Aldeburgh Festival was opened in the presence of the Queen, this time at the start of the 1970 Festival. The new Concert Hall at Snape Maltings became the main focus for the Aldeburgh Festival, although performances continued to be held at all the former venues. For the first six years of the Aldeburgh Festival, the joint Artistic Directors remained Britten, Pears and Crozier; in 1955, Britten and Pears were in sole charge, then the following year they were joined by Imogen Holst, who remained a member of the Artistic Directorate until her death in 1984. After Britten's own death in 1976, the
Snape branch line the support of the owner of Snape Maltings, Newsom Garrett, and as a way of securing malted barley traffic for the burgeoning brewery trade in London. The line was built by the East Suffolk Railway, but on opening was taken over and operated by the Eastern Counties Railway. A passenger station at Snape Junction on the East Suffolk Junction was proposed and indeed appeared in public timetables for some years during the 1860s. It was never built, although a road leading to the site was. Although no passenger trains ever operated on the branch, a building still known as 'Station