Joanne was participating in the Cancer Research Charity function being organised at the Albert Hall last Saturday with 1600 other Choir members and musical support from Grime Thorpe Colliery Band and Brighouse and Rastrick Band.
Prior to arriving at the Albert Hall we did a little shopping in Kensington and then went to Whole Foods to have a look round and then decided to have a light dinner in the pasta restaurant. A starter and main course for us both and a nice bottle of wine all for £ 37.00 was not bad and NO tips!!
The Albert was pretty much full for this event and as we had left it a little bit late to book our tickets we were located very close to the British Airways 747 flying over the top of the building. The huge organ was magnificent if not a little loud as it easily outplayed the 1600 voices as times. The Bands were great and really excelled when they played tunes that they new very well and not the songs picked for the occasion.
Perhaps the excess heat of the building which tends to rise and partly affected my views a lilttle but to it was such a shame not have more well known tunes than they did as both the choir and the band excelled with the well known more popular pieces. I understood it took three years to organise this concerty which may have been due to the conductor apparently keep changing his mind over the songs to be sung and favoured some from his Yorkshire home rather than those well known in the rest of the country..
A number of people werre being treated for heat by the St Johns Ambulance and so I am not sure what happened to the air conditioning, or perhaps there is none, in this beatifull building where so much has been spent on renovation.
As it was Halloween there were many parties obviously taking place and there were lots of late teens and early to late twenties dressed up for the evening and perhaps it was all these ghouls that stopped the underground running efficiantly. Standing on the platform to hear the announcments of the parts of the tube network not running that night, makes me worry how they will cope with the Olympics!!!
