Hi everyone
It's been a while since updating the blog, please forgive me!
It's been a year of changes in the orchestra. We have welcomed a new conductor into the fold, new concert venue and new music.
During the year we have performed 3 concerts. The December Christmas concert held at St Barnabas was a success, raising funds for the church. This was a festive program of readings, poems, music and carols.
An introduced concert in March especially for children was held as Alexandra Hosea Primary School in Wickwar. The orchestra performed a selection of popular music which entertained the children and also got them joining in. This is always a popular, well attended venue and raised funds for the school.
Our most recent concert was a last minute booking, at a new venue, after the original booking postponed at short notice. We still managed to fill the small church of St Mary's in Leigh Woods and help raise a significant amount for church funds. The program was appropriately named 'Vienna to Broadway' with a selection of popular classical music with some musical compilations from the shows. The audience enjoyed the performance and we had some enthusiastic comments at the end of the concert showing their appreciation.
The orchestra has started their summer break now and will return in September for rehearsals ready for a busy season running up the Christmas. Please visit our 'concert dates'  for more up to date information.

We are looking forward to welcoming our new conductor - John Johnson, in September, following the auditions we held in July.

John will be bringing a lot of experience and skills to the orchestra which you can find out about here:

Our new programme of events will be published in September, following the summer break.

​Happy holidays everyone

Thanks to Robin Pillinger for this blog entry.

On Saturday 12th November I was privileged enough to have the Cameo Orchestra play with me for a concert in order to help me fund raise for a 4 week trip to South Eastern Africa with World Challenge - A UK provider of school expeditions which allows young people like myself to travel abroad in places I would've never have dreamed of!
In July 2017 I will be embarking on an expedition with 45 others from my school to South Eastern Africa - Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa and Lesotho. In our first week we will be staying with a rural community in Lesotho - accessible only on horseback as there are no roads in Lesotho. While we are there, we shall be helping to build/renovate a classroom so that children will be able to achieve the grades necessary to get to Secondary education. Afterwards the next fortnight will be spent exploring, understanding and getting used to the new culture and climate. This will include participating in several treks, the largest of which will be in South Africa - called the Giants Cup Trail - which will last 4-5 days. On one of our final days we shall be out at sea for the day with a Marine Conservation Trust looking and snorkelling with Whale Sharks - one of the largest kinds of fish in the world.
The Concert itself was a tremendous success, with well over 120 people turning up to listen to Cameo Orchestra's 'annual' concerts at St.Nix Church with pieces such as The Empire Strikes Back Medley and other Medley's from Grease and Chicago. I myself enjoyed playing solos on the alto saxophone and the piano.
My thanks go to all the members of St.Nix Church and the Cameo Orchestra for making the night such a success!

​

The Orchestra has experience their first ever 'Selfie' with the 
Guides that organised the concert in Bradley Stoke. A great bunch of young people that we hope enjoy their trip to Poland with the funds raised from this event.

Back in February we played a concert at a new venue. This presented some initial challenges with setting up but were soon overcome and proceeded to be one of the most popular concerts of the year, creating a real buzz in the hall and a programme which catered for all ages. We were lucky enough to have Bradley Stoke Radio attend and record the event for playback on their classical spot.
​Thanks to Hayley (member of the audience) for writing the following summary of the evening:

"On 27th February I had the privilege of attending an evening of popular show tunes and classics performed by Cameo Orchestra and hosted by Holy Trinity church, Bradley Stoke in aid of Concorde Division, Bristol and South Gloucestershire County guides.
Over £500 was raised throughout the evening, and by ticket sales, to boost the Senior Section’s funds for their August ‘Centenary Celebration’ trip to Vienna, Prague and Poland. Around 100 audience members enjoyed some rousing performances by the orchestra which included two personal friends of mine who are both cellists.
After a slow start due to poor lighting in the main church area, conductor Andrew Foister kept a grip on proceedings with his own blend of wit and engagement! Often at the expense of orchestra members!
Guides were on hand to serve tea/coffee and home-made cakes during the interval and a raffle was held.
Amazing, young soloist Molly Cheesley added her voice to some of the tunes and was rewarded with enthusiastic applause. Definitely a talent to look out for in the future. The evening concluded with some audience participation in the form of a ‘sing-a-long’.
What a fantastic event! I am a Cameo convert!
 
Hayley Thomas"

So, Halloween last weekend and fireworks this week, we will have to dig out the Christmas jumpers soon! Cameo's Proms concert at Wellow was a tremendous success. We received this response for the church:

Wanted to tell you how much those that attended the concert on Saturday enjoyed Cameo's performance.
I've had many positive comments from those that attended and we look forward to the Christmas concert when, all things being equal, we can at least double the audience.
Would you please pass on our thanks to the members of the orchestra for a memorable night. 
 
We really enjoyed playing and they were a great audience - joining in with all the proms numbers!

Our next challenge will be seeing if our percussionist can compete with the fireworks in Bath on Saturday evening. We will be playing in St Michaels Without, Broad Street, Bath at 7:30pm. All proceeds will be donated to the RUH Forever Friends appeal. More information about what the appeal is for can be found here: www.foreverfriendsappeal.co.uk
​We will be playing a varied programme of classical and popular themes as well as starring mezzo soprano, Molly Cheesly. Follow this link to read about the preparations for the concert in the Bath Chronicle:
​Newspaper Article

This week is our last rehearsal before we break up for the summer holidays (I wonder if there will be cake in the tea break!?).
Some of us will be going away on holiday, some will be working our usual day jobs, others will be hoping for some sun at home for us to enjoy the joys of Summer. 
We have a packed calendar of events planned for the autumn term with two concerts at Wellow and another in Bath. Further information can be found on our Concert dates page. But, before all that, the annual rounders match and picnic will take place at Uphill Beach (Weston) on the 6th Sept - Who will win? Will the picnics get blown away? Who will hit the ball so far even the dogs won't be able to find it? Who will take the most embarrassing photo? It will be fun!!

First rehearsal after the Summer break will be on the 8th September preparing for the Proms concert at Wellow on the 26th Sept.

Have a great Summer everyone!