Friday 19^th March marked a very special day in the Amesbury calendar as the CD launch in aid of CRY materialised into a fantasmagorical tour de force for the school.  Months of hard work, planning and preparation on behalf of the Amesbury staff and pupils and Hugh Goldsmith’s team came to fruition.

The evening promised to be a blast from the outset as the stage set, lights and speaker equipment looked like Wembley Stadium on gig night.  The sports hall filled rapidly from doors open at 5.15 and bar staff were rushed off their feet to served the crowds who were eager to be seated with bottle of wine in hand before the start of the performance.  Then the beat began and did not stop ‘til the show was over!

Firstly we had the Amesbury Big Band playing Thriller and Livin on a Prayer, followed by the Year 8 band doing a splendid cover version of John Mayer’s Waiting on the World to Change.

After the Headmaster’s welcome and introduction the premiere of the school’s DVD was played on the big screen.  Eleanor Hall and Freddie Austin wowed us with their confident and charismatic performances as they sang their way through Pixie Lott’s ‘Boys and Girls’ helped along by a blustering Geography master and a class of unruly pupils!  Nigel Taylor was a natural on screen and has coined the new nickname of ‘One-Take Taylor’.  The performance lasted all of two minutes but was enough to bring the house down.

Then it was the pupils’ turn as each child from Year 1 upwards took to the stage to sing and dance to the tunes of fire flies, fight for this love, party in the USA, we’re all in this together, walk this way, ice ice baby and boom! shake the room.  It was obvious that the children were having a great night being on the stage, not at all phased by the bright lights and over 450 faces focused on them.

The moving speech by Rupert Hunter was emotional and heart rendering but brought to the attention of the audience the reason for supporting CRY and for the choice of song ‘True Colours’ which was sung by an Amesbury choir, led by Lauren Thomas and Rory Hunter.  Every Amesburian from pre-nursery upwards sang the chorus.  The sight of so many tiny pupils making their first stage performance was endearing to see.

Finally, the culmination of the night was a live version of ‘Boys and Girls’ with Eleanor and Freddie heading up the Amesbury ensemble.  The children really rocked the stage and looked truly delighted to be under the spotlight, their bright eyes and red cheeks glowing with the sheer enjoyment of the evening.  This was an unforgettable evening and one that Bas truly would have approved of.