Our 50th Anniversary concert, a performance of “The Creation” by Haydn, was held in All Saints Church, Hillingdon, on Saturday 15th November 2008.
The choir dressed especially for the occasion: the ladies wore gold sashes draped from one shoulder, the gentlemen had gold bow ties and cummerbunds, and our conductor Helen Vickery wore a gold bolero, all made for us by choir member
Chris Terry.
We were joined by a professional orchestra and three professional soloists:
Mary Nelson (soprano), Alex Pidgen (tenor) and Callum Thorpe (bass).
We attracted a large audience, some of whom had associations with the choir in the past, and some who regularly support our concerts now. We were honoured that the Deputy Mayor was also present, and were very pleased that Andrew Green, one of our former conductors, was able to attend. Good wishes were sent from others who were not able to be there.
The concert began with the choir and audience together singing “For all the Saints” to the tune Sine Nomine by Vaughan Williams, to celebrate the church’s 75th Anniversary as well as our 50th.
This was followed by a splendid performance of “The Creation”, obviously enjoyed by the participants, and appreciated by the audience.
After the concert, a reception was held in the parish hall. Speeches were made, thanks were given, and a wonderful 50th Anniversary cake, made by choir member Barbara Plummer, was cut by our longest-singing member, David Collier, assisted by the Deputy Mayor. David was one of the founding members of the choir 50 years ago.
Posters, programmes, and photographs of our conductors over the past 50 years were on display in the parish hall.
Local paper “Uxbridge Gazette” published an article about our 50th Anniversary in the week of the concert.
Once again, we are very grateful to local company John Guest Ltd. for their generous and continuing sponsorship of our concerts.
