LAST NIGHT OF MELLOR PROMS.

On Friday, 27th May, around two hundred people gathered in our beautiful church to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee with wonderful music, singing and fellowship. The concert proved to be so popular that the start had to be delayed by a few minutes because of the traffic block outside! The rain stayed away and the whole evening was a much needed tonic for us all after difficult times.

Rev’d Karen started the proceedings with a special prayer, thinking particularly of the people of Ukraine, and then we all sang that well-loved Hymn, ‘Thine Be The Glory.’ This seemed to set the tone for the rest of the concert.
We had a very tuneful guest choir, who had been practising on Zoom since November, and their performance was very polished, even providing signing for the second of their songs. They finished with ‘The Circle of Life’ from the Lion King Medley and this seemed to sum up the mood, which was building all the time amongst the audience.
Next, we had The Mellor Youth Orchestra, led by Julie McGurty, and the audience were encouraged to participate in the ‘Tequila Chorus’ which they did very loudly!
Then, St Mary’s Church Choir sang a favourite song from HMS Pinafore. I don’t quite know how they would fare in a rough sea, but they can certainly sing, led with great gusto by Captain Bill Shaw.
Community Ukes treated us to a feast of songs, which had been written during the Queen’s long reign and, again, we were able to join in and raise the roof.
The Kiddie Choir are a delightful bunch of ‘kids’ from our school and are so well trained by Helen Holroyd. These children sing regularly in our church services and are a great addition to the musical life of the church. They administered ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ for us and to hear them sing really lifts the spirits.
Then, some suitably unwashed sweeps appeared and another jolly tune, Chim Chim Cheree, was sung very brightly, with help from the audience in the chorus.
By this time, everyone felt really uplifted and 'Land of Hope and Glory’ and 'God Save The Queen’ rattled the rafters and made for a rousing finish to our concert. Mark kindly gave a vote of thanks to all who had taken so much time and trouble to assemble this wonderful evening and Margaret Baldwin was presented with some red, white and blue flowers. We ended our evening with 'Auld Lang Syne’ and a nice cup of coffee and a cake.
We are so blessed to be able to meet freely like this, unlike those people who live in Ukraine, so half of the money raised tonight will go to Humanitarian Relief in Ukraine and the other half towards maintaining our historic and beautiful church, which is the beating heart of our community. PRAISE BE for such an enjoyable and happy evening.
Sue Brown