13 September 2013. I
have been invited to attend the Last Night of the Proms! The invitation came from Feltham Rotary Club
and I have been looking forward to it for a few weeks. The BBC Proms are now in
their 120th year, and run for several weeks over the summer months
at the Royal Albert Hall in London, bringing a wide variety of music to the
audience. The last Night is usually held in a party atmosphere, with popular
classics being followed by patriotic songs. The audience are encouraged to wave
flags throughout.
Royal Albert Hall
The word Prom is short for promenade concert, a term
which originally referred to outdoor concerts in London's parks, where the
audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing. This principle is retained today, with
‘promenaders’ being those who stand throughout the performances on the floor of
the Hall, and consequently paying much less for their tickets.
I can only
remember going to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall once before, when we went
to see the famous Greek singer Demis Roussos back in the 1970’s. He was very
big at that time, in every sense of the word, and we enjoyed the performance,
although we were so far from the stage we could hardly see him. I expected to
have better seats for this show.
Demis Roussos
Once again,
things didn’t work out exactly as I had expected. It hadn’t been fully
explained to me that we would be going to Feltham’s meeting venue at Fairholme Hall, and watching the Proms on television.
There I was, resplendent in my Union Jack waistcoat and hat, watching
the television in Bedfont! Naturally, I
didn’t let my disappointment show, as I was determined to maintain my dignity
as Consort. Incidentally, the DG wasn’t at all disappointed that we ended up in
Bedfont. She maintained that she knew all along that we weren’t going to
London. It must have been just me, then.
Fairholme Hall Bedfont
The Feltham
Rotarians certainly went to a lot of effort to make the night a success. The
Hall was decorated with Union flags, hats, party poppers , balloons, and
those things you blow through to make a loud noise (they seem quite funny the
first couple of times, but by the end of the evening my amusement at these sudden rasping noises was wearing a
bit thin). The evening was well supported by local Rotary clubs, with a group
from my club, Shepperton Aurora, as well as Hounslow, Twickenham and Shepperton &
Sunbury. There were also two Inner Wheel clubs represented.
Patriotic fervour
During the first
part of the Concert, shown on BBC2, dinner was served by our hosts, who had
cooked it themselves. We chose between cottage pie, vegetarian curry, or a
quiche. I opted for the curry, and found it delicious. I even got seconds.
Dessert was raspberry jelly or orange jelly; I couldn’t choose between them so had one of
each. We had some unexpected entertainment on our table when Peter McDonough,
whilst trying to blow up a balloon, sent a glass of red wine flying across the
table, and into his wife Ann’s lap. Unfortunately she had chosen to wear white
trousers that night. She put on a brave
face, but I suspect Peter was in big trouble when he got home.
Just seconds from disaster, Peter tries to blow up a balloon
We all watched
the second part of the Concert on BBC1. It was an ecletic mix of music, ranging
from Ravel’s Tzigane to a medley of songs from Mary Poppins, and finished off,
as usual with a triumphant rendition of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, ‘Rule Britannia’, and ‘Jerusalem’. I know I
should know the words to these songs, but I took the precaution of bringing
song sheets with me, which enabled me to sing along. The conductor for the
evening, Sakari Oramo, who is the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a Finn, ingratiated himself to the audience by wearing a waistcoat with
a Union Jack emblazoned on the front. However, when he turned round, the Finnish
flag was on the back.
Daphne Cass and Mukesh Malhotra
The DG enjoys the party
Who threw that?
It was an enjoyable
evening, and our friends at Feltham really did very well for us, and a good sum
was raised for Charity that evening. Unusually for me, I won a bottle of
Madeira wine in the raffle, which I shall enjoy at leisure.
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