10th Orchard Charity Concert Truly Rocks!
After a week of stressful running around trying desperately to find people to play, the juggernaut that is the Orchard House concert, eventually went ahead. The variety and sheer talent of Orchard’s musicians shone through again, as it does every year, with the addition of some special guests along the way with some quite fantastic performances, not to mention Mr. Alcock who, again proved to us that he is not just some bloke who runs the house but is a man of many talents.
As usual the concert started off with some calming classical music courtesy of James Warren and Freddie Wilcox. This was followed by Andy Galligan on the saxophone, playing in his last Orchard concert, the tune of The Pink Panther, before hearing some brilliant and inspirational singing from both Tom and Nick Woodford. As expected the House singing champions, the Orchard house small choir, showed off once again why they won the small group song at the House competition with the total musicality of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Special mention must go to Tom Woodford for stepping in at short notice to replace Elliot Quelch who sang the high part and to Nick Ellis who played the bongo to great effect.
The Year 9 band, consisting of Ben Peers, Elliot Marriner and Harry Fisher on the drums played a song that seems to typify the concert every year: Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. After that the drummers both got stuck in, smashing the skins within inches of breaking, Ehren Elcock and Nick Ellis both showed us the purity of what one person can do with two pieces of wood and a set of drums.
Following a short interval the amps were turned up and the guitars were ready to be shredded, Oscar Lester started us off before the first of our special guests took to the stage. George Twydell, ex-Orchard pupil and keen Iron Maiden fanatic stepped up and blew us away with his rendition of Gary Moore’s Parisienne Walkways. After that we were treated to a special treat from the band, The Vices, Guitarist, Ollie Loudon (Hux Loudon’s older brother and ex- Apple) introduced us to their unique brand of music which everyone seemed to enjoy immensely. The BTEC band, comprising Alex Roberts, Nick Ellis, Tom Woodford and Fred Mallin rocked out to Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode. James Kneifati, also in his final concert, showed us why he is a grade 8 guitarist with his version of the Hendrix classic Hey Joe.
The finale was, as usual saving the best till last, our very own Mr Retro himself stepping up to the plate, never afraid to show us he isn’t afraid of making a fool of himself. Mr Alcock, accompanied by George Twydell and Ollie Loudon on the bass guitar played us a special St. Patrick’s Day version of Whiskey in the Jar by Thin Lizzy. This was followed by an extremely established guest in Mr. Mike Hurst; a giant in the music business who has recorded music with the Cash’s and may other artists of note. He gave us an exhibition of how the acoustic guitar can be played to make a variety of different sounds and rhythms.
Special mention of course must go to the Orchard house PTA along with Matron for organising the refreshments and also Bertie Piasecki-Jarvis for the dazzling light shows. As well as this we have to mention the work that went on behind the scenes which allowed the concert to take place. For this we thank especially: Nick Woodford, Tom Woodford, James Warren, and Tony Baylis, and Mr Alcock whose gentle coaxing of people to pluck up the courage and play in the event showed through on the night as everyone played extremely well and it hopefully raised a lot of money for the Chiltern Children’s hospice. (In fact it raised £250!!)
Tom Morgan
After a week of stressful running around trying desperately to find people to play, the juggernaut that is the Orchard House concert, eventually went ahead. The variety and sheer talent of Orchard’s musicians shone through again, as it does every year, with the addition of some special guests along the way with some quite fantastic performances, not to mention Mr. Alcock who, again proved to us that he is not just some bloke who runs the house but is a man of many talents.
As usual the concert started off with some calming classical music courtesy of James Warren and Freddie Wilcox. This was followed by Andy Galligan on the saxophone, playing in his last Orchard concert, the tune of The Pink Panther, before hearing some brilliant and inspirational singing from both Tom and Nick Woodford. As expected the House singing champions, the Orchard house small choir, showed off once again why they won the small group song at the House competition with the total musicality of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Special mention must go to Tom Woodford for stepping in at short notice to replace Elliot Quelch who sang the high part and to Nick Ellis who played the bongo to great effect.
The Year 9 band, consisting of Ben Peers, Elliot Marriner and Harry Fisher on the drums played a song that seems to typify the concert every year: Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. After that the drummers both got stuck in, smashing the skins within inches of breaking, Ehren Elcock and Nick Ellis both showed us the purity of what one person can do with two pieces of wood and a set of drums.
Following a short interval the amps were turned up and the guitars were ready to be shredded, Oscar Lester started us off before the first of our special guests took to the stage. George Twydell, ex-Orchard pupil and keen Iron Maiden fanatic stepped up and blew us away with his rendition of Gary Moore’s Parisienne Walkways. After that we were treated to a special treat from the band, The Vices, Guitarist, Ollie Loudon (Hux Loudon’s older brother and ex- Apple) introduced us to their unique brand of music which everyone seemed to enjoy immensely. The BTEC band, comprising Alex Roberts, Nick Ellis, Tom Woodford and Fred Mallin rocked out to Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode. James Kneifati, also in his final concert, showed us why he is a grade 8 guitarist with his version of the Hendrix classic Hey Joe.
The finale was, as usual saving the best till last, our very own Mr Retro himself stepping up to the plate, never afraid to show us he isn’t afraid of making a fool of himself. Mr Alcock, accompanied by George Twydell and Ollie Loudon on the bass guitar played us a special St. Patrick’s Day version of Whiskey in the Jar by Thin Lizzy. This was followed by an extremely established guest in Mr. Mike Hurst; a giant in the music business who has recorded music with the Cash’s and may other artists of note. He gave us an exhibition of how the acoustic guitar can be played to make a variety of different sounds and rhythms.
Special mention of course must go to the Orchard house PTA along with Matron for organising the refreshments and also Bertie Piasecki-Jarvis for the dazzling light shows. As well as this we have to mention the work that went on behind the scenes which allowed the concert to take place. For this we thank especially: Nick Woodford, Tom Woodford, James Warren, and Tony Baylis, and Mr Alcock whose gentle coaxing of people to pluck up the courage and play in the event showed through on the night as everyone played extremely well and it hopefully raised a lot of money for the Chiltern Children’s hospice. (In fact it raised £250!!)
Tom Morgan
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