Peter Whiteley, Stockport Accordion Club Musical Director until recently, died on March 18th,
less than a week after his 71st birthday. He played the accordion, organ, piano and bagpipes,
and was well known and respected in the accordion scene in England due to leading orchestra
and MIDI workshops, from the late 1980s, at accordion festivals held at Caister, Pakefield,
Blackpool and Seacroft.
Peter Whiteley
Peter was taught the accordion in the 1950s by the late George Harris, and joined the Clifford
Wood Accordion Orchestra in 1956. He competed in NAO accordion festivals many times with
the CWAO, and as a soloist and duet competitor with Adrienne Sharpe.
Perhaps his greatest
moment came in 1989 when he achieved a very close second place (to winner Gordon Shand)
in the Open Polka Section at the NAO UK Championships, in an exceptionally strong section
containing no less than 28 players.
In 1988 Peter joined the recently revived CWAO, and soon became an MD. He had an
immense musical knowledge, which he shared freely. When Clifford Wood stood down as MD
in 1994, Peter and Brian Jenkins became MDs of what then became known as the Stockport
AC Band & Orchestra. He arranged a lot of music for the SAC Band, and also composed.
Peter worked as an electronics engineer, and when the company closed down in the 1990s he
became a full time teacher of accordion, keyboard and piano, travelling around Greater
Manchester doing home tuition. He loved getting out and about, and these years were
particularly happy and fulfilling for him.
Many of Stockport AC’s members were pupils of Peter,
who was renowned for the patience and sheer thoroughness of his teaching.
Apart from his musical expertise, Peter repaired, restored and tuned accordions to a high
standard. His day job as an electrician enabled him to install MIDI and amplification, and he
also used to maintain church organs.
He had the most amazing craft skills, and used to make
dolls houses to order, each of which contained furnishings done with incredible detail, and
better than anything that was shop bought.
In February 2008 Peter had a quadruple heart by pass operation. During surgery he suffered a
heart attack, and went into intensive care. Peter’s health never recovered, and was later
complicated when cancer was diagnosed. Despite all this, through sheer willpower Peter
managed to return to his life of peripatetic teaching and conducting the SAC Band, eventually
standing down as MD in the summer of 2009.
He had a great love of life, and his determination
to carry on was plainly evident in the face of illnesses that would have defeated most others.
On March 18th 2011, 7pm, Peter passed away peacefully in Macclesfield General Hospital. Peter
was divorced, had three sons, several grandchildren, and a brother, Frank, who lives in
Australia. R.I. P.
For further information email: robaccord5@hotmail.com |