This in from the Hospice, in their own words. Ed
The students, aged between 11-14, and their teachers took part in a Christmas concert on the morning of Friday 19 December, performing a mix of traditional and contemporary carols for the patients to enjoy, accompanied by students playing the trombone, oboe, clarinet, saxophone and the euphonium.
Many of the students are taking part in the Medina Maestro scheme, now in its second year, enabling them to have three hours of music lessons a week and free instrumental tuition.
Solo performances
Several of the students gave solo performances with Daisy Upstell performing ‘Walking in the Air’ on the saxophone, Caitlin Miller performing ‘A Thousand Years’ also on the saxophone, Jonathan Miller performing ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’ on the trombone and Steph Doyle and Ellie Cook performing ‘In a stable cold’.
One student, Abbie Revert (12), also gave a special performance of a song she had written herself. The song -‘It must be Christmas’ – was performed on the ukulele, together with fellow student Billy Halsey.
After her performance Abbie said,
“I was a little bit nervous to begin with but it was really enjoyable and so nice to see people looking really happy. The work they do here at the Hospice is immense, it really was an honour to come in and perform for everyone.”
Appreciated by all
Following the performance the students joined the patients, staff and volunteers for specially made Christmas biscuits and drinks.
Ken Perkins, one of the patients listening to the concert said,
“It was so nice of the children to give up their time to come and sing for us and I enjoyed singing along with them.”
EMH John Cheverton Clinical Centre Manager Becky McGregor said,
“We really appreciated the students coming in to perform for the patients, staff and volunteers and have been really impressed with the variety of music and how accomplished they all were with both the singing and with their music instruments. The students were an absolute credit to both the school and themselves.”
