“Hayden and I had the opportunity to play a set at the Devon County Show at Westpoint, so on Thursday 18th May, Hayden Miss Iles and I travelled to Exeter. The showground was much bigger than either of us had imagined. We were both thoroughly excited to play to such a big audience.

 

Once we arrived we were able to explore the grounds before our set then, with the weather on our side, we sat and watched the other musicians in the sun. We had some great feedback from our set and we were both very fortunate for the opportunity to play, as this was our last performance as official Year 11s.

 

We thank Miss Iles for this opportunity and all the other chances that we’ve had to perform in our five years at HCC.”

 

Shannon Richards and Hayden Drowne

 

Well we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day for students to perform at The County Show this week, thanks goodness the rain dissipated!

 

This is the first year that Holsworthy College have performed on the live stage at The County Show. The main stage is organised through Devon Music Education Hub and is an opportunity to highlight musical excellence and the talent of Devon’s young people to the Show’s 95,000 visitors across 2 days.

 

I completed the application form at the end of April for some of the Year 11s to perform and fortunately they were chosen and given a 20 minute slot to showcase their work. As always their performances were of a very high standard, even battling against the breeze and having to quickly peg the music to the stand, Shannon and Hayden did not disappoint in making me very proud. I was approached by a member of the public who had stopped to listen to their set and he thought they were professional musicians, so was slightly taken aback when I informed them that they were still at school.

 

We did try to get a little ‘air time’ with BBC Radio Devon, but the crew were out around the arenas filming and recording so that will take a back seat for next time!

 

Miss Iles