Shaping Lives…
A Centenary Concert, recently held at Westholme, was an evening of nostalgia featuring a host of talent
To crown its Centenary Year, Westholme School played host to a spectacular sell-out musical concert in its prestigious Croston Theatre, with countless alumni returning to grace the stage and pay their respects to the school that gave them such an incredible start in life. The concert was the perfect way to bring an end to a year of nostalgia, fond reflection and pride, at all the school has and continues to accomplish, for its students. Westholme was recently awarded the title of Independent School of the Year for its INSPIRED Sixth Form Careers Programme – a fitting reward to mark 100 wonderful years of Westholme.
Founded by Emily Singleton in 1923, Westholme has shaped the lives of so many students in the region, providing an unrivalled holistic education, which ensures every child is nurtured, given the skills and confidence to flourish in their field, and is fully prepared for a successful life beyond school. It seemed only fitting that the concert played host to Mrs Anne Longson, the great niece of Emily Singleton, who had nothing but high praise and gratitude for the school, eloquently sharing with a captive audience: “Emily would be absolutely awestruck by how the school has developed,” adding how the concert would, for the school’s founder, as it was for all in attendance, have simply blown her away.
Guest announcers included students, former Principals Mrs Lillian Croston and Mrs Lynne Horner and Mr Brian Marsden, Chair of Governors, who brought the event to a close. The calibre of performances was simply breathtaking from start to finish, as the Head of Sixth Form Jonathan Oracz, masterminded a concert befitting their historic milestone and delivered an evening of entertainment to rival leading theatres and concert halls around the globe.
Current and former Directors of Music, Ben Holt and Eric Millest, joined by Mrs Clare Lewis as a trio of musical maestros with over a century of combined experience in delivering outstanding music teaching to generations of students, and concerts all over Europe, conducted a huge centenary choir and orchestra, made up of staff, parents and students past and present.
There were solo performances by Old Westholmians, who have since led leading careers on the West End stage, as global recording acts or as musical artists in their own right. From a medley of Disney to a montage of musical theatre songs, including highlights from ‘Miss Saigon’, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘West Side Story’, there was something for everyone, including a taster of their March 2024 production of Les Misérables. With a special song written by Mr Millest to mark their centenary year, followed by the audience singing with gusto to Abba, the entire evening was certainly a moment to ‘Thank Westholme for the Music’ and 100 years of academic rigour and success.
Westholme
Wilmar Lodge, Meins Road
Pleasington BB2 6QU
01254 506070
westholmeschool.com
