On Tuesday 14th October our school orchestra went to Downe House School Orchestral Fun Day, leaving at 9am. After a coach journey of about an hour we arrived and were split into our musical sections. We went over our parts in different rooms. Our three pieces were Ode to Joy, Soul Bossa Nova and All Blues. We spent until 12’0’clock on that, when we moved to the concert hall and combined to form as one unit playing our parts together with some tweaking to the pieces and trialling different things. At 1pm we had a really good lunch and a break after that. We had another rehearsal after lunch where we perfected our pieces and nailed down our parts. We had a small tea before our performance. Our orchestra had a small practice just before as well. Next was the concert. The Winchester House orchestra opened it, playing Memory from ‘Cats’, and we played really well. After a solo and a piece by The Oratory orchestra, we played our three pieces altogether. Everyone did really well. So we had a really great day and we were all exhausted at the end! Downe House was fab and we really enjoyed making music together. All in all a great day! Daniel Firoozan

In total there were over 230 children from 15 schools involved in the Downe House Orchestral Fun Day. All the children were worked very hard and they really excelled themselves both in their behaviour and efforts throughout the day.    They all seemed to enjoy themselves a great deal, and it was lovely to see several WHS old girls coming to say ‘hello’ to us all! 
The overall standard was very high and certainly very good practice indeed for the forthcoming tour! Huge thanks are due in particular to the Downe House staff and pupils for organising such a brilliant day, without doubt the best Prep Schools’ Orchestral Day we have attended.

MDP