First on stage, in the Shipston on Stour Methodist Church, was the Shipston Junior Band, conducted by Tim Wilson and Charles Matthews. There were also a few adults on the bigger instruments to assist.
This concert is the only public performance by the members of the Shipston Junior band and is eagerly anticipated by parents and friends.
The first half (conducted by Tim Wilson) included a selection from “Playing in the Band”, with Rock Steady, Samba Party, and The Hip Hop Train played by the band.
Next up was a selection from “The Little Shiny Brass World” with a Caribbean number Yellow Bird and a Spanish number La Cucaracha.
Then a very old number “Pastime with Good Company” by King Henry VIII, followed by a traditional Greek song Misirlou.
All the above songs were arranged by Matt Kingston.
The first half also included two cornet solo’s by junior band members with too much appreciation from the watching audience.
After refreshments in the interval, the second half was conducted by Charles Matthews and included some more modern tunes including The Big Issue (Ian McKenzie), Southdown (R.V. Steadman-Allen), Juniors on Parade (Colin Moore) and Mack the Knife (Kurt Weill).
The second half included a further two cornet solos from two more junior band members.
The following day saw the Primary Schools’ Concert take place in Shipston on Stour Primary School, with pupils from Shipston Primary, Acorns Primary School (Long Compton), and Brailes CofE Primary.
The Shipston Primary School pupils were up first with a keyboard piece for two pupils “Tango Jumbo”. Then we had a piano solo with “Pussycat” and “Old MacDonald” and a flutes duet piece “EBGBs”.
Then it was the turn of the massed recorders, conducted by teacher Emma-Jane Roberts, with a rendition of “Land of the Silver Birch”.
Then the last three-piece from Shipston Primary included a keyboard piece “Land of the Silver Birch”, two flutes with “Movie Buster”, a piano solo with “Prelude” and finishing up with a multiplayer keyboard piece “Ode to Joy”.
Now it was the turn of the Acorns Primary children with a violin solo with “Drunken Sailor”, a keyboard piece “Woodpecker”, followed by another violin solo with the well-known “Theme from William Tell”.
Followed by this was a keyboard solo with “Merrily we Roll along”, 3 recorder players with “Stop and Hop”, “Chummy Charleston” and “Proud Moment”, a piano solo with “Rocking Horse” and finishing up with a keyboard piece “Instrument Round”
Then to conclude the concert we had the children from Brailes CofE Primary school who started off with recorder pieces “Catch Me if you Can” and ‘Skye Boat Song” followed by a recorder piece “Allegretto”.
Then it was the turn of two clarinets with “All Made Up”, multiple flutes with “Spring” and finishing up with a flute and clarinet piece “Something to Say”
At the finish there was prolonged applause from the large audience and then Shipston Proms organiser Tim Porter thanked the performers for their playing and encouraged the audience to attend a range of further musical events up to Saturday 4th July.
