Here is the editorial of the current edition:
Welcome to the sixth Newsletter, a bit late as always but I have spent a month in Australia which means three months catching up with business, etc.
Both my wife and myself had the pleasure of meeting Michael Hopf and his family in Melbourne and of being shown the sights of the city, much changed in the eight years since we were last there. He had to put up with a great deal of talk about music generally and Offenbach specifically, and I would like to thank both Mike and Pamela for their kindness and hospitality.
The French Society, Société Jacques Offenbach (SJO) has made to our Society a very kind offer. They have altered their constitution to allow all our members to become honorary members of the SJO. This would enable our members to receive the Bulletin of the SJO for the greatly reduced subscription of 80Ff. per year (about £8 to cover the cost of postage). This is a very generous and welcome gesture by the SJO (normal subscription is 400Ff.) because I believe that our future progress lies in co-operation with other such organisations. This gives us a unique opportunity to be in association with what is really the parent society and to be kept up to date with much that is happening in Europe (productions, publications, recordings, etc). It is a most lively and interesting publication. The Bulletin has a circulation of several hundreds and is in French, but should not be too difficult to translate with the help of a dictionary (or a French-speaking friend!). I hope that as many members as possible will take the opportunity to join so that we may show our appreciation for the trouble the French members have gone to in altering their constitution to accommodate us. I will obtain the necessary forms and send them to everyone in due course. It would probably be most convenient to return the subscription forms to be and our Society can return them to the SJO with a bulk payment. I will keep you informed.
I am indebted to Paul Ernill for sending me an article on Fred and Arthur Sullivan's visit to various towns in northern England, a piece that he has researched himself from local newspapers, etc., of the time. I have extracted a section which reviews La Périchole. I have been asked by many members why it is that Offenbach has had such tardy treatment in Britain, and why he is so poorly regarded here. Well, actually I am about to put down my own thoughts on the subject for the next Newsletter but if you will read the extraordinary reviews of that quite delightful work La Péricole that were published in 1875, you will begin to see the root of the problem. It seems that critics then were as bad as, or even worse than, today and as frequently happens quite out of kilter with the real public taste. Unfortunately, they have great influence.
Finally, I hope to be retired by the end of this year, when I should be able to devote much more time to making this Society a real success. Thanks to you all.