Loughborough Concert Band

On Saturday 8th December, resplendent in Christmas jumpers, Santa hats and tinsel, we played in Loughborough precinct for charity.

We had nominated the Alzheimer’s Society as our Christmas Charity and offered to raise money by playing Christmas music and carols in Loughborough’s Carillon Prescient. We also have a raffle at our Christmas social and the proceeds go towards the chosen charity.

There are a number of challenges involved in playing in a precinct. One of these is how close the audience is to us - and people are interested and want to talk! So when one audience member commented (favourably) on Eddie’s bass clarinet and one of the bucket wielding charity collectors patted me on the shoulder and said “Hurry up, the passers-by only donate if you’re playing!” you can only take it in good part.

It’s a concert that I, personally, enjoy every year. Possibly because it’s slightly less formal than our other concerts but also because I love to see people stop and listen and sing along with the carols. And of course, we always choose a very good cause.

The music chosen included enduring favourites such as The Little Drummer Boy and Walking in the Air and a range of carols including as Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Good King Wenceslas.

Special thanks are due to Ian for braving the rain to collect chairs for us to use. He also designed a rather good poster advertising the charity.