The band's Autumn Concert, on the theme of "Music from the Movies", was staged at Wokingham Baptist Church on Saturday 18th November. As well as this being a new venue for the band, we also had new guest performers from the Sing for Fun choir, who contributed a set in the middle of each half. You can now watch several of the pieces on our video channel.
The band's programme kicked off with Rossini's The Thieving Magpie [from A Clockwork Orange], followed by Colonel Bogey [The Bridge on the River Kwai]. A horn solo arrangement of All By Myself [from Bridget Jones's Diary] was performed by Jane Pullen. The first half closed with Darrol Barry's compilation of Great Western Themes.
The second half commenced with a set of "African" film themes: Born Free, Out of Africa and The Lion King. Following the last two programme items, Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring and Star Trek: Into Darkness, the band played the John Williams marches Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Imperial March from Star Wars as an encore.
The music was accompanied by an overhead visual display compiled by MD Steve Block, using captions, film posters and clips and also horn player Debbie Morton's photos from her recent trip to Africa.
Highlights of the choir's pieces included Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King; A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman; A Thousand Years from The Twilight Saga; and Once Upon a December from Anastasia, which proved very popular.
The standard of both playing and singing was very good, and the acoustics of the church were very suitable, according to feedback from all present. The audience, though not quite as large as might be hoped, clealy enjoyed the whole of the evening.