The programme opened with the traditional visit by Bellows and Waves Accordion Orchestra to perform their concert on the evening of Wednesday 1st June.
The forty accordionist members attend a weekend workshop every Spring Bank holiday and the climax of their visit to Ilfracombe is the concert at the end of their stay.
This years concert was a particular success with over seventy persons in the audience who heard a very varied programme of music demonstrating the unique versatility of the accordion.
I think the undoubted highlight of the evening was a violin solo by Sarah Crisp accompanied by Musical Director Ian Watson who arranged “Czardas” by Monti.
The central thrust from the circuit this year which has been emphasised by our visiting ministers is Mission.
Jo and I who organise the concerts, along with a very active team from within the church, like think that our concerts perform a mission objective in that many of the holidaymakers and visitors who come to our concerts involve persons who would otherwise never enter a church building at any other time.
If only a few of the many visitors who form our audience go home with a pleasant memory of an experience at a Concert at Emmanuel church and visit their own local church then our mission has been a success.
We owe a great debt of thanks to all the individual choristers and musicians who make up the choirs, orchestras and bands that perform to such a high standard at our concerts and I thank all of them for their continued support.
I never fail to be inspired by the musicianship that exists in North Devon and sounds so magnificent in our church in Ilfracombe.
We look forward to another successful programme in 2016.
Trevor Porter 6th June.