Concert of Remembrance

by

Jacquimac

Part 10

The Night of the main concert arrived and funny as it may seem everyone was calm, relaxed and eager to get the show underway.

With the interval it was three and half hours for tthe next three evenings and the same next week, The theatre held 300 but we had reserved 100 seats free of charge to pensioners.

We did collection boxes in the main foyer for anyone who wanted to make a donation and they were being emptied and replaced constantly.

At the end of night the account and informed us that we had made with ticket sales and donations over One thousand Pounds, if we do as well everynight we`d have two decent sized cheques to hand over, yes we were showing people that the young could do something useful and didn`t always cause trouble.

At the end of concert on saturday the grand total was thirty thousand pounds including the donation we got from the TV company

We had three more performances and were hoping we could reach forty thousand, It was possible as we had been sponsored for a 20 mile walk we had to do and money was being donated all the time.

The headmistress has obtained permission for us all to do the sponsored on wednesday instead of lessons, providing we stayed back an extra hour on Monday and Tuesday which we didn`t mind.

The last few weeks had been hard work but fun, yes there had been the jokes and pranks that made some of acts seem ridiculous but when is all said and done we had done well considering we just a bunch of school kids age between 9 and15, and everyone so far was more than pleased with what we had accompished.

Wednesday we did the sponsored walk, the local army unit had provided marhalls to keep us all safe, they were do for posting to Afghanistan in three months time.

We had meeting about saturday`s performance, a few changes had been made, not in the concert itself but at the end. Usually the Mayor and his wife would be at the opening show but this time he opted for the last night, why we didn`t know but we would find out eventually.

Thurday and friday nights concert went without a hitch, Saturday the performance surpassed everything we had so far done, it seemed that as the last night everyone was putting heart and soul into the performance.

As we wanted Atarangi and Matiu sang

Pᶠatarau
E moea iho nei
E haere ana
Koe ki pá¤mamao

Haere rá¤
Ka hoki mai aná¶
Ki i te tau
E tangi atu nei

It sounded fantastic and the twins looked great in their traditional costumes

Saturdays show and all the acts were complete the Chaplin went on stage and got the Choir and Audience to sing

And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land
After which he said a prayer for the fallen and one for living, which reduced us all to tears.

The concert finally ended again with a thunderous applause.

The Mayor and his wife came on stage and after the applause ended he asked everyone to remain seated, We were motioned to go out front and we filed onto the stage and into aisles.
Once we were all still he started saying
" I wish to thank the these people for putting on such a fine Concert, It goes to prove that the young don`t just think of themselves but of others. This Concert was their idea and with the exception of a bit of professional help did all the work themselves. I know for a fact that they have given up all their free time to this project and have also complete a 20 mile sponsored walk. The money raised will be equally divided between "The Poppy Appeal" and "Hepl The Heroes". I believe we have a total of Fifty five thousand pounds according to the account. So well done to everyone".

Again the theatre erupted with applause and people came over and said how much they enjoyed the concert.