A LARGE number of Hawes residents decamped to the garden rooms at Tennants for an evening of music.

Stan Roocroft conducted both Hawes Silver Band and The Aysgarth Singers, and also on stage were the Young Voices, a group of 25 youngsters, well trained and usually conducted by Barbara Roocroft.

The band began the evening with William Rimmer’s march Slaidburn, after which the Aysgarth Singers performed With a Voice of Singing and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Changes Everything.

The band played the soulful and elegiac Ashoken Farewell before the Young Voices gave a spirited rendition of You gotta have Music, complete with actions.

The singers returned with Be Thou my Vision by Bob Chilcott, and a powerful solo by Marie Ralls, followed by a Negro spiritual Walk in Jerusalem with soloist John Raine.

The first half ended with the band playing The Shepherd’s Song, a beautiful lyrical piece based on a Breton folksong by Joseph Canteloube, arranged by Goff Richards.

Highlights of the second half included the band playing It’s a Swing Thing, in swing time, and a selection of Strauss waltzes called Viennese Nights.

The Aysgarth Singers gave a lively version of Down by the Riverside and thought-provoking Look at the World, by John Rutter.

The Young Voices delighted with The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book film, followed by We are the Young and Mums and Dads, with appropriate actions and finger wagging, from Lionel Bart’s Blitz.

After the finale of a Hymn of Peace, set to Sibelius’ Finlandia, sung by the singers and accompanied by the band, the audience learned from Roger Iveson the reason for Mrs Roocroft's absence as he handed a bouquet to her husband to take to Lancashire Royal Infirmary where she is recovering from total hip replacement following an accident.

Ian King