Nostalgia - Bury St Edmunds hosts the 1962 Suffolk Music Festival

In today's nostalgia we go back to 1962 when a wealth of musical talent was centred in Bury St Edmunds.

The four day Suffolk Music Festival, held in alternate years in Ipswich and Bury, saw an increase in the number of instrumentalists - due to the considerable rise in the number of young violinists.

An outstanding success was that of Margaret Minns, of Bury, who won the Suffolk vocal championship and carried off no fewer than four trophies in the vocal section.

Ann Herbert, also of Bury, won the operatic award and was a close runner-up Margaret Minns for the oratorio championship.

The festival opened in the Guildhall with the solo vocalists and in the town hall was the vocal and verse speaking.

'Youth Day' opened in the Corn Exchange where school choirs took part in massed singing under the direction of Dr David Lumsden.