In The Beginning.....
In 1946 the Bournemouth Echo published a letter suggesting the creation of a Gramophone Society. The response was immense and an inaugural meeting was held at St. Peter's Church Hall on 3rd September. 114 members were enrolled on that night alone! Decisions were made about the frequency of meetings (fortnightly) and on the location.....St. Andrew's Hall. An annual subscription of 10 shillings was set and a team of helpers were recruited to provide coffee (4 pence a cup!) together with sausage rolls and date cakes.

Mr. Arthur Butt
The first Chairman of the Society was Mr. Arthur Butt. He compered the first meeting and brought along his own amplifier. (The impression that meetings were held around a wind up gramophone are, sadly, untrue.) Mr Butt retired due to ill health in 1948 and was duly appointed as the Society's first President. He purchased the Society's first amplifier (£25) and insisted on committee meetings being held at his house even when he was too ill to journey downstairs to sit in on the meetings. The last mention of Mr. Butt in the Society's archives is in 1970 and by 1972 he had certainly passed away as our current President, Kenneth Montgomery, had then been elected.

Equipment
In 1951 a generous donation led to the purchase of equipment that played Long Playing records.It was not used to full effect though and in 1952 and 1955 complaints were made that LPs should be played in preference to old 78rpm records. The next technological leap was in 1956 when EMI proposed to demonstrate their " steriasonic tapes". By 1959 the Society was still arguing that 'sterio' (sic) was still in an embryonic stage and that it would take many years to be perfected. How wrong we were! Today the society uses equipment of a very high specification to give the best possible reproduction at the meetings.

Accommodation
In its' first 50 year the Society has held meetings in 13 different locations. The most interesting must have been the Odeon Cafe at the Lansdowne, Bournemouth. However after 2 successful years the committee minutes record that the Cafe Management " behaved in such a manner that made it impossible for the Society to meet there." Frustratingly, no details of the scandal exist in the minutes.

Breaking the Law
One imagines that a Gramophone Society would not be associated with criminal activities.  And yet...... In 1950 it was claimed that the Society was in breach of the law because it charged more than 3 pence for visitors to enter and did not pay Entertainment Tax to the Inland Revenue.
One would also imagine that trouble makers would not be attracted to the Society. In 1952 a small group of ladies were censured by the members for disruptive behaviour. And what anti-social behaviour were these ladies involved in? Nothing more sinister than knitting during the recitals...but the clicking of needles infuriated those who wanted to listen to the music.

In Summary
The Bournemouth Gramophone Society has seen a lot of change over the last half century. Locations, technology, the whims of the members and, of course, the types of music played have fluctuated from season to season. And yet the aim of the Society has remained constant. The provision of a friendly , informal environment in which to listen to recorded music has, and always will be, the Society's primary objective.