Thank you for the Music, Mrs Campbell! A Tribute Concert

To complete the 2023 season, CADS will be presenting next month a tribute concert to honour the memory of the late Mrs Helen Campbell OAM, and her musical direction of CADS’ well-loved Music Halls which began in 1990 and continued through until 2019.

Helen was a founding member of the Crookwell Amateur Dramatic Society when it was revived in 1987 and enjoyed 35 years of continuous service earning for her a CADS Life Membership Award in 2022. Helen’s last appearance with CADS was in its last Music Hall production “Back to those Music Hall Days” in 2019 at the outstanding age of 90. 

Following Helen’s passing in February this year, and because of Helen’s love and passion for music where she was the ever-reliable Musical Director in 22 productions, Anne Cleary put out the clarion call to past music hall cast members to gather together to pay tribute to this wonderful lady who gave so much to her community through music.

As a result, 33 music hall stalwarts answered the call and are planning a song-filled comeback to feature in “Thank you for the Music, Mrs Campbell! A Tribute Concert”.  All songs are taken from previous music hall shows going back as far as 1991 (yes there are CADS members still around from that era), up until the last music hall show in 2019.

The Three Tinnies will make an appearance, along with other notable old time CADS performers as well as some younger CADS songsters from more recent music halls. There will even be a special guest appearance by Helen’s twin granddaughters.

Although Helen Lowe will be tickling the ivories without her mate by her side (they were affectionately known to everyone as The Two Helens), the man with the beat, Dale Chalker, will be drumming alongside Helen, as he did in previous music halls. Richard Ferris will be concert compere.

The concert will be repeated over two weekends with the first of the performances to be held on Friday 3^rd November starting at 7.30pm. This is the night before the Garden Festival weekend starts. The following weekend there will be two matinees - Saturday 11^th November at 4pm and again on Sunday 12^th November at 2pm. All three concert performances are theatre seating and tickets will be on sale at the door of the Crookwell Memorial Hall before each performance. Tickets may also be booked on www.trybooking.com/CMJSK.

Although it will be a nostalgic occasion, tinged with a hint of sadness, it will also be an uplifting salute to a lovely lady who gave so much to her community through dedication and loyalty to music recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2021 and the awarding of an Order of Australia Medal.

That same dedication was ever present in her selfless commitment to all of CADS’s endeavours.  This is why CADS wants to pay tribute to the late and much loved Mrs Campbell, to thank her for the music by way of this special concert.