WW1 fundraising concert will feature new song for Tamworth

Choirs, performers and a poet from the Tamworth area will be coming together to stage a special fundraising memorial concert in St Editha’s Church to mark the centenary of World War One.

We Will Remember takes place on November 12 and is the first event in the new Art in Unusual Spaces programme, which has been made possible by a £68,000 grant from Arts Council England.

The concert will feature the premier of a brand new piece of music, commissioned especially for Tamworth. ‘War Child’ has been composed by Sophy Smith and conducted by Dan Watson – the same team who wrote the original score for last year’s outdoor production of Tigress in the Castle Grounds.
The new music will be performed by Tamworth Voices, Tamworth Male Voice Choir, Tamworth Ladies Choir, Tamworth Arts Club and Flax Hill Junior School.

We Will Remember will also raise money towards the repair of the clock on St Editha’s Church which has not been working properly for over a year. Half of the proceeds from the concert will go towards the fund to get the clock ticking on time again.

Other performers during the evening will include the William MacGregor Primary School Choir, talented local singer Matilda Pratt and Staffordshire’s first Poet Laureate, Mal Dewhirst, who has written a new commemorative poem for the occasion.

In addition to the original piece of music, audiences will be treated to a variety of songs from the past including Keep the Home Fires Burning, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, Pack up Your Troubles and Over the Rainbow.
Members of Tamworth Arts Club will also perform a special extract from Oh What a Lovely War.

The Art in Unusual Spaces grant is the third significant grant to be secured by the council’s Arts and Events team in recent years. Funding is being matched by Tamworth Borough Council and the local community.

The two-year project will see art in all its forms popping up in unusual spaces across the borough in a bid to create and nurture new audiences ready to bring back to Tamworth Assembly Rooms, which is currently undergoing major redevelopment work.

Cllr Joy Goodall, Tamworth Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Environment and Culture, said: “The Arts and Events team has again come up with an interesting and exciting programme of events that will hopefully get the whole community involved in the arts. It all starts with We Will Remember which we hope will be a fitting tribute to honour the memories of those who lost their lives during the First World War, and in other conflicts since.

“Sophy Smith wrote an amazing and compelling score for Tamworth during last year’s community production of Tigress and I look forward to hearing her latest work for the town being performed by local people. The concert will also help pay towards the restoration of the St Editha’s Church clock which is a key feature of the town centre. I hope to see people there supporting the event.”