The Proms are back

The ‘Proms’ are back! And what a delight, the First Night at the Royal Albert Hall. At last, after many lockdown months, orchestra and singers performing before a packed audience.

The Proms have given me great pleasure over the years, and appreciation of the brilliant organisation and presentation of the world’s largest and most prestigious music festival.

I am no musician, have never had a music lesson and could not even play the recorder, but I have been a music addict for eighty years.

It began when, as a 14-year-old at a Boys Brigade camp in Porthcawl, I heard  a recording of Danse Macabre - Dance of Death -by Saint-Saens. It frightened and fascinated me - and still does.

It was my introduction to classical music, the first orchestral record I bought, and over the years my collection grew into many hundreds, from ‘78’s to tapes, and CDs and now, with an almost limitless choice on the internet, I can have music every day.

As with so many other aspects of my life I have been lucky to enjoy music at leisure and work. My time with BBC Wales and the Welsh Symphony Orchestra, now the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, has taken me around the world - Europe, Canada, the USA and Japan - and on holiday I have been to concerts in famous concert halls.

One of my most vivid musical memories is of a bitterly cold winter evening when stationed at the magnificent Yorkshire mansion, Wentworth Woodhouse. Not in the house - in the damp, cold stables.

I went, packed into the back of a truck, to Sheffield city hall to hear the Hallé Orchestra. It was magical, a different world.The warmth, comfort and excitement of  Wagner’s Tannhäuser overture is unforgettable. The evening ended with a memorable supper, despite the rationing, at a city restaurant. That whole night out cost one shilling and sixpence.

What a difference to my experience of the Proms many years later. I took young Beverley to my first one and my most recent were with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, with the added pleasure of lavish receptions.

Now I look forward to six weeks of magnificent evenings, from the comfort of my armchair.