Thursday 17 June 2010

TREVOR HILL

RhylLast week I had the pleasure of visiting Trevor and Enid Hill at their home in Rhyl.

Trevor Hill (born in Rhyl, 1928) is a distinguished pianist and tutor. He attended Christ Church Primary School in Vaughan Street and went on to private education. He studied music from the age of 7 and had piano lessons from Miss Gates (who later became Mrs. Evans) of John Street, and he took to composing at an early age.

Trevor attended Royal Manchester College of Music and played concerts in all kinds of settings including prisons! He performed for Rhyl Music Club and played for Rita Landi's Choir and was a member of Rhyl Liberty Players (amateur dramatics) at The Little Theatre.

In 1952, he played a season as member of the orchestra at Queens Theatre, Rhyl, and while there he accompanied Laurel and Hardy amongst others.

After college, Trevor moved to London while retaining a base in Rhyl. In London he played as soloist and accompanist and studied under Herbert Fryer, a tutor of international standing. In mid--to-late 1950s Trevor performed recitals at Salle Erard, Great Marlborough Street, and these were important from a career point of view.

Pictured above with Trevor is his wife Enid (was Enid Williams). The couple married in 1956 at Bath Street Methodist Church in Rhyl. Enid’s brother Albert was well known to local musicians because he ran the music shop Box & Co. (formerly Box & Stansfield) in Water Street, which became eventually Price Evans Music Shop.

In late 1950s/early ‘60s Trevor made some television appearances and obtained an honours degree from Durham University. In 1960s and ’70s he did some part-time tutoring for Open University. From 1972-2009 he ran courses in Music Appreciation organised by Workers’ Educational Assoc (WEA) in partnership firstly with University of Wales Bangor and later Coleg Harlech.

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TUE 28th APR 2015 UPDATE: I regret to note that since this post was written Trevor and Enid have both passed away.

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