The Rotary Club of Banbury

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A BANBURY FESTIVAL OF VOICES

Ferstival of Voices Choir

Banbury was granted its Town Charter by James 1^st on the 28^th June, 1608. To mark the 400^thanniversary a whole week of celebrations under the Festival of Arts banner was planned by the Town Mayor in the lead up to the anniversary date.

The Rotary Club of Banbury collaborated with Mayor Ann Bonner and the National Association of Primary Education, (NAPE), to present two evening concerts at St Mary's Church, Banbury on Tuesday 24^th and Wednesday 25^th June 2008.

NAPE organises “Festival of Voices” concerts at Wembley Arena and Birmingham Symphony Hall annually and the Banbury version followed a similar format with local primary school choirs singing a programme of 10 songs en masse each evening. The programme chosen by NAPE included music written for the nursery rhyme “Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross” by local composer David Martin (one-time head teacher at Queensway), which was especially appropriate for this event.

Eight Primary School Choirs of 200 children were Conducted by Liz Stock and accompanied by Val Scarff (piano), Jonathan Stock (percussion) and Lee Kie on bass guitar.

In addition to the school choirs Umito Choji (piano), Isabelle Bourne Swinton Hunter (cornet) and Jonathan Weirs (cornet), past winners from the Banbury Young Musician of the Year competition performed solo pieces. The youth orchestra of St John’s RC School and the Drum Group from Hornton School provided instrumental items.

The children sang with spirit and feeling and their voices and faces showed how much they were enjoying the occasion. The enthusiastic audiences of some 400 people responded with a standing ovation and were rewarded with a rousing rendition of the traditional closing finale song “World in Union”. The concerts raised a magnificent £1,331 which will be donated to Mayor Ann Bonner’s charities and local and international Rotary Charities.

Participating Schools included St John’s RC, St John’s Priory, Queensway, Kings Sutton, Orchard Fields, Sibford Gower, Deddington and Hornton.

The concert sponsors were some of Banbury’s longest established organisations, Blinkhorns, Walford & Round, J & M Humphris, S.H.Jones, Bloxham School, McDonalds and Banbury Charities

The Rotary Club of Banbury & the Town Mayor are extremely grateful to the staff and children from all the schools, the sponsors involved and the parents for their support.