Loughborough Concert Band

Sunday 21st July 2019.

This was the third time we had played at the Newark Castle Sunday Afternoon Concerts. It’s a lovely concert to play as the audience comes ready for a good time, bringing folding chairs and picnic teas. This year the audience was the largest we had seen in our visits there, at over 300 people. According to one of the organisers the largest they had seen so far this summer. They were an enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience, talking to us in the interval about our instruments and about the instruments they had played in the past: their applause rang out around the site. We were lucky to receive many comments that can best be summed up by one lady who came to the bandstand when we were packing up to say it was the best concert they had had this year and the choice of music was incredible. And as a member of Newark Town Council she attended all of them so felt she was in a position to know!

As for the concert itself, we all arrived in good time to get our music pegged down to defy the stiff breeze. The afternoon was forecast to be dry with sunny intervals and the breeze took the edge off the heat of the sun, though it did play havoc with unpegged music. Some extra early band members took advantage of the lack of queue in order to have a pre-concert ice cream before the audience had settled. As this was holiday season we were lucky enough to have talented deps to cover key instruments of euphonium, flute, oboe and clarinet and we set off to the rousing strains of Colonel Bogey. The concert was a mix of dramatic pieces (such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Coronation Scott and Colditz March) and more thoughtful pieces such as I Don’t Know how to Love him, Hallelujah and the beautiful Ashokan Farewell.

Newark has always been a happy venue for us and this year was no different – in fact it was better than ever. We are always glad to play there.