ISLAND NEWS

The Easter Concert 2000

The Easter Concert this year was on Wednesday 26th April. There wasn't a seat left empty in the hall and we all waited in anticipation. No-one was disappointed.

Pete Smalley started off the proceedings, being the Master of Ceremonies for the night. He did a brilliant and witty job of introducing the eclectic mixture of wonderful acts. There was something for everyone:

For the music lovers, the evening started off with Alexander Bristol on top form on the bagpipes. Interspersed throughout the evening, we also had 'Juliana and the 2 Rons', or was it the other way around, playing a wonderful selection of pieces including Under Paris Skies. Then we had a guitar solo from Patrick Rutherford, who not only played superbly, but also composed it himself. The Malin Band performed excellently two different selections, the first was written specially for the young people going off abroad with Project Trust and it was called The Road to Ballyhogh.

For the song lovers, we had the marvellous Coll Singers who sang Autumn Leaves and they were then joined by Tammy Rutherford on the flute and Ron Thewlis on the double bass for a traditional Irish folksong The Girl with Buckles on her Shoes. Later they sang an arrangement of a Robbie Burns song Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon.

Later on we had Ron Davies, accompanied by Lavinia Bristol, singing firstly My Funny Valentine in his stunningly resonant voice and in the second half he sang Summertime during which dextrous Ron also did a nifty solo on the harmonica. Then finally for the song lovers we had The Cossack Quartet who performed magnificently Midnight in Moscow with fur coats, hats, vodka and enormous energy.

For the poetry lovers, we had Pam Garnett reciting My Word You do Look Queer to everyone's delight. Then Ali Anderson, looking very smart in his kilt, movingly recited Robina, which was written by Juliana's great uncle, Dugald MacEchern.

For the comedy lovers, we had a stunning double act of Pam Garnett and Ruth Sturgeon, who had us chuckling in our seats with their jokes. Later we also had Pam Garnett, this time with brother Pete Smalley, singing splendidly There's a hole in my Bucket.

And finally for the percussion lovers, the evening's finale was the Coll drummers, all six of them clad in headscarves and shades, who played two pieces which were stirring and uplifting and a fitting end to a fantastic evening.

The raffle raised over £170 for Julia Payne's trip to Sri Lanka, and £179 was collected at the end to go towards the Children's Playpark and the Coll Players.

A thoroughly successful and entertaining evening, and congratulations to Juliana Nicholls and Ron Davies for organising the whole show and also to Emma Grant for her technical support on the night. We look forward to the next one.

E.L.