More than 100 young musicians from across the county are being brought together, by Hampshire County Council’s Music Service, on 10 November 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice and the reopening of an historic military landmark.
The concert, on the eve of Remembrance Sunday, will be held in the restored chapel of the Royal Military Hospital at Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley. This will be the first public event in the chapel since its £3.5 million restoration by the County Council.
Councillor Stephen Reid, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Education and Skills, Human Resources and Performance, said: “My predecessor, Councillor Peter Edgar, had the wonderful idea that young people from the Hampshire Music Hub should perform at the chapel once the restoration was complete. I’m delighted that his plan has come to fruition and that we will experience the beautiful chapel filled with youth and talent on such a momentous and reverential occasion.”
A programme of popular and wartime tunes dating from the Boer War to the 1960s – the period that the hospital was in operation – will be performed by the 40-strong Romsey Youth Children’s Choir, the Gosport and Fareham Concert Band, and the Corps of Drums of the 14th Eastleigh Scout and Guide Band (The Spitfires).
Hampshire Music Service’s own staff, who teach music to school children and run youth ensembles throughout the county, will bring the swing to the event, with their jazz group performing WWII dancehall favourites.
There will be two concerts on Saturday 10 November, at 3pm and 7pm. Tickets are priced between £5 and £8, with under-fives admitted free. Tickets are available from the Hantsweb shop (www.hants.gov.uk/shop).