Mudford Concert Success

On Friday evening, Phoenix were invited to perform a concert at St Mary's Church in Mudford to raise money for the church and Help the Heroes.

Having concentrated on contests since the start of the year it was good for the band to get out and perform to the public. A big thanks must go out to the organisers from the church as the turnout was fantastic.

The concert gave the band a chance to feature a number of soloists in their ranks, all of whom played fantastically well. The biggest applause by far was given to the star of the night, 11 year old Mark Bulgin who, in his first concert with the band, played a beautiful rendition of the cornet solo "The Lost Chord". Now this put the pressure on the remainder of the soloists, none more so than his Dad, Dave who played a big band rendition of "Cry Me a River" on Trombone. Not that the pressure told as Dave played to his usual best and wowed the audience.

Our principal cornet, Matt Read, played a lovely slow melody entitled "Through the Eyes of Love" and we even managed to fit in two feature pieces. Our horn section of Julie Bulgin (Mark's mum), Bev Dean, Lynda Read and Gordon Harvey played a rendition of the Beatles, "Hey Jude". Finally a quartet of Emma Sanders, Andy Fry, Bev Dean and John from with the band were featured in "And the Mother Did Weep".

Not to be left out, when our MD, Dave Hatton asked the audience for a volunteer, Mark's younger sister, Hannah jumped at the opportunity to take to the stage and conduct the band for a medley of war time music in which the audience joined us in voice.

All in all the evening was a roaring succes. The band seemed to enjoy being back on a stage performing to a packed church and judging by the applause the audience seemed to like what we played.

We hope that this will not be the last time we play at Mudford, fingers crossed we can get another concert organised with the church again soon.

Thanks to all of our supporters for coming to listen to us, and thanks to Dave Hatton, the players in Phoenix and the organisers at St Mary's church.

Released On 13th Jun 2011