Hadleigh's Festival of Remembrance

Hadleigh Temple
Saturday 4th November

Wartime scenes were projected onto a screen as a large audience awaited the commencement of the Festival of Remembrance held at Hadleigh Temple. 

Arranged by Robin Bryant and his team of helpers, guests in attendance included representatives of Essex County Council and the Royal British Legion.  As the voice of Vera Lynn was heard through the loudspeakers, Hadleigh Temple Band took their seats ready to play the "RAF March Past" to welcome the RAF Wyton Area Voluntary Band and their bandmaster Graham Sheldon.  Once they were in place, the two bands joined together, conducted by Bandmaster Ken Hillson, to play the "British Legion March" for the entry of the colours of The Royal British Legion, The Air Training Corps and The Salvation Army.

Following the National Anthem and introductions from Major Noel Wright, Hadleigh Temple's Commanding Officer, it was Graham's turn to lead the bands in A E Kelly's stirring march "Arromanches".

Hadleigh Temple's Singing Company, directed by Rachel Worth, have recently undertaken a successful visit to Rotterdam.  In the first of their songs, an adaptation of Len Ballantine's "More than wonderful", they seemed to be trying a little too hard, but their enthusiastic rendition of John Rutter's "The Heavenly Aeroplane" brought a marked improvement and a return to their usual high standard.

Introducing the RAF band's solo items, Graham explained a little of the background to the Voluntary Bands, stressing that all the players have their own roles to play at RAF Wyton, with banding as a sideline.  Indeed,
last minute commitments meant that three clarinettists and a euphonium player had withdrawn from the concert at very short notice.  Leroy Anderson's attractive "Clarinet Candy" featured Deb Stokely and Sandra Walker as the gifted soloists, neatly together in the unison passages and balancing well in the divisi sections.  The band was then joined by 11 year old piper Michael Basford, whose father has recently been commissioned as an officer in the RAF.  Marching in playing "A Scottish soldier", he proceeded to
captivate the audience with a confident rendition of "Highland Cathedral" (arr David Jackson).  With a little prompting from Graham, he received a standing ovation, and the item was immediately repeated.

Robin Bryant spoke of emulating the singing at Cup Finals as he prepared to lead the audience in Darrol Barry's medley "Keep Smiling Through".  The united bands provided the accompaniment as the audience revelled in such songs as "The army, the navy and the air force", "Lily Marlene" and "The white cliffs of Dover".

Timbrel items feature regularly in Salvation Army programmes, the displays most often being given to a bright march.  On this occasion, Hadleigh Temple Timbrel Brigade, led by Zena Graver, were accompanied by the RAF Wyton Voluntary Band in "Just a closer walk with thee" (arr Don Gillis, adapted for band by Calvin Cluster).  Opening slowly, with the timbrellists entering the hall singing the tune, and with a featured trio of clarinet, trumpet and trombone, it then broke into bright Dixie tempo, allowing for a more
conventional display, with further solos from trombone, trumpet and the percussion section.

Lt Col Stephen Smith, the Principal Director of Music (Army) Kneller Hall, had been asked to explain why such Festivals of Remembrance should take place.  Having outlined the history behind the Cenotaph, from the original temporary structure to the familiar permanent memorial, and references to more recent deaths on active service, the Colonel summed things up most succinctly with the assertion that "We should . . . because we can", acknowledging the sacrifice of those who gave their lives to secure that freedom, and also revealing his own Christian faith in referring to God's sacrifice of His own son.

Hadleigh Temple Band presented Bramwell Coles' march "Under Two Flags", acknowledging those Salvationist servicemen owing allegiance to both colours, complete with various quotations including "Rule Britannia" and "The National Anthem".  During the last section, Hadleigh Temple Songster Brigade, led by Songster Leader Ann Whitehead, made their way to the platform for their two contributions, Richard Smallwood's "Total Praise!" and Mark Blenkenship's challenging "We saw love".

Eric Coates' march "The Dam Busters" was played by the massed bands under the leadership of Lt Col Smith, whilst Graham Sheldon dedicated the performance of Elgar's "Nimrod" to the crew of Nimrod XV230, recently lost in a crash at Kandahar.  This led into a brief Service of Remembrance, during which the Last Post and Reveille were played by contests from the RAF and Salvation Army respectively, with the intervening silence being given added poignancy by the sound of fireworks being let of at nearby Bonfire Night Celebrations.

After these solemn moments, the Singing Company struck a suitably positive note with "Somewhere under the rainbow" (Stephen Pearson/Richard Phillips), with its optimistic lines "Just here, under the rainbow, skies are blue . . . all is new".  The final individual RAF item was a "Tribute to Count Basie" arranged by John Moss, and feet were soon tapping to such melodies as "All of me", "Li'l darlin'" and "April in Paris", with the saxophone and brass sections having ample opportunity to shine.

For the finale, the massed bands, Singing Company, Songsters and audience joined in Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March No 1" with the familiar words "Land of Hope and Glory", before the standards and standard bearers left the hall to a reprise of the "British Legion March".

Peter Bale

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