A History of Telford Orchestra

The Telford Orchestra began life as the St. George’s Orchestral Society. It was founded in 1862 and is believed to be the oldest orchestra in Shropshire. in 1990 the name was changed to the Telford Light Orchestra, to acknowlege the new town and the type of music we were then performing. In 1999 we became the Telford Orchestra.

The orchestra has performed hundreds of public concerts in and around the Telford area since 1862. Amongst the notable soloists who have performed with the orchestra are Harry Mortimer and Joan Sutherland, who sang with the orchestra at its Centenary Concert in 1962.

The size of the orchestra has varied widely over the years: in the 1930’s the orchestra could muster eighteen first violins, as well as its full complement of other orchestral instruments; it later shrank to just five members, but its fortunes have substantially revived since then!

For many years the orchestra performed regularly at the Majestic Ballroom (now demolished) in Wellington. For much of that time the orchestra was directed by William (Billy) Shuker, only the fourth conductor in over 100 years. More recent conductors have included George Raxster, John Phillips, Ruth Matthews and Michael Davey. 

Our current conductor is Rory Freckleton. He has a wide variety of experience working with local musical groups as conductor, viola player and as a composer.