Well it was that time of year once again, and time for J. Edwards Waterlooville to set out to support the Waterlooville Music Festival for one of our main events of the year.
J. Edwards have supported the Music Festival for the past 5 years and Saturday 18th June 2011 was no exception. Terry, Andrea, Sharon & Marcie ( Sharon’s daughter) turned out to support this wonderful evening of Music along with many old faces looked after by the team over recent years, and this was a nice informal relaxed atmosphere to catch up and find out how they all are. The evening usually starts with a picnic on the lawn outside although due to the recent wet weather, this was not possible this year but of course this did not ruin the evening and people set up picnic areas inside the church and carried on regardless. Once people were in their seats we then presented Father Mike with the cheque from J. Edwards to fund the sponsoring of the event and then began the task of handing out Union Flags and glow sticks to everybody ready for the grand finale later in the evening. This music festival has seen around 4,000 people pass through the doors of the church in just one week so this is an excellent and fun way to get us involved and out there meeting people who otherwise we may not be lucky enough to meet.
The evenings music was provided by The Meridien Wind Band and their excellent conductor Mr Don Lloyd and they played many well known pieces and were greeted with a raptuous applause as always. One poinient moment of the evening was when some of the congregation left to attend The Rowans Hospice Moonlit Memories Walk in Southsea in memory of a lady that J. Edwards Waterlooville looked after in January this year who sadly lost her fight to cancer. Everybody was played out of the church by a lady playing the bagpipes to the well know Westlife song ” You raise me up”. Not many a dry eye in the house for that moment as I am sure you can imagine. The evening was a fantasic success and we have received once again some lovely comments from Father Mike (shown below ) for our continued help and support.
We very much look forward to next years festival and continuing our excellent relationship with our local church and community.
Sharon, Andrea, Terry & Marcie xx
Father Mikes comments can be read below…..
Now that this year’s Waterlooville Music Festival has finished I’m writing to thank you for taking part. It’s been another successful year with over 4,000 people attending the concerts and events held in St. George’s Church and hundreds more experiencing Market Place Music on the first Saturday. The aim of bringing music into the town centre has certainly been met, and already plans are in place for next year’s Festival. The dates are June 9th – 17th. Please pass on the thanks of the organising committee to all the staff at Edward’s Funeral Directors who helped to make the Waterlooville Music Festival 2011 such a great event, and thanks too for all the financial support you give the Festival, especially for sponsoring the Last Night.
