St Edmund’s Church in Shipston was transformed into the Royal Albert Hall on Friday as two brass bands performed on the penultimate night of the Shipston Proms.
Union Flags flew and the audience applauded as Shipston Town Band and Stour Concert Brass played a joint concert which conjured up the spirit of the more famous annual Last Night of the Proms.
On this occasion it was the sounds of brass that led the audience in a rousing rendition of Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major, commonly known as ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. But before Elgar could bring the house down, both bands presented a programme which varied wildly in tone and style.
In its opening set, Stour Concert Brass played everything from the theme to children’s TV classic Thomas the Tank Engine and the march Thundercrest, by Eric Osterling to Shenandoah and Eternal Flame, all conducted by their new charismatic musical director Chris Brown.
Shipston Town Band’s section of the performance, under the baton of musical director Alex Bland, included a tribute to the great children’s author Roald Dahl with The World’s Greatest Storyteller arranged by Philip Harper. Cornet soloist Sue Snoxall shone on Caravelli’s Let Me Try Again, made famous by the late Frank Sinatra. The band’s set also included Deep Harmony by Handel Parker, La Belle Americane with Euphonium solo by Joe Cheshire, who display immense musical dexterity.
The concert reached its crescendo with the two bands joining forces for a tribute to wartime classics entitled Keep Smiling Through, before Nimrod ,The Dam Busters Theme and Jerusalem, turning the patriotic dial to eleven before the talented Mr Bland led the crowd into the aforementioned Land of Hope and Glory. It was a night a high temperatures (amidst the recent heatwave) and high spirits, proof to all there that nothing beats the sound of brass.