Toad Lane Concert: Tonacliffe Primary School

Piano in St Mary in the Baum

The Grade-I listed church of St Mary in the Baum has become well-established as a concert venue, with its wonderful acoustics and vintage 1933 Challen Grand Piano.

Its weekly Wednesday Toad Lane Concerts (so named after the neighbouring original ‘Coop Shop’ Pioneers Museum) have recovered well since the pandemic, now regularly presenting notable performers.

On Wednesday 26 March, 40 or so children from Tonacliffe Primary School were added to that list. They too, according to headteacher Mrs J Heap, have recovered from the unfortunate silences and saddest times of lockdown.

Singers included the years five and six choir led from the keyboard by well-known local professional soprano, teacher and conductor, Freda Farnworth, who has taught at Tonacliffe for a number of years. We were treated to a glimpse of their warm-up routines before a delightful tour of assembly songs of the school year, interspersed with attractive numbers from the Recorder Club and the Flute Group.

The final set of songs also included audience participation with Give Me Oil in My Lamp, where the audience incurred the wrath of the conductor for not singing up!

In conclusion we had the catchy song Spring Chicken complete with actions, reminding the seniors in the audience of doing the Funky Chicken back in the day. All agreed that amongst the magnificent heritage, the all-singing, all-dancing Spring Chickens ruled the roost.

It proved to be a successful experiment for a primary school to have a public concert to themselves. They were readily booked for a return visit before they left the building.

To see details of forthcoming Toad Lane Concerts, click here.

Dr Joe Dawson