On Saturday night October 15th we took to the stage at the Victoria Hall in Bolton once again and with Community Choir and Community Band we celebrated 100 years of Rotary clubs existing in Bolton. Concert organiser Graham Yardley obtained a fantastic sponsorship from RRG Bolton Toyota, who parked a brand new car outside the front entrance to the concert hall, and thanks to great posters, various articles in the Bolton News and our MD appearing as a guest on local radio programmes, we attracted the largest Victoria Hall audience of many hundreds of people since the return from lockdowns. It was a fantastic night! 

The programme we performed featured music all composed between 1922 and 2022 or which had a strong connection with 1922 to 2022 and Rotary in Bolton. Most people’s favourite pieces of the night ranged from a breathtaking performance of Mars from The Planets (composed in 1913 but made popular throughout the 1920s) to the beautiful song The Joker And The Queen (Ed Sheeran 2021) but amongst the highlights in the programme were an exceptional Jubilation (Curnow), Singing In The Rain (Brown), Anything Goes (Porter), The Continental (Conrad), A Chorus Line (Hamlisch), Let’s Face The Music And Dance (Berlin), When October Goes (Mercer), I Could Have Danced All Night (Lerner/Loewe) right through to The Pines of Rome (Respighi).

A special presentation of flowers and engraved cut glass was made by our MD Chris Wormald to Eagley Solo Horn player and Chair of the Committee Deb Lyons who celebrates 40 years as a member of Eagley Band this year. Over the last 40 years Deb has held virtually every role on the Band Committee and sat in all three seats within the horn section! As a further surprise for Deb, her official band photo was displayed on the screen above the stage, which drew huge applause from the audience in which the Mayor of Horwich, Councillor Steven Chadwick, was the VIP guest of honour.

Click here to see more of our photographs from the concert.