11th December 2011 -

Well, what a show! A Most Wonderful Christmas it was entitled and A Most Wonderful pair of concerts it certainly was. Two complete performances in one day always poses something of a challenge both musically and in terms of stamina but WCB once again pulled it off, delivering (in the words of Musical Director John) "a brilliant musical experience."

Arriving at Bearwood at about 10:00, the band spent about four and a half hours getting everything ready, including setting up staging, hanging giant baubles (and the shiny new banners!), preparing the front of house, decorating Christmas trees and having a short rehearsal. Then, with the arrival of an audience, we were ready to go! Opening with Wassail, a jolly Christmas march, the programme encompassed all sorts of fantastic music including Jesus Christ Superstar, Hello Dolly, Jingle Bells Fantasy, Christmas Festival, Rudoolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and a couple of audience carols too. The audience, including plenty of children, had a great time and in the blink of an eye it was all over

With just a couple of hours before we had to do it all again, the band popped round to the nearest pub for a quick bite to eat (very quickly in most cases - a lot of the meals didn't arrive until an hour before curtain up!), then it was back to Bearwood in time for the second show with an even bigger audience. After another great performance, all that remained was to clear everything away into the van (we're quite good at this bit - it usually only takes about an hour in this direction!) before it was off to the lock-up to put everything away then home to bed. And so it was that the proper start of Christmas was once again delivered!

We've got a very busy week or so coming up at WCB so check back to see all that we've been up to!

PS...you can find some photos from the Christmas concerts here.