Talking Rubbish

Sunday 15 October was the long awaited date of the Mayor's Charity Concert, Talking Rubbish. The name encapsulates two of the main elements of the concert - talking representing the host Vodafone, and rubbish representing the recycling work of the Community Furniture Project.

I had attended a rehearsal with most of the primary school choirs taking part (Enborne, Falkland, Fir Tree, Greenham Court, Robert Sandilands, Shaw-cum-Donnington, and Speenhamland) last Tuesday; but the actual concert also included adult backing singers, a full orchestra of young people from Berkshire Maestros, professional rock musicians and the Castle School choir - a cast of hundreds!

The Vodafone Pavilion was a splendid setting - a huge 'tented' space which enabled us to fit in the massed primary school choir and the full orchestra simultaneously, as well as having space for the soloists to perform. The programme acknowledged the hundreds who took part front and back of stage - I was touched by the huge number of volunteers; many people commented afterwards what a lovely feeling there was at the concert - it was a true community effort.

We hope to have raised several thousands of pounds for the Furniture Project and the Mayors Benevolent Fund, but we also gave an oppurtunity for many young people to be part of an exciting and professionally produced event, and through using film footage and theming the concert around recycling I hope many more know about the work of the Furniture Project. I made a speech of thanks at the end - there were so many to thank, but key figures who made it all happen were my Civic Manager Joyce Lewis who produced the whole show, and the visionary direction of Angela Turton. The photo shows Angela and I before the show in the Vodafone HQ.