The Village Quire at The Southbank, 14 May 2011 – Pictures by John 'Pappa Razzi' Newell (except for slides 11 to 15)

The Southbank Centre, 14 May 2011

The Quire's invitation to appear came after broadcaster and VoiceLab director, Mary King, heard the Quire's demo material and asked us to perform as part of the Festival of Britain, 60th anniversary celebrations.  As this just happened to coincide with Martin Carthy's big 70th birthday celebration in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the temptation was too great and the invitation was extended for the Quire to perform in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Front Room between his preconcert interview and the start of the big event.

What a day it turned out to be!  [Slideshow]

As the 'tour bus' was ushered into its parking space under Queen Elizabeth Hall, it seemed part of it had been especially painted in honour of our arrival, with huge pink panelling guiding us to the Artist's entrance!  This was too much of an opportunity to miss for us, so we made the most of our supposed star status!

Our first slot was a pop-up choir slot at the Bandstand in the marketplace, at 2.00 pm.  Then for the next couple of hours we continued popping up wherever we saw groups of people gathered.  It was particularly memorable to stand with the Palace of Westminster in the background, singing John Ball, where the opening words from verse 3, "Labour and spin…" seemed to take on a special significance for some reason!

At 4.00 pm, we were on stage in the Clore Ballroom for our soundcheck, then off back to the green room (which was blue!) for a little R&R until our first main appearence at 5.00 pm the CHORUS event.

Thanks to Pat from Teddington for this comment: “Arrived at Festival Hall early for The Messiah last night, and was lucky to unexpectedly catch the end of your performance in the foyer.  Such thrilling raw harmonies - terrific! Will look out for your performances in future.”

At 6.30pm, we legged it over to the Queen Elizabeth Hall Front Room to catch Martin Carthy's pre-concert interview.  As this drew to a close and he stood to leave the stage, the Quire piped up with a specially adapted verse of the Malpas Wassail.  The Quire then took the stage and entertained the audience.  It was very encouraging to have an encore called despite the audience being asked to take its seats for the main event and to see some people hanging on to hear the end of our set despite the main attraction!

Finally, the Quire made its way back its hotel near Heathrow Airport and the desperate search for a hot meal at the end of the day.  Rescue was at hand just around the corner at the Harlington Tandoori where 'hot' is definitely what we got!! At just a few minutes notice, we were fitted in and provided with a superbly prepared meal in excellent surroundings.  But as our mouths cooled, the party in the other half of the restaurant hotted up and the Bangrha disco beat got louder and louder!  Suddenly, members of the party appeared and dragged us - very willingly - into their celebrations!  We decided this really was a festival of Britain in 2011!

A very special thanks to the Newton St Margaret's FolkWorkshops contingent, who came all the way to support us.  What dedication!

Click here for John'Pappa Razzi' Newell's pictures (except slides 11-15)