 -Harry George and Alfredo Campoli- |
| -Harry George and Alfredo Campoli- |
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Harry George, the founder of
the Violin Shop, studied violin playing at the then Royal Northern
School of Music, after initially having started playing the violin
at the age of five. After completing his studies,
Harry joined the first violins of the Hallé Orchestra
in the early 1960's, in the great period when Sir John Barbirolli
was conductor and Martin Milner the leader. Harry also had an immense talent
for making as well as playing the instrument, eventually making
a violin which he played in the Hallé in preference to
his Guidantus instrument. The photograph above shows Harry
on the left and the soloist Alfredo Campoli on the right, trying
this violin during a break in rehearsal when he was performing
with the Hallé.
 Later, forced to leave the
orchestra due to ill health, Harry became a co-founder of the
Lancashire Schools Symphony Orchestra, whilst working as a string
teacher for Lancashire County Education Department. He then decided to start "The
Violin Shop" in his home town of Blackpool, on Ist January,
1975. He paid attention from the beginning to supplying
good, correctly set-up but inexpensive violins for young beginners
as well as instruments for the professional player. His
experiece of teaching in the local schools taught him how important
this was. The shop has always been in
the same premises, but at that time rented only two rooms towards
the rear of the building. The company rapidly became
so successful that it was soon able to expand to take up much
of the second floor. Harry's son, Kevin, came to
work in the business in after finishing his degree at Manchester
College of Art. He learned his workshop skills both
from Harry and from Simon, the chief restorer, who had been with
The Violin Shop almost from the beginning. On the death
of his father in 1981, Kevin carried the business on himself.
This decision to keep it a small, friendly, family run
business has proved very successful.
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