Foxwood Steel and Friends play The Hallelujah Chorus at West Yorkshire Playhouse

Of all my achievements since I joined the Leeds Music Service (now ArtForms) I think that one of the three biggies that means the most, and the one that was by far the hardest to organise, and not just musically, was teaching the Hallelujah Chorus for Geraldine Connor’s Carnival Messiah.* This consisted of two five week runs at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1999 and in 2002.


I didn’t just teach it note for note to 20 odd students both times; I also organised a rota of 28 players of between 12 to 23 people for each night and matinee of both runs. And in teaching it I could not have managed without the assistance of Bex Ainge (née Smith) and Hayley Miller, on the tenor (triple cello) part, Alicia Whitehead on the alto (double seconds) part, Jan Spencer and Natalie Marks, on the bass (bass pans and and tenor bass) part, and my own children, Georgia and Morgan on the soprano (soprano/tenor pan) part. All these players helped to teach their own sections.

As Jean or Michelle declaimed the words “Hallelujah” every night, I was counting in, clicking to four on my sticks (soprano/tenor sticks first run, double second sticks second time). This was the most exhilarating and terrifying experience ever. I was not just organising but performing in the piece. And totally making it special was that the band mostly consisted of my own steelband, Foxwood Steel (Bandits), plus members of my music centre and youth steelbands: East Steel and Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows.

On this recording which comes from the DVD that made of the 2002 run, the Foxwood players are myself, Bex, Natalie, Alicia, Stewart, Charlotte, Dave, Georgia, Morgan, and Sue, and from my music Centre band band, East Steel: Bassem and Tamanna, plus my own student, Thomas. The other 2002 Foxwood players but not playing on the night of this recording were Hayley and Katie, and Sparrows not playing this evening were Tanya Y and Sarah. Also, not on this clip but taught by myself or by one of my band were Melvin, Arlisha and Lianna.

raising arms at the end

The other five players on this recording were Tanya, Christine, Esther, Trish, Jan [from Dudley's College of Music steelband, Pan Explosion], and also on the rota for 2002, but not on the recording were Tracy and Chris.



Personally I also had the extra special pleasure of playing alongside two of my own children - 11 year-old Morgan and 13 year-old Georgia.

We all loved the experience, and thanked Geraldine for giving us the Chorus to play. She loved us in return, and after the 1999 run gave us this card. We got standing ovations night after night.

me, Ron and Nigel

The newspapers loved us too, some declaring we were the best thing in the show, and one thought we were the only good thing in the show. But not at all! It was all good: the dancers, the costumes, the stilt walkers, the lot, and who can forget Ron singing "I know that my Redeemer Liveth".

In 2000, for the Millennium Celebrations we were asked to play the Chorus in Victoria Gardens [in Leeds Centre]. I wasn't sure it was appropriate, but everyone was keen, and we had learnt it. And where would all that knowledge go? Despite my misgivings, we did it.

in Victoria Gardens 2000

Sadly we, Foxwood, East Steel and Sparrows weren't asked back for the Harewood run, but this in no way diminished our memories and those who have the DVD or who see this recording will have those memories refreshed.

me and Nigel 2017

And I am so grateful to Chris for putting this up. It’s not just a happy memory. . .

Click here to watch the video

*The other two biggies were when Music For Youth asked Sparrows to play the Royal Albert as National Youth World Music winners, and Sparrows and Doves to play the Festival Hall for the Festival of Britain. Both were easy organisationally by comparison!

Carnival Messiah at West Yorkshire Playhouse 1999 and 2002

Dear Debs, I see that there is to be a celebration of Geraldine’s Connor’s life in March at The West Yorkshire Playhouse. So I thought this was the time that I should add mine and Foxwood Steel Bandits’ part in the story.

My steelbands [Foxwood, Sparrows, East Steel] and I played the Hallelujah Chorus in 1999 and 2002 at the Playhouse as [part of Geraldine's epic production that was Carnival Messiah. I think I speak for everybody when I say that it was one of the most moving and ecstatic moments of our lives. Hearing Jean or Michelle say, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" and then me or Dave clicking the count in to those first joyous bars. We were only on stage for ten minutes but they were so intense. Then the triumphal ending; the truck rolls back and you have to stand really quietly, heart still racing, until you can jump off and dance up and down, or maybe comiserate with someone who missed a couple of notes out of bar 24. Whatever! [For the second run we marked ourselves out of ten every night.] The photograph above is of most of the players from the 1999 run.I played every evening and matinee for both five week runs [ soprano line in 1999, and alto line on double seconds in 2002], and most players played more than half of these shows. The cartoon above is Charlotte's drawing of the band. [I have blocked out of my memory loading the pans in and out and back to College of Music or West Park or City of Leeds School or wherever. Four sets of basses. You wouldn't want to carry them round in your head!]

Practices were whenever people could make them. Saturday afternoons often found Hayley and Stewart exchanging notes on the cellos in my back basement room; Wednesdays after school would find Alicia sorting out Arlisha and Lianna in the study; at City of Leeds School, Georgia showed Tanya and Sarah the way, and Bassem learnt the tenor line on three different layouts of tenor basses – at Parklands, Hillcrest and City of Leeds Schools. Melvin joined us late in the day and 12 year-old Morgan showed him the soprano line. [Melvin had actually been in the original cast, playing steelpan in the other band in London some years before].

There was a complicated rota worked out of who was to play each evening and which pans needed setting up or down. I would get to the Playhouse just before the break and tick players off as they arrived, then, if anyone was away or unexpectedly present a couple of us would rush down during the interval and change the pans backstage on the truck. Hayley worked at some pizza house, and some nights we’d have someone at the Green Room door, ready to let her through – she went more or less straight from the bus to the stage. Philip was at medical school in Birmingham – he only got there twice [hence he’s a bit ghostly out in Charlotte's cartoon].

There were occasional mishaps. I dislocated my knee cap the week before we started the first run, and had to sit down to play for the first two weeks [hence the wooden crutch in the cartoon]; Bex’s cellos were set up the wrong way one evening and she mimed her way through the whole Chorus. One evening in the second run we knew that all the cello-pan players would be away, so Jan had to leave bass and relearn the cellos for that one night.
I needed to make sure that all the under 16 year-olds had a lift or taxi home. Being amateurs, we could not expect everyone to commit to every show, but I need to ensure that the quality of our performance never diminished. We were only a small part of a great show, but my pride and the overall quality of the production ensured we were always good, even with a different permutation of players for every show. And, in fact, as you can see from our card from Geraldine in 1999, we did a good job.
We got standing ovations; we got good reviews. In fact the Daily Telegraph thought we were the only good thing about it. This went to some players’ heads and I had to remind them that it was Geraldine’s idea and vision that we were where we were in the show, and we played what we did. Mrs Sensible Band Leader! I loved our reviews as much as the next player. We made friendships, with Nigel, Ronald, Manny, Preacherman Dave, Pork Pie [see below with me and Mig at the after-party].
Anyway, all good things come to an end. New World re-formed in 2004, a steelband that Geraldine was keen to support and promote, and they played for the next Yorkshire production. But, if you come across the DVD [have to confess, not seen it, so don't actually know if we're on it] or the CD, that’s us playing. We were Foxwood: Victoria [me], Bex, Alicia, Stewart, Hayley, Natalie, Sarah L, Georgia, Morgan, Dave, Charlotte, Victoria S East Steel: Sue, Tamanna, Bassem, Sparrows/Steel Sensation/Merlyn Rees: Tanya S, Thomas, Rosalind, Melvin, Katie, Tracy, Lucy, Sarah, Tanya Y, Esther, Angelica, Sherelle, plus from Pan Explosion [College of Music Steelband]: Jan, Trish, Christine. Becky H,
. . . . and we loved every minute. Geraldine and I didn’t part, in the end, on good terms, which was a shame, but that’s sometimes how it goes, and it does not detract from the memory of those two great runs. And sometimes, I think that our contribution gets forgotten, so I am now setting the record straight for myself and for all of the others above.