The concert had many excellent moments and the large choir sang positively throughout. The two baroque flautists Rachel Brown and Amelia Shakespeare played brilliantly, both together and individually, and Gavin Edwards (horn) with Alex Ashworth (bass) delivered a particularly good Quoniam, which is always a pleasure to hear. 

The trumpet section consisted of Russell Gilmour, William Russell and Gareth Hoddinott, with Tommy Foster playing the timpani.

Backstage, before the performance, I asked my colleagues and friends in the natural trumpet section: Will (2nd trumpet) and Gareth (3rd trumpet) if they would consider being the best men at my wedding (later this year) - they enthusiastically agreed! We play together a lot and they've been at my right hand side all the time I've known Jo (my fiancé). At busy times of the year I sometimes see them more often than I see Jo, but for various reasons this is the first time I've seen them both at the same time this year to be able to ask them simultaneously. There's plenty more in the pipeline for the three of us this year.

The enthralled audience departed the ornate school hall into wintry conditions outside!