Beaudesert Park School, Stroud
To be correct, Beaudesert Park is in Minchinhampton, on the Cotswold ridge above Stroud. I started there in 1999 and in a year we had over 20 visiting music teachers… lots of music lessons! Like The Downs, there was soon an orchestra, choirs and Big Bands, not forgetting the Woodwind and Brass ensembles. (To see some of the Beaudesert music groups, please click HERE.) Add in soloists and every concert was full of variety. It was here that I started the idea of ‘themed’ concerts, such as Handel’s 250th where I dressed as Handel and we did a lot of his music, and ‘A Sea Interlude’, where I went as Jack Sparrow and we played Jaws and other pieces - I even had the audience scream at specific places. The musicians did go out and play at other venues, one in particular had an Arnhem and Vaughan Williams link.. click on the photo of the paratroopers to find out more…
The Summer concert soon developed into a huge ourdoor evening called ‘Jazz on the Lawn’ where the parents would come across after the Sports Day, nab a spot on the grass for their picnic and the pupils would play and sing from 6pm onwards. One year I counted 510 people on the grass!! I left in 2012 - to see my ‘goodbye’ in the school mag please click HERE.
It was at Beaudesert that my Elgar connection was strengthened … click on the Malvern Hills to find out more…
The Elgar Connection
I have loved Elgar’s music for as long as I can remember (Enigma Variations, Pomp and Circumstance Marches) so to have any opportunity to celebrate him would be wonderful. I came across Songs of The Malvern Hills that my grandad played from in the ‘30s.
To get pupils to Elgar’s Birthplace in Broadheath, Worcestershire and see the Malverns from his garden gives you a sense of the composer. So, in 2011 I took a minibus of Beaudesert musicians there and played a concert to the public in the Carice Room. Having grabbed fish and chips we drove to the Malvern Hills. Pupils, parents and dogs all climbed the Beacon where, at the summit, I hoisted the Union Flag (on my washing line pole) and the assembled ensemble played ‘Land of Hope and Glory’… and the sun shone. What a glorious day that was!! (Click on the hilltop photo for more pics…)
