CHRISTMAS COMES TO BATLEY
A stunning performance of singing and brass banding skills gave Batley a first class start to the festive season on Saturday.
For in front of a near packed town hall, members of the Hammonds Saltaire Brass Band and singers from Batley Parish School singing group exceeded all musical expectations.
They tackled a wide and challenging array of festive music with such skill and elegance that members of the audience were thoroughly infected and could not help but applaud loudly or join in with a number of carols and festive numbers.
It meant that the Christmas show staged by the Hammonds Saltaire Band, conducted by Gomersal resident Morgan Griffiths, was once again one of the hotspots of the year.
The band showed multi talents as they tackled such tingling numbers as The Arcadians, a Glenn Miller selection and Gordon Langford’s Christmas Fantasy while adding other foot tapping numbers such as Sleigh Ride, Gaudette and Stabat Mater.
They were stunningly supported by the talents of the Parish School. The youngsters, selected from four different age groups, were conducted by Kate Delaney and emerged as confident and talented performers who extracted the best possible emotions from numbers such as It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Happy Talk, Sweet Gingerbread Man and Winter Wonderland.
Having been infected by such high standards it was no wonder that, when given the chance, the audience thoroughly immersed themselves in popular carols and foot tapping numbers which got them all in the festive mood.
Pupils at a Batley school pitched in to deliver a bumper harvest for worthy causes.
Batley Parish School will split the food between Batley Drop-In centre, and Batley Food Bank.
Family liaison Barbara Tomlinson said: “We had some fantastic donations from the school this year.”