Pipe, brass bands combine for concert
St John’s church an ideal venue for show
From the moment the first sounds of the pipes swirled into the highest corners of the St John’s Anglican Church the audience knew they were in for a memorable afternoon.
With acoustics among the best in Dannevirke St John’s Anglican Church was the ideal venue for the Dannevirke Pipe Band’s concert with the Dannevirke Brass Band.
MC Bronwyn Wotherspoon questioned if people in Dannevirke recognised how lucky they were that their town possessed not only a pipe and a brass band but also that they were prepared to play together.
The afternoon began with several pipe band standards before the brass band performed several songs from The Seekers and Ruru Karatiana’s Blue Smoke.
Then the bands combined to perform Rose of Kelvin Grove and Highland Cathedral.
This was “hair on the back of the neck raising” stuff, priming the audience for more to come.
It was then time for Jim Farley to officiate at the Haggis Ceremony which then led into an afternoon tea of Haggis, fruit cake and shortbread with hot drinks.
The pipe band, led by Harvey Sattrup, has been experimenting in recent years with different musical instruments including keyboards but the church was the chance to try out the organ.
In the second half he played on the organ with the pipe band three songs – In Remembrance, Sands Of Kuwait and the theme from Last Of the Mohicans The Gael – which proved to be the highlight of the afternoon’s concert.
About 4pm, to the sound of Scotland The Brave, the pipe band marched out of the church having entertained a very appreciative audience and contributed a little to its coffers, depleted since public events have been restricted because of lockdown.