Test Valley Civic Service July 8th

This afternoon, along with the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth and several other other Mayors and Chairmen from around Hampshire, Elaine & I attended the annual Civic Service for the Mayor of Test Valley Borough Council.

The service was held at All Saints Church at North Baddesley, with excellent choral singing from the Romsey Choral Society under the direction of Paul Kuzan.

There were readings from the Test Valley Mayor, Councillor Dorothy Baverstock, And the head of administration for Test Valley, Mr. T van der Hoven, while the Address was given by reverend Tin Sledge, the Vicar of Romsey.

There was a short reception after the service.

HSO July 7th

A very pleasant way to finish a very wet day!

This evening Elaine & I were guests of the Havant Symphony Orchestra at Ferneham Hall in Fareham.

This was the final concert of their 50th season, having started playing at Havant Grammar School, now Havant College, before moving to Oaklands RC School in Waterlooville. When audience numbers grew to large for that venue they made their move to Fareham, as there is no suitable venue in the Havant area.

This evening’s concert featured four pieces of music. to start the Orchestra played the Overture to Rossini’s ‘The Siege of Corinth’ followed by Grieg’s ‘Old Norwegian Romance’, Opus 51.

After the Grieg, we were treated to the piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major by Franz Liszt, the soloist being James Willshire, who last played with the orchestra in January 2011 at the annual concert at Oaklands School.

The longest piece 0f the evening, following the interval, was the Symphony No 4 in E Minor, Opus 98 by Johannes Brahms.

After a very nice evening in the dry, it was then out into the rain to head home.