Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, attended the Brewood Music Festival on Friday 11th July.
Gavin watched ‘A Concert in the Church’ at St. Mary & St. Chad Parish Church, in Brewood.
A broad range of music was showcased on the night. Performers included: celloist Antonio se Souza, singing group No Men Aloud, classical duo Sebastian Nicklaus and Nick Wiley, pianist Christopher Langdown, soprano Ina Wollenteit, tabla player Parvinder Bharat, vibraphone player Joe Plowright and harmonium player Gurbhag Singh.
All the proceeds from the concert went towards the maintenance of St. Mary and St. Chad’s Church.
Gavin said: “I greatly enjoyed all the music that was performed. I admit to being particularly fascinated by the tabla, as it was the first time I had ever had the privilege to hear this instrument played.
“This is the second time I have had the fortune to attend the festival, having also visited in 2012. Huge thanks should go to the organisers, who always do an excellent job, and to the extremely talented performers.”
This year’s Brewood Music Festival, the seventh to take place since the event was first started in 2003, was the biggest yet in terms of scope, duration and scale.
The not-for-profit festival spanned four days, from Thursday to Saturday. It kicked off on the Thursday evening with ‘Brewood Introducing,’ which provided an opportunity for new, young acts – predominantly in the 18 to 25 age group - to play to a sizeable young audience.
On Friday, events took place at eight different venues throughout the village, including four pubs, a restaurant, the Royal British Legion, the Parish Church and the Cricket Club, with musical styles ranging from classical, through blues, reggae, folk, rock and electronic.
At lunchtime, on Saturday, there was a choice of jazz or folk in two of the village pubs, whilst the Committee prepared the grounds of St Dominic’s, a private girls’ school located in the village, for the headline concert on Saturday night.
The line-up included Toploader (best known for its hit ‘Dancing in the moonlight,’ in 2000) and a solo set from Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook. There were also performances from the Laurence Jones Blues Band, reggae band By The Rivers and Stafford pop group Neomantix.
The festival concluded on Sunday with one final show, which took place on a stage - on the back of a flat bed lorry - in Brewood’s village square. A range of local acts performed, with a series of street performers entertaining the crowd between acts.
One of the acts was the BMF Impromptu Choir, whose members were recruited through a local advertising campaign in advance of the event. After just two hours rehearsal on Saturday with choirmaster David Brookes (Musical Director of local choir Brewood Singers) and accompanist Margaret Simpson, and a further one hour on Sunday, they sang two songs from the stage: the Gary Barlow/ Andrew Lloyd Webber composition ‘Sing’ and Leonard Cohen’s version of ‘Hallelujah’.
The Brewood Music Festival is supported financially by the Parish, District and County Councils. This year, for the first time, sponsorship was received from local businesses: Concept Financial Services of Brewood, Nick Tart (Estate Agents) and Nick Berriman (Estate Agents). Each company contributed £500.
The Rotary Club of Brewood & District has also been a supporter of the Festival since its inception.