Gala will honour the memory of a Sussex G&S stalwart

The concert will feature Bruce Graham (former member of the original D'Oyly Carte) and Alexandra Hazard (soprano with the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company).

Tickets are £15 which includes for tea and home made cake in the interval. All profits will go to St Peter and St James Hospice, the hospice that cared for Melvyn.

Tickets will be sold on the basis of unreserved seating. You should buy your ticket by bank transfer to the account of: TTT 2022, Lloyds Bank, sort code 30-98-97, account number 84339162. The bank will ask for a reference. Use your surname and email [email protected] to confirm and to receive your electronic ticket.

Laurence E Leng, a friend of Melvyn’s, said: “Melvyn was a great lover of music but, especially, from the age of 16, the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. Although he was keen to have a stage career himself he ultimately went into catering and actually owned a number of restaurants. The most appropriate, considering his love of G & S, was one called Sullivan’s in Hassocks which opened in 1979.

“Melvyn took ownership of premises at Sheffield Park in East Sussex in the mid 1980s and this was the ideal catalyst to kick-start his fascination for collecting items of interest. From these early acorns, his massive collection of memorabilia developed and as he was determined to share this collection with the public, he consequently opened The World of Gilbert & Sullivan museum which remained in existence until 2013 when the premises were sold to The National Trust.

“The collection comprised a vast selection of personal mementos, letters, music manuscripts, original costumes from the D'Oyly Carte Company, posters and portraits. Also on display were two rather special pianos. One was a very small upright, purchased by the young Arthur Sullivan from Broadwood`s in 1867 and the other was also a Broadwood piano that Arthur Sullivan provided for his mistress, Mrs Mary Frances ‘Fanny’ Ronalds. The museum was included in the BBC's Antiques Road Trip programme in August 2011 with Tom Conti and antiques expert James Braxton.

“Melvyn was the perfect host for the museum and arranged numerous organised tours for different groups. He was always on hand to show people round and engage with them explaining how he obtained certain items. The museum quickly found international fame as was proved by the number of messages I received from all parts of the world following Melvyn’s passing. After the closure of the museum, Melvyn’s concern was what would happen to the collection. He embarked on a major cataloguing exercise with two friends, Richard and Sylvia, to ascertain exactly what he had got. He was keen on the collection staying together and being on display. Fortunately, Melvyn found someone keen to take it on and, although he never saw it in its new location, he knew he had found its appropriate new home. Melvyn had been involved with the G & S Society branch based in Brighton but when that closed he was aware that there was no local group for people that loved that particular Victorian art-form. As a consequence, the Mid-Sussex Gilbert & Sullivan Society was born in May 2011 which then became the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Sussex the following year. Melvyn was the obvious choice for chairman and he held that position until 2018 when he decided, due to poor health, that he would stand down. He was immediately elected to the role of co-president along with Valerie Masterson.”