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http://accordions.com/news.aspx?d=22-May-2020&lang=en&s=16487
http://accordions.com/news.aspx?d=22-May-2020&lang=en&s=16487
22-May-2020
Gwenda Wilkin (1933-2020), London – UKby Rob Howard |
 Gwenda Wilkin was one of Britain’s finest post-war accordion entertainers, and also one of the instrument’s real characters. Her career, which stretched from 1950 to the early 1980s, took her around the world, including many concerts tours for the armed forces in such places as Germany, Austria, Italy, Burma, Cyprus, and Egypt, where she was performing when the 1956 Suez Crisis took place.Educated at Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow, London, Gwenda was expelled when her headmistress saw her on television performing in a music competition, and declared it to be “conduct unbecoming of a young lady”! Gwenda studied the accordion in London with Adrian Dante, and also was a highly proficient pianist and violinist. In 1948 she became BAA British Junior Champion at the British Association of Accordionists Championships held at St Pancras Town Hall in London. At short notice, due to the sudden withdrawal of the British entry, she entered the 1949 CIA Coupe Mondiale in Belgium, achieving sixth place. The following year Gwenda came third in the 1950 Couple Mondiale held in Milan, after which she turned professional. She performed on ‘Opportunity Knocks’ on Radio Luxembourg, on television, and many times on the BBC Light Programme, on such shows as ‘Workers Playtime’, ‘Accordion’, and ‘Music While You Work’. She worked frequently with the singers Gracie Fields and Vera Lynn, and many other stars of show business. By the 1980s Gwenda had grown tired of performing, and had a career change when she studied animal husbandry and worked in a veterinary practice. In 1993 she obtained a pilot’s licence, and then learned to fly a helicopter. Gwenda Wilkin was widowed, had a son and daughter, and passed away on May 6th at the age of 86 in hospital following complications during surgery. |
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