The village of Lydbrook was filled by the sound of plenty of wonderful music when the local parish church hosted this inaugural Festival

Promoted by Lydbrook Band (sponsored by Forest of Dean Stone Firms) and the Church of the Holy Jesus Lydbrook, with support from the Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, it was a major celebration covering a wide range of repertoire over three consecutive nights.

Harps, Welsh and Opera

Friday saw Gary Sieling, organist of Peterborough Cathedral alongside harpist Jemima Phillips in music from Elgar, Howells, Mozart, Handel, Bizet and Gary himself, whilst Saturday was a ‘Welsh Night’ - complete with the Porthcawl Male Voice Choir, local singer Osian Griffiths and Wynne Evans of Welsh National Opera (and the Go Compare adverts).

Sunday saw the turn of Lydbrook Band -  with a first-half featuring Lydbrook Training Band, conducted by Robert Morgan, in which a brace of 13 year old soloists in cornetist Anna Conroy and flugel player Alice Gwynne-Duggan gave outstanding renditions of ‘Share My Yoke’ and ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’. 

Super climax

Under conductor Ian Holmes, Lydbrook Band followed by producing a super climax to the festival with music from Purcell and his vibrant ‘Trumpet Tune and Air’ as well as Philip Turner, who gave a tender rendition of the cornet solo ‘My Love is like a Red, Red, Rose’.

The centre point was a welcome reprise of ‘Silver Rose’ by Liz Lane, mixing the poetic lines of Isaac Rosenberg (killed on the 1st April 1918 on the Western Front) with band and soprano voice of Donna Lennard 

The centre point was a welcome reprise of ‘Silver Rose’ by Liz Lane, mixing the poetic lines of Isaac Rosenberg (killed on the 1st April 1918 on the Western Front) with band and soprano voice of Donna Lennard - a hauntingly emotive work played with insight and refinement by all concerned.

Moving tribute

This had been preceded by a moving tribute to the victims of recent terrorist outrages with the hymn tune ‘Manchester’, whilst Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ was followed by Goff Richards’ arrangement of ‘Hymns of Praise’ and the rousing ‘Toccata’ from ‘Suite Gothique’.
 
It rounded off a wonderful weekend of music making, with tributes paid to the work put in by the organisers - from Band Secretary Robert Morgan MBE to the committee and volunteers of the church and the invaluable support given to the festival by the National Lottery and Arts Council England.  

Brian Jackson