In April, Making Music staff and member groups attended a reception at Windsor Castle, given and attended by His Majesty The King.
The celebration was to recognise the supporters of community music across the UK – the groups and organisations, but also the volunteer organisers, the leaders and the musicians themselves. Our Chair Rhiannon Harrison, Finance Director Helen Evans and Manager in Scotland Alison Reeves attended; all musicians in the leisure time music community as well as representatives of the association.
Performances were given in the impressive surroundings of the Waterloo Chamber to an audience of 300 guests. We were serenaded on our arrival by our member The London Gay Men’s Chorus, singing from the balcony as guests took their seats, with a set including 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love' and 'Hello Dolly'. The King and his guests the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester joined us to hear the Sing for Freedom Choir (founded by survivors from the charity Freedom from Torture) and young musicians from the Royal College of Music. The performance was compered by Katie Derham and ended with YolanDa Brown, who as well as being an award winning saxophonist is a previous Chair of Youth Music. She led the room in singing – 'All You Need is Love'!
Making Music staff Helen Evans and Alison Reeves with Chair Rhiannon Harrison at Windsor Castle
At the reception held afterwards in St George’s Hall, we heard performances by The Song for Ukraine Chorus, and a wandering group of vegetable players from the London Vegetable Orchestra. The King joined us to speak to and thank the performers and was given a personal impromptu performance by the London Gay Men’s Chorus. We met a number of our members, including Love Music Choir and The Glasgow Baron’s – but we wonder how many more were there that we didn’t spot?
It was really special to be part of an event that recognised the value of community music across the UK. The welcome from The Royal Household was very warm, and there was a real celebratory feel to the whole evening. We hope our members enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience as much as we did.
