Loughborough Concert Band

We were asked by Loughborough Lions to perform a Last Night of the Proms Concert with all the old favourites from the BBC’s Last Night. One difference was that ours was scheduled before the BBC had even started the 2018 programme!

Planning a programme for such concerts is always a challenge. Everyone in the audience is waiting for British Sea Songs, Jerusalem and Pomp and Circumstance. However, Band leader, Dave Coble, is an old hand at planning such concerts and, as ever, he rose to the challenge. He provided a programme that suited all tastes as they waited for the big moment.

The first half started with the rousing Luftwaffe March and continued with Leroy Anderson’s Belle of the Ball and Debussy’s Girl with the Flaxen Hair. A medley of Seekers music had toes tapping as did Sir Paul McCartney’s Yesterday. The first half of the evening closed with Gilbert and Sullivan’s overture to Yeoman of the Guard.

An interesting thing for band members is that occasionally, and usually due to the demands of the room we are playing in, we sit next to different players. And for a piece such as The Coronation Scot by Vivian Ellis, which features a variety of instruments as we replicate the sounds of the stream train, this can lead to some discoveries. So I can report with certainty that band was safely left at the station by Catherine Leyland on bassoon, having previously featured the euphonium (Steve Simpson.)

The second half of the evening started with Star Wars, then moved to Handel’s Royal Fireworks and Shostakovich’s Romance from The Gadfly, featuring Zoe Felton on alto saxophone. And then came the old favourites and they were greeted with flag waving, singing and cheers.

The whole evening was compered by Yvonne Renouf who doubled her role as first flute and gave us a much needed breather between pieces.