Sadly, our fellow concert society has had to postpone its 9 September concert to 14 October. So if you'd been planning to hear the New World String Trio in Carperby Village Hall, please see the WCS website for the new details.

Season Tickets for our 71st season went on sale today. Joanna MacGregor, the Chiaroscuro Quartet, Royal Northern Sinfonia and more - six superb concerts for just £45, less than half the price of the single tickets.

Details and easy online ordering are on our Home Page. Most of our members bought online last season. Or if you're in Richmond, you can collect from Castle Hill Bookshop (cash or cheque, please). 

Rather post a cheque? If you're on our mailing list, our printed programme and postal order form will clatter through your letterbox around 9 or 10 August. (But if by then you've already ordered online or at the bookshop, we'll save the stamp for another day! That means you'll miss out on our printed annual Newsletter, but you can download a copy here.)

However you join, welcome to our friendly, top-quality concerts.

With the Richmondshire Concerts season finished, and the Swaledale Festival packed away, what professional classical music is available locally between now and September? Here are a few suggestions:

• Sunday 16 June, 14:00-16:30, at St Agatha's, Easby. The superb viola player Susanna Pell (Fretwork, Dufay Collective, Rose Consort, etc.) will give an informal recital of 18th century music. "Drop in," she says, "bring a book, read the papers, knit...". Strawberries and tea. Free entry, donations to church funds.
• 21-30 June. A short way down the A1, the Northern Aldborough Festival has some delightful offerings, including the pianist Kathryn Stott and the wonderful young accordionist Bartosz Glowacki. If you haven't heard classical music on the accordion, you're in for a treat.
• Saturday 11 August, 19:30, at St Andrew's, Aysgarth. Martyn Jackson (violin) and Petr Limonov (piano) play Mozart, Suk and Schumann. Martyn performed for us recently as leader of the Allegri Quartet, and Petr accompanied the violinist Jennifer Pike in a very good recital at this year's Swaledale Festival. This concert is part of the Wensleydale Concert Series.

 The Annual General Meeting of Richmondshire Concerts heard of a successful season. Key points:

• The Chairman, Nick Reckert, reported a record number of members - 259 - in the Society's 70th year. He thanked Trustees for their good humour and hard work. The Annual Report was approved.
• The Concert Secretary, Anna Jackson, said she had had excellent feedback on the season's concerts. This was borne out in total audience numbers which also - despite one snow-bound concert - hit a new record..
• The Treasurer, Philip Wicks, reported Profit & Loss broadly in line with expectations; the Society had budgeted to draw on reserves in this anniversary season, and had done so, and was financially sound.

All Trustees were  willing to continue, and were re-elected with no changes of responsibility.

A list of Trustees is at the foot of this page. The Annual Report and approved financial results are available on request from chair@rsconcerts.org. 

Our Annual General Meeting will take place at 19:30 on Wednesday 13 June, in the Snug of the Black Lion Hotel, Finkle Street, Richmond.

The AGM generally lasts about half an hour. It includes a review of the season which has just ended - concerts, membership, finances - and a preview of the coming season. The meeting is open to all, members and non-members. If you plan to come, it would help if you would email info@rsconcerts.org, so we can be sure to put out enough seats.

Tickets for individual concerts are now available for purchase online, through the Concerts and Tickets page. It's unlikely that anyone will want to buy five months in advance, but if you do then we're glad to oblige.

Season Tickets will become available on 1 August, online and at Castle Hill Bookshop, at £45 for six concerts. (For comparison, if you were to buy single tickets for each concert, you would pay £95.)

If you've had an email from us about the General Data Protection Regulations, please don't ignore it. Firstly, because these regulations do protect you, however tedious they may look. Secondly, if you don't give your consent for us to continue to hold and process your contact details and use them to send information and occasional feedback requests about membership and concerts, there will be two consequences:

1. If you're currently one of our Members, then you won't be any longer. Bye-bye half-price Season Ticket. Bye-bye free downloadable concert programmes. Sorry, but a membership organisation can't work without a list of its members.
2. If you're not a Member, and you're currently buying occasional single tickets, we won't be able to keep you informed about upcoming concerts and offers.

Please, do send us your consent. We'd hate to see you go. If you can't find the email, just send your consent to info@rsconcerts.org.

(Still on the subject of GDPR: we've put our data protection and privacy policies online. They are still provisional, but you can view them at rsconcerts.org/gdpr.)

Many thanks to the Pelléas Ensemble for giving us a memorable end last Saturday to a memorable 70th season. If you were in the audience you'll have seen a preview of our next season, and you'll know what delights are in store. Give us a few weeks, please, to refresh our website, and all the details will be posted here.

A couple of admin matters:

• Our AGM is at 19:30 on Wednesday 13 June, at the Black Lion, Finkle Street, Richmond. It lasts about half an hour and anyone may attend, member or not.
• You may have heard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It comes into effect in April and it requires any organisation which stores and uses people's contact data (= us) to seek explicit permission from those people (= you). So we will be getting in touch with you shortly, and would be very glad if you would confirm your willingness for us to stay in touch with you. More, later.

118 enthusiasts braved the wintry conditions to get to our last concert, when they enjoyed a delightful performance by the Gildas Quartet and soprano Raphaela Papadakis. That was a tremendous turnout on a night when a number of local events were cancelled and we had been expecting maybe a dozen people... Our thanks to the artists, to the staff of the Influence Church, to our own volunteers and of course to the audience. And to those who weren't able to get there, we're sorry, but we're very glad you decided to play it safe.

It's been snowing again in Richmond, and it's bitterly cold today - but the forecast for our next concert, on 24 March, is "Sunny intervals and breezy" with a top temperature of 10°. That's more like it!

Sorry to be so late with this confirmation, but train services have been erratic, and our final musician has just arrived at Darlington Station. So we can now be 99.9% certain that tonight's snow-threatened concert will take place as planned.

​We hope to see you shortly.