Band!

As I have said and written about, on too many occasions to mention, this City has a smorgasbord of talent that just needs the right mechanisms to be showcased. We really do have leaders in so many fields. But, unfortunately the flip side to this is that we don’t in truth actually seem to be able shout from the rafters, to tell the outer reaches of our region that this is the case.

I have been attending the Massed Bands Concert now for a numbers of years and this year my Mother, Pam, and her partner, Ally, made their way from Scotland, by land and sea, to stay in Dunmore East for the last three weeks. This trip coincided with the Massed Bands Concert and naturally I wished to bring them along to hear some of the very best that Waterford has to offer.

Now, my Mum is a very talented and special lady. She, in a past life was a secondary school teacher in, shall I politely say, one of the tougher areas of County Fife – Cowdenbeath! An old mining town in Scotland, that would perhaps best be known for their semi-professional football team’s nickname “The Blue Brazil”. Incidentally, neither the football, scenery or the weather has any similarities with Brazil!

The Blue Brazil

Whilst teaching not only did Mum find time to create, pen and direct a number school musicals. She was very heavily involved in local amateur dramatics, through Glenrothes Amateur Musical Association (GAMA), wrote and starred in many a “one-woman” show and in general has a capacity for spotting genuine talent and talented people. So, this showcase of Waterford musical talent would be right up her street and something that she and Ally would enjoy to the max.

We duly turned up at the venue on Friday 14^th October, cushions in hand to protect our delicate derrières, and having met some of the performers and volunteers, we settled down for a night of emotional highs and lows.

Oh boy, this concert once again delivered!!!!

The unique combination of the De La Salle Scout Pipe Band, City of Waterford Brass, Thomas Francis Meagher Fife and Drum Band, and the Barrack Street Concert Band, supported by the Waterford Sting Ensemble, made very sweet music. The task of bringing four very distinct musical sounds together cannot be underestimated. Both Julie Quinlan and Mark Fitzgerald waved their magical batons with astonishing affect. The combination of pipes, drums, brass, strings and the “big triangle” was an intoxicating mix.

During the pipe medley my own national anthem “Flower of Scotland” was played and three loan figures stood up, in front of an audience of hundreds, and we sang away to our hearts’ content. Though I did notice the odd strange look of “What are those three doing?” and I am sure that once it was explained that this was Scotland’s national anthem, we were Scottish through and through, then all was ok and we were not to be labelled loopy!

The evening once again delivered an exhilarating night of musical tunes, airs, marches and some wonderful singing by Valerie Leahy, Donna Roche and David Flynn.

If you missed this annual jamboree of the very best of Waterford talent, then you must put the date in your diary for 2017 and ensure that you tell the world.

I ask Mum and Ally what they thought of the evening. Not only were they both delighted to be asked to attend, by Ger O’Brien, they, like me and the hundreds of people who came along, felt the evening was magnificent.

A City of Music, we certainly are, and yet outside of our ancient walls, we seem to be lacking in that confidence to tell people that, at some things, we are amongst the very best in the region if not the nation. We have this fear of telling other people, which seems to be endemic and we must ALL work much harder to promote the many talented people we all know live here in Waterford.

Maybe the missing few who did not attend have a big part to play in this going forward?

P.S. Well done Mr Q - you know who you are!