The concert was held on a sunny evening at the Salvation Army Temple in Hadleigh. Musical Director Janet Walker, suitably attired in a colourful summer dress, led the choir straight into Irving Berlin's lively "Alexander's Ragtime Band", which served to grab the attention of audience from the very start. Then by way of contrast this was followed by the beautiful a cappella piece "Calm is The Sea" evoking images of a fishing village harbour.
With yet another change of tone The Choir moved on from the calm of a fishing village to the razzamatazz of "New York, New York" made famous by Frank Sinatra.
This was followed by Ralph Foulkes' debut LOMVC solo, a stirring rendition of "Stars" from Les Misérables which received a noisy and enthusiastic response from the audience.
Next was the African American spiritual "Wade in the Water" followed by the New Zealand whaling shanty "The Wellerman" with the solo part sung by Dave Smith. Click on this next image for a live video recording of "The Wellerman".
Two familiar gospel songs "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and "When the Saints go Marching In" were combined into a medley with an opportunity for the audience to participate.
The next soloist provided a rare opportunity to hear a the trombone as a solo instrument. Music teacher Claire Golding
described how she had progressed through a variety of instruments to the trombone. She then demonstrated the instrument playing the "Theme from Ground Force" and the slow movement from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Trombone Concerto".
In the second half of the concert she gave the audience an amusing insight into the difficulties of playing an instrument where the notes have to be found by the extent of the slide and variations on the mouthpiece. This was followed by her playing "Chicago Blues" and "The Acrobat".
The first half of the concert was closed with Queen's "We are the Champions" with another opportunity for audience participation.
At start of the second half of the concert The Choir performed three new or recently revived items: "Love is All Around" , "This Nearly Was Mine" and "Stand by Me". Click on the next image for a live recording of "Stand by Me".
Ron Circus, a regular soloist, gave a smooth performance of "That's All" a song associated with many singers from Nat King Cole through to Michael Buble.
Ron's solo was followed by one of The Choir's most popular songs "You Raise me Up". Click on the next image for a live recording of "You Raise me Up".
The concert was finished in Proms like style with The Choir singing "Sea Songs" and, with the help of the audience, "Rule Britannia", "Jerusalem" and "The National Anthem".