Ending of Book 3

On Sunday, she played the refurbished organ for the service, had lunch in the club and spent the rest of the day sorting out her school uniform for the next morning, along with an overnight case and a garment bag with her soloists outfit for Monday evening in the Albert Hall. The first term of her third year was certainly going to start in a different way to any other term she had known. She wondered if this school year was going to be as momentous as the last one. She knew, in her heart, that she would enjoy it.

Chapter 1

Monday morning was clear and sunny, like Willow’s mindset for the first day as a third-year student. Today was going to be stranger than fiction. Today would be the morning assembly and she hadn’t been given a message to tell her to bring her blue dress. After lunch, there would be a convoy heading for London. The truck with the instruments and two coaches with the orchestra and choir.

She had her overnight case and the good dress in a garment bag when Sebastian picked her up. She said cheerio to her parents, who would be heading to London later in the day. Max helped her in, and Sebastian looked around.

“A bit like another world, after the summer you had.”

“You’re not wrong, Sebastian. Thank you for looking after us so well.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. That last show in London was something to remember all my life, along with the singing in Liverpool.”

They picked up Gina, also with her overnight bag and a garment bag, followed by Jacob with his two items as well. They talked about the tour, without mentioning that each of them were now considered millionaires. At the school, they put their things in their lockers and went to join the throng waiting to get into the hall for assembly.

There was a large group of new first-years, and Willow heard her name being mentioned, along with the names of others in both bands. The doors opened and they filed in, to take up their places by year, with the first year at the front. For Willow, this was odd, as she had always been up on the stage at the keyboard, a place where Reg now sat, doodling Bach. She followed Dianne, with Gina behind her, to find their seats.

When the hall was filled, the teachers present and the doors closed, Reg stopped the Bach as the Reverend Jack Heinrich walked to the microphone and blessed the school and the new school year. He gave a short sermon about hard work bringing the best results, led them in the Lord’s Prayer, and then they sang the hymn. Willow could see the screen above the stage for the first time and mouthed the words, along with many around her.

Then, the Head came onto the stage and walked to the microphone.

“Good morning, students, welcome to the first term of the new school year. A special welcome to the new intake of first years. Many of you are here because you talked your parents into sending you here, rather than attending a public school. I would guess that the reason that you wanted to be here is because of the popularity of the two bands, made up of our students, and wanted to emulate their success.”

She took a break to look at the front rows.

“The sermon was about hard work, and I will tell you that every member of those two bands are ‘A’ grade students, who have no fear of hard work. I have a theory, that learning music to play without looking at the score is one thing that sets all these students apart. There is no magic wand that gives you talent and success. You need to have some talent to start with and success comes with hard work.”

She took another look at the newcomers.

“There is part of our rules that comes from the Bible. It is that you should not venerate false idols. The members of those bands are here, today, and look just like you. G-Force and Summer Rose, could you please stand.”

All the band members stood.

“First years, please look behind you. These students, through hard work and talent, raised over forty million pounds for the disadvantaged over the summer break. They could have just played their tour for the money but took the hard road to help others. Their generosity allowed all of our teaching staff and over a hundred of the other students the opportunity to see their show from VIP seats and be fed before the show. Take a good look. They will be around the school as ordinary students wanting to get their marks high enough to go to university. They will be gracious enough to talk to you about their success and your dreams, as long as you follow the school rules to treat everyone as you wish to be treated yourself.”

She waved for the bands to sit, and the front rows faced the stage once more.

“You first years are lucky to be here at this particular time. The orchestra is currently a combined one and will stay that way until next term. You will all be able to nominate for the Junior Orchestra, while the current one will be the official Senior orchestra after Christmas. The reason is that they will be putting Handel’s Messiah on in the Coventry Cathedral which will be filmed by the BBC. They already have two BBC filmed DVDs on the market. If you get to see them, you’ll realise the standard we expect. Today, that orchestra is travelling to London to present a performance in Albert Hall as part of the last week of the Proms. This isn’t because they wanted a school orchestra, but because we showed them a professional group of talented musicians.”

She looked over them again.

“You young ones will have an opportunity to prove yourselves this year. You will be presenting a musical in this theatre before Christmas. You will be giving us a performance of ‘Wicked’ and providing both the actors and the music.”

She smiled.

“I have taken up too much of your time. You have a lot to do, and I wish all of you good and successful term.”

She walked off and Reg doodled while the hall emptied.

The morning lessons were mostly about looking over the various answers to the previous term’s exams and discussing why some students went wrong. At lunch, it was quite normal until a couple of girls came to their table. What was odd was that these were identical twins. One took a deep breath.

“Excuse me, can we have a word with you, Miss Rose?”

“You can, girls, but here I’m just Willow, only the teachers call me Miss Rose, and that’s usually when I’ve done something I shouldn’t. What do I call you.?”

“I’m Petunia and this is my sister, Ivy. I wanted to ask how you get into the orchestra, and how can we start our own band practise?”

“The first is easy. There are many rehearsal rooms behind the theatre stage, where the orchestra rehearse. You can nominate to join the Junior one by talking to the teachers. Miss Russell, Mister Jamieson, and Mister Bamborough. Have you played much?”

“We have been playing for the last two years. There are three others here with us that were part of our band. We did birthday parties and such. We called ourselves the Vines, as that’s our surname. Please don’t comment on that, our parents were children of hippies.”

“Petunia, we don’t laugh at people’s names here in this school. I got a lot of problems in my previous school because mine is Rose. Look, the school has a great program of putting on shows for the other students and parents. That’s how I had my first taste of playing rock music. You can see one of the three teachers to reserve a rehearsal room and ask for the equipment. If you need keyboards, amps, drums or anything else, the school has a huge store of things. I don’t think that there will be any orchestra sessions this week, except a possible session with the Messiah. Do you have the paperwork that tells you the session days?”

“I do. It told me that Junior orchestra is on Tuesday, after school.”

“I haven’t seen mine, yet, in the rush to go to London. What say I show you the rehearsal rooms and see if Mister Bamborough is in his office.”

“Will you do that for us?”

“Certainly, come along and follow me.”

She led them out of that part of the school and over to the music area, where instruments were being loaded on the truck. She pointed out where the rehearsal rooms were and took them to the offices, knocking on Mister Bamborough’s door. When he called to enter, she went in with two very surprised girls behind her.

“Good afternoon, sir. These two girls are Petunia and Ivy Vines. They’ve been playing in a small band for a couple of years, and there are three of their other bandmembers in first year. I was asked about joining the orchestra and organising a room so they can rehearse their own music.”

“Well. Hello Petunia and Ivy. I have to tell you that so far, every student that Willow has brought to me have turned out to be exceptional musicians. She seems to have second sight when it comes to spotting talent. What do you play?”

“We both play guitar, sir, and our friends play drums, bass, and one plays keyboard and sings.”

“Right. Willow, you will be doing the orchestra on Wednesdays. You’ll be back from London tomorrow. Why don’t we set up room three, where you put together the Kansas album, and we get these girls in then so that we can hear them play. How will that work for you, girls?”

“It will be brilliant, sir. We all live near each other, and our driver can take us all home. What time would we finish?”

“The orchestra sessions go for two hours, so we can say that will be how long we can take to properly hear what you can do. Willow, if you tell your driver to pick you up late, see if Gina and Jacob can stay late as well.”

“We’ll do that sir, thank you.”

“Yes sir. Thank you for listening to us and being so understanding. The staff at our last school considered that what we do was not the correct thing for young ladies of breeding.”

“A tough place, was it?”

“Yes. All study and female deportment. No thought for what we wanted out of life.”

He chuckled.

“If you have Willow and the others on your side, you’ll have no troubles like that here. We develop talent. In the past it has been mainly classical, but the last year has shown us the power of more popular music. You had better let Willow head to her locker, the coach to London leaves soon.”

They left the office and walked back to the lunchroom.

“So, ladies of breeding, eh?”

“Our parents run a big mechanical workshop. Dad was originally a mechanic for a race team. They wanted us to go to a posh school where ladies are taught to be good wives and breed like rabbits.”

Willow had to laugh.

“But you ended up here?”

“It took a lot of tears and tantrums; I can tell you. It took us ages to talk Mum into taking us to your show at the football club. We pointed out that the first band and your band were all students here and dangled the possibility of us becoming rich.”

“Well, there is a lot of money to be made, but, as the Head said this morning, it takes a lot of hard work.”

“The teacher said that you worked out the Kansas album here?”

“That’s right. We were going to present it as a school act, but it got postponed. Remember, asking questions gets you answers, and being as brave as you were today will find those who can help you. Now, go and tell your friends that you’ve set up a session to show three of Summer Rose how good they are.”

The sisters giggled and went off. Jacob looked at Willow.

“Found another massive talent, then?”

“Don’t know, love. We’ll hear what they can do on Tuesday, after school.”

Willow went to where Herb was sitting.

“When you get taken home today, can you tell your drivers that the Stoneleigh group will be later leaving tomorrow, say about two hours.”

The orchestra and choir all started to leave the lunchroom, with a lot of shouts of encouragement and many hugs. There was a lot of wonder among the new students at this display of group affection that had not been part of their previous schooling. Petunia turned to her friends.

“See. That shows that we were right to come here. This is our chance to be our own women.”

The trip down to London was quiet in both coaches, with the orchestra all hoping that nothing will go wrong. The school had them staying in a fairly good hotel, and that’s where they went first to check in. For those in the two bands, this was a normal procedure, so they helped out the other players who weren’t so well travelled. Gina, Willow, Nancy, and Vivienne were sharing a room and were unpacked and ready to go quickly.

They found themselves in reception, helping the rest of the orchestra as they came down. Gina and Willow were resplendent in long gowns, Gina in a vibrant blue, and Willow in yellow. Jacob joined them in a very smart ruffled shirt, shiny black trousers, heeled boots and a Bolero styled jacket, every inch a Spanish guitarist. The rest of the orchestra collected, and the three friends and Zara circulated and helped them overcome their sudden fears of playing such an important performance.

When Mister Bamborough finally joined them, he had been watching for a few minutes, in awe of how good these teenagers were. He clapped his hands and told them to board the coaches and make sure they all stayed clean and tidy. The trip to the Albert Hall didn’t take long, and they all went inside.

It was different to when they were there before. Now, there was bunting and flags, and several TV cameras set up. The orchestra area was already set up with chairs and music stands and a host of carefully placed microphones. The instrument cases were beside each place.

“Listen up, students! You will play something now to set the audio levels, then we all go to a side area to relax for an hour or so, taking the cases with us. There will be food and drink, but make sure that you’ve all been to the toilet before you start to play. No putting your hand up and leaving the room tonight!”

That caused a wave of giggles which helped to lower the tension. The players all went to their usual seats to find their instruments and get ready for a tune-up. The three soloists felt a strangeness to be standing to one side as their friends prepared to play. Moyra stood and played the ‘C’ on the violin, then they waited for Mister Bamborough to lead them. They had decided on Bolero as a warm-up and sound check. Mister Bamborough had a bud in one ear, listening to the director. When he got the word to go, he tapped his baton, and they were ready. He launched them into the music and the cameramen and sound men got the sight lines or moved microphones slightly. When the Bolero finished, it didn’t take along to roll the Grand piano into place. They got Gina to play something to test the sound, with the sound man adjusting the microphone until it was just right.

The piano was wheeled away, and Jacob was sat in front of the orchestra, and they played the first few minutes of the concerto, as the sound man moved the microphone. When he was happy, he put a texta mark on the floor for the mic and the front legs of the chair. After that, Willow was asked to go to the organ to play something, playing her favourite movement of the ‘Seven Variations’. When they were happy with that, the choir was lined up to sing something at full voice.

They sang ‘In Dolce Jubilo’ that Willow had sung with them, over a year ago, and the memory brought tears to her eyes. So much had happened since then, and so much that had been planned that night had fallen by the wayside. She was supposed to have sung with the choir after that, but had only done so, officially, the once.

When everyone was happily on the same wavelength, the orchestra left for the side room, carrying their instrument cases and the violins and violas. Food and drink was waiting for them, and they all relaxed and tried to eat without spilling anything. Jacob sat to one side, playing the Martin to warm his fingers. There was a screen in the room that showed the auditorium, so they could see when people started coming in. As it got closer to the time, Mister Bamborough stood.

“Now, students. You have all played this before. We all know how to play these pieces. You are here to represent the Blue Coat School, we know. But, most of all, you are here to represent yourselves; the talented and proud girls and boys that you all are. When we go out there, you’re to look positive and walk with pride to your places. Tonight is being broadcast live on BBC Three radio and will be transmitted later in the year on TV. Good luck, everyone, let’s go and show them what Blue Coat can do!”

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As they lined up to go to their places, the radio commentator was speaking to the country.

“Good evening, listeners. Tonight, to start the last week of the Proms, we will be treated to a sublime concert of popular classics. We start with the Rodrigo ‘Concerto De Aranjuez’. The soloist guitar player is a third-year student named Jacob Epstein. Jacob is also one of the members of the successful pop group ‘Summer Rose’, and finished a summer tour, here in London, just a couple of weeks ago.”

He allowed the noise of the audience to signal that the orchestra was walking out. They found their places and tuned up, then sat. When they stood and the audience clapped, he continued.

“Now we see Jacob coming out, a Martin guitar in hand, followed by tonight’s conductor, Mister Howard Bamborough, one of the music teachers from the Blue Coat School in Coventry.”

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The audience went quiet as Jacob sat and got comfortable, then nodded to the conductor and starting to strum the opening to the piece. When they finished, the audience went wild, and he stood to bow and gestured for the orchestra to stand. The commentator was praising the performance as something that could have been played by a professional orchestra. He continued as Jacob and Howard left the stage and the orchestra sat. The grand piano was rolled into position. The commentator looked at his notes.

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“The second item, tonight, is the Grieg ‘Piano Concerto in A Minor’. This is an iconic piece of music, loved by every classical pianist. Tonight’s soloist is another student, also a member of Summer Rose. Here she comes now, followed by our conductor. The audience is giving her a welcome that is more suited to a pop star. Miss Gina Summer is waving to the crowd and about to sit at the piano. Last time I saw her at a keyboard she was playing the band’s number one hit, and tonight we will hear her show us yet another side.”

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The baton was raised, the timpani roll launched them into the opening of the first of three movements. Gina, after a long hug from Willow before she walked out, was not only ready, but was revelling in the moment. When the last notes died, Howard stood for some seconds before he lowered the baton and stepped down to congratulate Gina, then they bowed and gestured for the orchestra to stand, then they acknowledged the audience and he ushered her off, with the orchestra standing to follow. The commentator was almost speechless.

………………………………………….

“Tonight, has been a revelation. Usually, you get a soloist with an orchestra. Tonight, we have had two, both very different, but both world-class players. What you would not have picked up on the radio, is that both soloists performed without any music in front of them. Amazing. There is a short break before the second half, and we have some of an interview that Summer Rose gave to our friends in one of our TV studios, I’ll be back later.”

As the break came to an end, the orchestra walked out to applause. They took their seats and tuned up. As that was happening, the commentator came back on as the interview clips finished.

“Welcome back to the Albert Hall and the beginning of the last week of the Proms. We have already heard Jacob Epstein on classical guitar and Gina Summer on the grand piano. The second half is one huge piece of music, the Saint-Saens ‘Organ Symphony’. The organ will be played by Willow Rose, another member of the popular band. There are no less than eight members of Summer Rose in this orchestra, as well as the vocalist from G-Force playing the cello. Here comes Willow Rose, with Howard Bamborough. She acknowledges the applause and makes her way to the massive organ, which almost dwarfs her. As she reaches the keyboard, she turns to look out at the audience, a tiny figure in yellow. The conductor is ready on his rostrum, the choir are in place, the crowd is now quiet, and we are about to hear the ’Organ Symphony’ in all its majesty.”

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The audience, which had been bolstered by a lot of parents and other schoolteachers from Coventry, listened in admiration for their children and charges as they showed how good the orchestra could get. With the last movement, a lot were smiling as Willow opened it with the blast from ‘Jupiter’s Voice’, and many sang along with the choir. The piece came to the triumphant end and there was silence until the conductor relaxed and turned. Then there was tremendous applause and many standing. Willow came down from the organ to stand next to Gina and Jacob, in a line next to Howard Bamborough, bowing and waving at the crowd. A trio of girls came out with flowers for each of them before they were allowed to walk off, with the orchestra following. The applause continued as they came on and then left once more.

There were calls for more, which died down when Zara walked out, alone, and went to her cello, to give a heartrending version of ‘The Swan”, after which the other three came out, with Jacob holding his flowers, which he gave her as they stood in line. When they walked off again, the applause petered out and the Albert Hall started to empty. The Head was grinning. Not three soloists, but four.

The commentator could only say his goodnights from the Albert Hall. Even he couldn’t believe what he had just seen and heard. The radio program reverted to the studio and the whole orchestra were wiped out with the release of pressure. The coaches took them back to the hotel where they were all in bed and asleep inside of thirty minutes.

In the Albert Hall, the contractors used by the school started collecting the instruments to load into the truck. They would be driving back to Coventry in the night, with the truck spending a few hours in the depot, before being taken to the school that afternoon.

On Tuesday morning, many slept late. No set time had been given and there was a buffet breakfast. Willow and the other three had showered, dressed in the school uniform, packed, and were in the dining room about eight. Some were already there, and others trickled in after. They were all hungry as they raided the offered food. Mister Bamborough stood and tapped a spoon on his glass.

“Good morning, students. You were all stars last night and made me very proud to be your conductor. I apologise to you, Zara, for sending you out like that at the end, but you were wonderful, and it certainly pleased the audience. Mister Jamieson rang me this morning to tell me that he had listened to the radio broadcast, and it was all first class. Today, we take it easy, and will be going back to the school in time for the usual lunch, followed by the usual Tuesday afternoon. We don’t have a lot of time to sightsee but will stop near the Houses of Parliament for a short while, so those who want can visit the Abbey, then it’s back to Coventry.”

They all went back to their rooms to brush their teeth and collect their bags. They were at the Abbey by half past nine, with the warning to return to the coaches when they heard Big Ben strike ten. They all had a look at the plaques for the famous people and then went back to the coaches as the hour was chiming.

Back at the school, bags were stowed in lockers, and they were the first in the lunchroom. The bells went and the other students streamed in. The orchestra were the centre of attention for a while. Xavier and his friends came over to where the band was sitting to offer their congratulations, followed by Petunia, who said that she had listened to the performance with her mother, who was amazed that the pop stars were all soloists that night.

That afternoon, the teachers were all easy on them and there was only a small amount of new work. After the final bell, the three friends went to the music area, where the orchestra were busy picking up their instrument cases to take home, with the bigger ones checked before being stored at the school. They were talking to Dianne and Barbara when Petunia and her sister arrived with their three friends.

“Hello, Willow. We listened to the concert on the radio last night. It was awesome. You guys are so good. My Mum said that she had never thought that a bunch of schoolkids could make that beautiful music.”

“As the Head told you yesterday, it all takes hard work. Do you play anything else besides guitar?”

“Ivy and I both had piano lessons from an early age. Guitar was easier because you can carry one around.”

“All right. Let’s see what has been put into the rehearsal room for you.”

They all went to the rehearsal room to find three amps, a drum kit, the two Yamaha keyboards and several guitar cases. Petunia stood in the doorway, dumbstruck.

Marianne Gregory © 2025