Invitation to Royal Garden party for Shropshire band supporters
Four Members of a local supporters group have recently received an invitation to attend at a Royal Garden Party to be held at Buckingham Palace in July.
The invitations have been received by Andrew and Dennise Roberts and Clifford and Chris Broome and followed nominations that had been submitted to the Lord Lieutenants Office in Shropshire, earlier in the year. All of the nominees have been involved with the group in excess of ten years and have helped to raise over £200,000, during this time.
The nominations are as a result of the long unstinting service that has been given towards the Supporters of Music at Abraham Darby Academy, Madeley in relation to supporting and assisting with the fundraising towards all of the Bands at the Abraham Darby Academy, Madeley.
Andrew and Dennise will also be accompanied by their two sons, James and Mark who both attended Abraham Darby and held the principal cornet seats in both the Showband and the Brass Band having participated at many Contests and Festivals which saw the Bands achieving many awards.
The Supporters Group has been involved in raising funds towards the participation of the Showband from the Academy being involved in two tours of America where they performed in Carnegie Hall, New York and a number of World Festivals, namely the World Music Contest on two occasions in Kekrade, Holland and the World Youth Music Contest in Zurich, Switzerland. The various Bands from the Academy have also regularly participated in the National Festival of Music for Youth and the National Concert Band Festival. Latterly the Supporters of Music at Abraham Darby Academy have also become registered as a Charity in order to assist further in its fundraising work.
Andrew Roberts speaking on behalf of all the nominees stated that we received notification from the Lord Lieutenant’s Office that he was minded to nominate us all for an invitation earlier in the year, with the formal invitation arriving from the Lord Chamberlain at Buckingham Palace last week. Obviously we are all honoured to have received an invitation, but that the invitation is a reflection of the unstinting work that has been undertaken over many years by many people which has enabled many pupils and former pupils, in particular from the South Telford area being allowed the opportunity to participate and perform in many prestigious concert venues not only in this country but also abroad, which has raised not only their self esteem but of their families and friends, which we hope that they will appreciate in the future. We hope that the weather will be fine and that we will all enjoy the day.
