Rotary Club’s Schools Got Talent Concert Makes A Welcome Return

Published on: 21 Mar, 2022
Updated on: 22 Mar, 2022

Contributed review by the Rotary Club of Guildford District

For eight years the Rotary Club of Guildford District organised an evening of musical talent from four local schools at G Live in Guildford.

Pupils on the G Live stage at the Schools Got Talent concert hosted by the Rotary Club of Guildford District.

The most recent performance was in 2020, just a few days before the first lockdown and sadly the 2021 event had to be cancelled to be replaced by a ‘virtual choir’ raising money for charity.

However, the evening of Wednesday, March 9, the Schools Got Talent concert was back!

In front of a nearly full house audience some 300-plus pupils from George Abbot School, Christ’s College, The Duke of Kent and Prior’s Field Schools gave a staggeringly enjoyable and impressive performance.

Each school was on stage for some 30 minutes and produced a wide range of music that featured excerpts from the musical Shrek (in full impressive costume!), classical piano, plus many other acts including big band music, some excellent singers and choirs in several and varied genres.

One unusual item was a junior version of the Stomp percussion group’s Broom, and very unexpected.

The audience got fully involved right from the start which helped create a great atmosphere, particularly noticeable when joining in with Shrek’s version of I’m a Believer and the Proclaimers’ famous song I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) – while keeping up with the youngsters’ marching took some doing!

The impressive finale, featuring soloists from all four schools, was Michael Jackson’s Earth Song.

As in previous years, the feedback from the audience was extremely good.

The president of the Rotary club, Philip Rambech, thanked everyone involved including the generous event sponsors, local contractors ASH, and the programme advertisers for their support.

A small group of organising Rotarians, the four schools’ heads of music, plus of course all the pupils, all worked extremely hard putting on such a good event and deserve our thanks. As do the staff of G Live, photographer Jonathan Constant, and stage manager Lisa Lee and her hard working team. We all look forward to next year.

The Rotary club made a departing bucket collection in support of the people of Ukraine and it is great to report that some £900 was donated. Thank you so much for your generosity.