Warwick Rotary Club was delighted to hold its annual Schools Summer Concert this week at St Marys Church and President Dick Dixon welcomed Warwick Mayor, Cllr Dave Skinner and parents to the event. The Town Council has supported the event which was held in the afternoon this year.
Benjamin Hamilton of Warwick – A Singing Town, based at Warwick Schools Foundation, put the programme together and as 400 children from 6 local schools filled the church, far more than last year he observed “it is a real testament to what’s possible when a whole town believes in the power of singing.” MC Rotarian Jon Wassall welcomed the audience and introduced each contribution.
Warwick A Singing Town is a community, health, and schools singing project for Warwick, funded generously by the Henry VIII Endowed Trust and the Oken Trust. A team comprising exceptional choral entrepreneur colleagues: Ben, Cerys Purser, Hannah Gowers, Jeremy Dibb, and Sophie Chakhmaghi, was managed by Stuart Thompson, who also played piano and organ at the concert. They asked all the audience to warm up and find their own voices before the concert started.
Then young students from Budbroke Primary sang a lively traditional Maori song, followed by a wistful rendition of “Castle on a Cloud” from Les Misérables.
Coten End Primary concentrated on Peace, Truth and Justice with “Songs of Protest”. Firstly they sang “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” , then a soft Hebrew melody, followed by a defiant “Ain’t Gonna let Nobody Turn me Around!”
Myton School Chamber Ensemble consisted of 6 students – strings and a flautist who played part of a Minuet from Handel’s Royal Fireworks suite, followed by a gentle Air by Peter Martin.
This was followed by young singers from Westgate school singing of Hope, Nature and Silence: a gentle piece called Earth, followed by a joyful “Sunshine in my heart” which had people singing along with them.
Westgate then combined with Evergreen school to sing “Don’t Stop..thinking about tomorrow” which the audience was shown how to “sign” along with them. Evergreen continued on their own singing “I’m still singing” which they were! Finishing off with Bob Marleys “Three Little Birds” accompanied appropriately with a drum beat.
Newburgh school ended the concert with three songs; a beautiful “Enchanted Forest”, then a lively “I can see clearly now” , and finishing off with Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, which was a perfect choral for the young voices in the centre of St Marys, and spell binding.
Mayor Cllr Dave Skinner said it had been an incredible night, he was speechless, and admired the performers confidence. Students should be proud of their achievements.
Jon Wassall of the Rotary Club said it was heartwarming to see such talent, explaining that the club has been holding these concerts for over 20 years and all proceeds from the concert will go to support music in schools. He thanked all the teachers, parents, and performers for putting on such a great concert and in particular Rotarian Laurie Day who had persisted in ensuring that the concert was able to proceed despite all the pressures on school timetables.
Jon Wassall thanked the Town Council, St Mary’s, Ben Hamilton and Stuart Thompson of Warwick A Singing Town, and all his Rotarian colleagues for their support, and encouraged the children to continue with their music.
Picture shows Rotary President Dick Dixon with Warwick Mayor Cllr Dave Skinner.
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