Last night Shrewsbury delivered something few have thought barely possible in recent months or years. A large-scale musical event, inside and outside. Garden Party Proms was a triumph and the Riverside magic returned for a night at the end of another long term.
As I wallowed a little in my own isolation, frustrated not to witness the musical excellence on show, a wicker hamper arrived from the event supremo Ms Randall. The beautifully curated contents not only filled the belly but also the soul.
Feeling disconnected from others has been the key challenge of the last two years. The inevitable isolations, quarantines and periods of stasis have taken their toll on us all, and it takes real effort to avoid isolation in a much more profound sense than the perfunctory 7 or 10 days issued as a close contact with COVID. Humans need to engage with other humans
Ms Randall took the effort to engage. She engaged a community in an event that seemed bonkers on many levels. Mr Place, who fought his own battle with COVID through this period, made it work. Students coming together with the awesome skills of our teachers such as Ms Calvert, Mr Archibald and Miss Mary to connect and make music worth paying for.
The payment is gladly made by all, a treat to witness a spectacle such as the Shrewsbury proms. It’s been a while! November 2019 saw the last ‘true proms’. November 2020 came too quickly for us after the first lockdown, and then as we pivoted to American Promenade it was cruelly cancelled just days before it was due. When we settled on April the 7th for this event back in August 2021, I don’t think many of us really believed it would happen. In fact, even a few weeks ago we weren’t sure about it all!
Thank goodness we persisted, and mainly on behalf of the students. Many schools talk about being ‘student centred’ but few actually deliver. This concert needed to happen, it was right to defy the odds. Our musicians have been resiliently and diligently honing their skills and they needed their moment just as our athletes are now expressing themselves so freely on our emerald surfaces and air conditioned spaces.
These moments matter, because they live long and create life chances. A Year 7 parent wrote to me that her son ‘is on a total high after tonight and can’t wait to play with the orchestra again soon’. Amen. This is what an outstanding co-curriculum provides, the opportunities to make memories that we learn from and we hold dear into later life.
Not many of our musicians will end up playing at Carnegie Hall (though some already have!) but this matters not. Through excellent design and wilful stubbornness, the students have been exposed to the work required for excellence, and to the adrenaline needed for top class performance. They have and will learn from it, but I hope they enjoy the ‘total high’ that these kinds of events present and stay addicted for life.