“Thank You For The Music 3” – Sunday 24 September 2017 – Mansfield Palace Theatre
The title of this concert expressed the theme of thanks and appreciation for the wonderful gift of music, something that touches us all as individuals and brings us all together as a community. We are so grateful every single day of our lives for music- what would we do without it!
For those not in the know the “3” comes from the fact that this event was the third in a series of concerts on the same theme which the choir have promoted at the Mansfield Palace Theatre.
While we are the subject of gratitude it occurred to me that it would be remiss not to give a word of thanks to those who made a contribution to making the concert so successful.
We should thank the wonderfully talented musicians of the Blidworth Welfare Band and their Guest Conductor, David Hirst. You don’t have to be a brass band aficionado to appreciate music such as this, so full of variety and colour. I know that the evocation of the bagpipes in Highland Cathedral was just one example in their programme of how this music was appreciated by the audience and how it can touch so many. It was a pleasure to share the stage with them and we wish them all the best and many more years of success as they share this terrific music in our community.
Thank you to Kim Denman and the boys and girls from St Peter’s School Choir. They brought bundles of musicality and charm to the stage as they shared humour, laughter, smiles and tears ( perhaps all at the same time) with an appreciative audience and we can’t thank them enough. We should also give a special mention to young Emily Thrower who was exceptional as conductor of the children’s choir for the afternoon. Well done Emily and thank you.
To our music team of Meryl Chambers, Ian Grice and Margaret Ball- we are indeed blessed as a choir and appreciative of their leadership in enabling our choir to perform. The joint pieces which the choir performed with the band ( Onward Ye Peoples and American Trilogy) were very challenging in that there was very little by the way of rehearsal with the choir and band together beforehand. So we give thanks to David, Meryl and Ian for such sterling work in keeping the thing together. We should perhaps give a special thanks to Ian who conducted American Trilogy. This was a piece known by both choir and band separately but the arrangements performed separately were quite different. Ian had to spend a considerable amount of time in preparation and making sure that the choir’s singing was in line with the band’s arrangement. So well done Ian and thank you- without your contribution this could have been a disaster!
Eric Curtis was compere for the afternoon. Thanks are due to Eric for his humour and polish in making sure things ran smoothly and to Geoff Mansfield from the choir and Karen Cretney from the band in terms of organisation behind the scenes. Thanks guys.
And finally a big special “thank you” to the most important people of all- our audience. You were terrific. It was encouraging to see such a great turn-out and we’re glad that the afternoon “ticked all the boxes” for so many. We look forward to seeing you all again soon! Take care.
