Poppy Appeal night takes place in church
LAST month The Quorn Branch of The Royal British Legion held their annual Poppy Appeal concert at Emmanuel Church, Loughborough.
Rev Howard Ketton, chairman of the Quorn branch, compared the event in the presence of the Mayor of Charnwood Coun Pauline Ranson.
The musical entertainment included Pure Steel, a steel band from Heanor, directed by Nicola Coker, Serenade, a ladies’ community choir from Shepshed, directed by Nicole Jordan and accompanied on piano by Vanessa Wright, and The Leicester and Rutland County Pipe Band.
Pure Steel began the evening with a selection of pieces including Stevie Wonder’s Master Blaster and Glen Miller’s In the Mood.
Serenade then gave us some lovely harmonies including a Disney medley and Madonna’s True Blue.
To complete the first half, the Leicester and Rutland County Pipe band played several pieces including; A Scottish Sailor and the Skye Boat Song.
Rev Howard started the second half by reading a poem by Dan Lake; Over the Fields of Passchendaele. He then sang an unaccompanied Smilin’ Through.
Serenade returned to the stage to sing a varied second set including I Know Him So Well and a nice setting of the John Barry/Shirley Bassey song Gold Finger.
Pure Steel completed our excellent evening by performing a classi- cal medley with The William Tell overture and Mozart 40. Acknowledging the appreciation of the audience, Rev Howard persuaded them to do an encore entitled All Night Long.
The evening concluded with everyone singing The National Anthem. A spokesperson said: “This was a really excellent concert although one or two people said the steel band was quite loud.
“The sound echoed around the church but both bands and the singers were very good and he added all enjoyed the evening.”