hago concerts - 2008

We raised £950 for the United Reformed Church, Hayling Island at our concert there.

An article for their Church Magazine begins...

An evening of guitar music presented by HAGO, the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra, was a sell-out event with the church filled to capacity and proved an immensely entertaining experience.

Read the full review of the event here...

We played in aid of the Church Regeneration project at St Cuthbert's Copnor, in which the Church has been rebuilt internally to provide a Doctors' Surgery, a Nursery, and several other rooms, including the dome-shaped room in which we played. And despite all these additions, the Church itself still retains a wonderfully open building for worship.

In addition to copious thanks on the evening, the vicar wrote

Thanks again for a great evening. The feedback has been excellent.

We returned to St George's for the Waterlooville Music Festival at the invitation of the organisers to present a full-length concert as part of their week-long festival of music.

Here is a link to the 2008 WMF Festival (correct at the time this page was prepared)

It was our most pleasant duty to perform with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra at St George's Portsea, as part of the Opening Night of the Portsmouth Festivities.

See more photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

All Saints Denmead run a regular concert series all year long, and we were delighted to play a concert for them, moreso because we were able to welcome Bruce Paine, who played in the back row of our orchestra, and also reprised "Schindlers List" with us - you can see our original performance from 2005 on video.

There's more about Bruce in our 2005 Bruce Paine gallery.

September saw us perform a short concert as part of an evening of music held by the Salvation Army in Southsea.

The highspot of our performances this year was undoubtedly at the Station Theatre, Hayling Island at a concert organised by HIADS (Hayling Island AmDram Society).

The purpose-built auditorium was pretty much sold out to a wonderfully enthusiastic audience, and we garnered a fantastic review which you can read here.

Hot on the heels of the Waterlooville Music Festival (now in its third year), came the Farlington Music Festival, and we were part of the first ever series, at the Church of the Resurrection, Drayton

The organiser wrote

I am writing both on behalf of the organisers and the parish for your concert on Saturday night. The music was very much appreciated by all who came, and we counted 98 in the audience, the best audience figure for the entire festival.

...

So again thank you and your entire team for the wonderful music and such an enjoyable evening. The feedback from the audience as they were leaving was really buzzing. I hope you got some of that directly on the evening.

It was a bitterly cold evening that saw us drive to the top of an exposed hill at Catherington for their All Saints Concert on All Saints Day at All Saints Church!

The organiser wrote

Please pass on our sincere thanks as well to each and every player. The music was wonderful - you all make it look so easy (surely the mark of a player's skill?) and there were many comments this morning about how varied are the styles you play and how lovely the music was.

There were 77 people in the audience. More than I expected came on the door, which was amazing seeing the weather, and I have given £545 to the church treasurer today. Thank you again for helping us to raise more than I had hoped.

We hope to see the orchestra again on a warmer, summer evening before too long. It isn't always cold in there!
Good wishes and thanks again to you all

Our now traditional concert for The Rowans Hospice moved to a larger venue this year - St Nicholas at Wickham. And what a concert - we raised a fantastic £1450 for the Hospice.

The Chairman of the Rowans Support group wrote

Once again you produced an absolutely fantastic concert in support of The Rowans Hospice for which we thank you most sincerely. The Church in candlelight with you all on stage was just superb and many remarked how very special this was...

We played a short concert of Christmas Music for the residents at Nicholson Gardens Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. There was a fantastic reception and we were immediately booked again for 2009!