Choirs, carols and candlelight

Wokingham is in good voice this festive season.

Last weekend I went to the Loddon Valley concert, given by the Maestros youth orchestra and the massed primary schools choirs. James Baker led it well, getting a strong sound from the singers, and a great performance from the instrumentalists. One of the highlights of Christmas is always the Maestros Sleigh Ride, with especially energetic percussion to carry us on that great imaginary journey through the snow. Dressed in dinner jackets and evening wear with plenty of tinsel and flashing lights, the Maestros know how to put on a show. A group of recorder players had their own solo which gave some live concert experience to younger musicians. It was a magic evening, with an attendance of around 1000 people.

On friday I joined the Mayor and Councillors at the Shute End Christmas event. The Maestros were on good form again, dressed down in their logo sweat shirts. This afternoon I heard the Trinity band deliver their Christmas matinee for children, as part of the celebrations of their tenth year. They catered well for the very young ones in the audience, letting them join in at the end with bells and tambourines. The sweet distribution was also popular. They performed a great medley of Christmas music, with help from Caversham Park Juniors choir.

I would like to say a big thank you to all the local choirs, bands and orchestras who do so much to entertain us and keep the seasonal traditions going.

I also fitted in a trip to Magdalen College Oxford to hear their superb professional choir. Their trained voices lifted spirits and filled the chapel and antechapel. The descants soared and the high notes thrilled. It was reminder of what excellence sounds like, a tribute to hard work and high standards, in the evocative setting of a medieval chapel by candlelight.

2 Comments

  1. Sue
    December 17, 2011

    I really hoped that I had brought my children into a fair and free world when I had them. I was sorely mistaken. We have been conned and lied to and I am extremely angry. I don’t blame you personally but you are part of the system that is allowing this to happen and therefore you must take some responsibility. Most people have given up, that’s why voting numbers are dire but I’m not going allow this to happen without a fight.

    “It cannot be said forcefully enough, writes Booker in this week’s column, that the events surrounding David Cameron’s supposed “veto” were not what they seemed. In fact, it is hard to recall any recent political event having been so widely misreported and misunderstood.

    The general belief, he tells us, is that Mr Cameron somehow “stood up for Britain” by vetoing a treaty that everyone else wanted. But there was no veto, and there could never have been one, because a veto can only apply to the final text of an EU treaty, following lengthy negotiations. No such treaty existed.

    Thus do we get the synthesis of the posts on EU Referendum, with Booker taking us to the start in May 2010, when Cameron, visiting Angela Merkel in Berlin, said that he would oppose an EU treaty to set up a fiscal government for the eurozone.

    But instead of stopping an EU treaty last Thursday/Friday, what happened in Brussels was precisely what Merkel and Sarkozy wanted all along. The only people in favour of such an EU version were the European Commission and Van Rompuy of the European Council. But the Merkozy were after just what Cameron allowed them to have: an intergovernmental agreement”.

    http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/12/truth-will-out.html

    Dr North and Booker have no reason to fabricate lies. I trust them more than I trust the governments word. If you are as sincere as you seem Mr Redwood, now is the time to act. Please, don’t go along with these evil people.

    Reply: You can veto a planned Treaty, which is what Mr C did. So far so good. Imagine how you would have felt if he had said Yes to the planned Treaty for 27. What matters is what he does next – he has to keep up his pursuit of a more independent UK strategy.

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