
Payment can be made directly into the FOSM bank account as follows:
Name of Account: FRIENDS OF ST. MILDRED’S TENTERDEN
Sort code 60.21.20
Account number 53778723.
Or alternatively please send Malcolm a cheque made out to ‘Friends of St Mildred’s’ at the above address.
Best wishes,
Jeremy Cooper (on behalf of the Committee of the Friends of St Mildred’s Church).
Special Online Performances
Act 4: Anna Szalucka & Joanna Gutowska
The fifth in our series of specially commissioned short recitals for the Friends of St. Mildred's has just arrived.
We are delighted that Anna Szalucka and Joanna Gutowska have teamed up in lockdown and are performing a duet of some specially chosen chamber music for us. For this performance Anna is playing her piano in her living room in Gdansk and Joanna is in her home in St. Albans. They will perform for us Frank Bridge's 'Bird Song' and David Popper's 'Once Upon Beautiful days'.
We are looking forward to the day when we can welcome them both back to St. Mildred's when the Bulolika Trio can return in the flesh. But, in the meantime why don't you buy the CD - see above.
Special Online Performances
Act 3: Jehuda Inbar
The fourth in our series of specially commissioned short recitals for the Friends of St Mildred’s has just arrived.
Yehuda Inbar, who gave an inspiring performance of works by Schubert, and Brahms at St Mildred’s in February 2019 February returns (virtually) to Tenterden from his flat in Berlin with a gentle and poignant recital of works by Couperin and Liszt.
You may be interested in acquiring Yehuda’s CD of Schubert Unfinished Sonatas released earlier this year with with Oehms Classics.
We are hoping to welcome Yehuda back to Tenterden in due course with the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet.
Music may well be the food of love, but sadly for the Friends of St Mildred’s and our devoted audiences, it is unlikely to be playing on for the rest of 2020. The church is closed for musical performances for the foreseeable future. Planned concerts by the Tel Aviv Wind Quartet; by cellist Joanna Gutowska accompanied by a classical guitar virtuoso; by the Selwyn College Cambridge Choir;by the London Adventist Chorale; and by the Friesland Choir and Wealden Consort are all on hold, as is the planned Friends Summer Drinks Party. We will be doing our best to continue to provide you with news and entertainment on our Website, and hope that you have enjoyed the beautiful performances we have commissioned for you by Anna Szalucka and Joanna Gutowska (with more to follow), which they generously offered FOSM without reward. But our fundraising activities for the rest of 2020 are essentially curtailed.
In the light of the above, we are making a special appeal to all our followers for donations to help us to maintain our financial resources during the current crisis.
With your generous help we will be able to continue to play a continuing role in the conservation for future generations of our inspirational and historic Church building. We need to ensure that we will be back in business in 2021. All donations however small will be gratefully received, but we suggest that £25 would be a generous and most welcome contribution.
If you would like to help us in this effort, payments are invited directly into the FOSM bank account as follows:
Name of Account: FRIENDS OF ST. MILDRED’S TENTERDEN
Sort code 60.21.20
Account number 53778723.
Or send a cheque made out to ‘Friends of St Mildred’s’ to:
Malcom Kneller, Treasurer
14, Eastwell Meadows,
Tenterden, TN30 6QR
Thank you.
The Committee of the Friends of St Mildred's
A Special Appeal From The Committee
Special On Line Performances
Act II
We are delighted to inform you that the third video in the specially commissioned series of short recitals for the Friends of St Mildred’s has arrived. It consists of two spellbinding pieces for cello by JS Bach and Luigi Boccherini, performed once again by Joanna Gutowska.
Last autumn the Friends had the privilege of attending a concert given by the brilliant Bukolika Piano Trio, which included cellist
Joanna Gutowska and pianist Anna Szalucka. Both these young women are performers of extraordinary talent with glittering careers ahead of them. We are therefore delighted that they willingly agreed to make these two special video recordings exclusively for their friends in Tenterden. Please do enjoy them and watch this space, as there will be more to follow.
For more information about the trio go to
Joanna Gutowska
Message and Cello
Anna Szalucka
Message and Piano
Tenterden Remembers: Celebrating VE75
Event postponed
St Mildred’s is the parish church of Tenterden in Kent, a place that is often known as the Jewel in the Weald. St Mildred’s is an historic, Grade 1 listed building that dominates the centre of Tenterden and rises over the beautiful weald of Kent.
The Friends of St Mildred’s are a group of non-denominational supporters who are trying to preserve the building for future generations. We welcome all who are interested in and value this ancient building to browse our website to learn about the building (see Page 3 of the Newsletter) and our ambitions for it.
The Friends of St Mildred’s were officially granted charitable status in 2014. Our purpose is to assist in the raising of funds to help in the maintenance of the fabric of this imposing building. We would like to involve everyone in our quest, regardless of whether or not they have a religious affiliation. We plan our events programme (click here for Events Page) for the pleasure of all.
You can also help us by becoming a member of the Friends of St Mildred’s or by making a donation.
Send your completed
Application Form to:
Malcolm Kneller
Treasurer
14 Eastwell Meadows
Tenterden
TN30 6QR