A LARGE appreciative audience enjoyed an open-air concert in the grounds of Abergavenny Castle by the Borough Band.

The superb setting, which could not be bettered anywhere, only added to the ambience of the evening and the icing on the cake came with the contribution in the second half from the talented Ravensburg Youth Symphony Orchestra visiting from Germany. The concert was organised by the band to celebrate the arrival earlier in the day of the 2012 Olympic torch to the town.

The evening was made all the more entertaining by compere David Hayward who has a lifetime of experience in banding, starting with the Celynen Band when he was just seven years old.

The Borough Band's versatility was demonstrated with the range of music played, starting with Strauss, Wagner and Rossini to excerpts from Tchaikovsky's The Little Russian. There was a memorable contribution from soloists Deborah Bull, Rhiannon Griffiths, Emma Havard and Lana Tingay in Trio Con Brio, and a polished solo from principal euphonium player Christian Dullea who has secured a place at the RNCM in Manchester. The first half ended with a specially commissioned work for the Olympics composed by Paul Lovatt-Cooper entitled Going The Distance.

The concert started with a guest appearance by members of the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team, pushing baton-carrying Terry Luddington on their mobile stretcher.  He is the national liaison officer from the British Federation of Brass Bands and as the project director of Brass The Baton, he was there to hand on the baton to musical director Craig Roberts. This was the third week of the 11-week olympic journey of the baton which started in Europe on May 6 and will end at the Durham Brass Festival on  July 22, just before the start of the Olympic. The baton had travelled from Fulham and after its guest appearance in Abergavenny for the performance of Going The Distance, it went on to the next band in the relay, Bath Spa.

The second half featured the talented German youngsters and then both bands united to play an outstanding version of the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky which ended with a spectacular firework display which lit up the walls of the castle.

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The evening ended with both German and Welsh national anthems. The event was well organised by Borough Band secretary Gareth Havard and thanks were expressed by the band chairman Andrew Richards who thanked band member David Bateman, playing his last concert before he moves back to his native Yorkshire.