Music in the Park, Wistow Hall 18th June 2011
A beautiful setting in the Leicestershire countryside - & the rain stayed away.
We raised £3600 for Breast Cancer Campaign
From Maggie: For the past few days we have all been praying that the weather on Saturday would be kind to us. The Rotary Club of Wigston had invited us to be part of their Music in The Park in the grounds of Wistow Hall owned by the Brooks family.
We arrived at Wistow early in the afternoon to start unloading all the gear and set the stage up. The clouds were looming and every now and then, another shower would come and dampen our spirits. The sound engineers were already prepared and eager to find out where they needed to place their microphones to make sure that the expected thousand plus audience could all hear what was being played. Once we had planned the logistics of how the Boobie and Junction 21 – the swing band that were performing on stage before us – were to share the stage – we were sorted and ready to go.
All we needed was some sunshine! A good friend of mine had promised that she would arrange to have the angels carry the clouds away!
With two hours still to go, the people began to arrive, laden with chairs, umbrellas, wellies, raincoats, hats – not to forget the picnic hampers - everything they needed to protect themselves from what looked like to be a wet evening. Our loyal helpers and supporters had erected the Boobs gazebo, our picnic had arrived together with Keith`s birthday cake – the merchandise was on display and the odd bottle of liquid refreshment was available – for non playing members only!!
With all the Boobies present, including our newest addition – Vanessa Pryor – who had travelled all the way from Cornwall to come and sing with us – we could all relax for a while. Then `beep! beep! message on my mobile – “Is the power of prayer working? The sun is shining here” - I looked up to the sky – a chill went over me because sure enough – there was the promise of a blue sky and even some rays of sunshine. In the distance there were a few balls of grey fluff hanging about - but – had the angels really carried them away?
Junction 21 were on stage and all ready to entertain us when – disaster – one of their players came running towards us with his trombone in one hand and the water key that had managed to detach itself from it in the other hand – he couldn`t get a note out of it. Mary came to the rescue and loaned him her precious trombone only on the condition he looked after it and didn`t drop it.
Over an hour of great singing and playing from this fantastic band and then it was our turn. With the stage re-arranged, microphones in place, girls in seats – we were ready for the first downbeat with Bob Stradling in complete control (well almost) of forty five women and Joey – the brave bloke who came to our rescue at the eleventh hour to assist on percussion. Looking out from the stage – what a wonderful sight. Not a bit of green grass to be seen for as far as you could see – only people with their hampers enjoying what was a lovely dry evening. What an honour to be able to play to a crowd of this size. We had chosen our programme to entertain and hopefully give the audience a chance to have a bit of fun. YMCA and the Can Can certainly got them to their feet, with arms and legs swinging in all directions – our very own compere, Carolyn, very ably demonstrated with great enthusiasm how to do the actions but we did not see the leg kicking!! Now we knew they could dance – but could they sing. They proved they could when all joined in the last part of the programme led by Vanessa.
After all that exertion, our audience could relax, finish the last of the wine and enjoy the 1812 finale accompanied by an absolutely wonderful display of fireworks – timed to perfection with the band arrangement.
What a wonderful evening – we all had a great night and hope that everyone else did too. It made such a difference to be able to enjoy such wonderful surroundings in the dry and not be hidden under an umbrella getting soaked.
Thanks to everyone for allowing us to be part of Music in the Park - thank you angels for carrying away the clouds – but most of all thanks Phyll for arranging it – I owe you one.
Maggie, Carolyn & Jane at the presentation of the cheque on 26th September