Around 800 pupils, parents and staff from all six school Houses gathered in the Great Hall for one of the most eagerly awaited nights of the school calendar – the House Singing Competition!

Head of School, Will Barnes, opened by welcoming everyone to an evening with an electric atmosphere that enthusiastically celebrates music and singing.  

As is customary, each of the six houses: Ashburnham, Bromham, Crescent, Paulo Pontine, St Cuthbert’s and St Peter’s performed a medley of unison songs followed by a part song. First up was Ashburnham whose medley of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire and Avicii’s The Nights, set the bar high.

After much appreciative stomping of feet, the audience delighted in other superbly performed songs such as St Cuthbert’s beautiful rendition of Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence, which filled the corners of the Great Hall with pitch-perfect notes. Paulo Pontine’s unison roused the audience with Cohen’s Everybody Knows leading into a jolly version of Schönberg’s Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Misérables where you could practically see the pride beaming from the boys’ faces.

St. Peter’s technically demanding unison comprising of Don McLean’s American Pie, Howard’s Fly me to the Moon and Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, quite literally brought the house down with rapturous applause and even more frenzied stomping of feet.

While adjudicator Mr Richard Mayo, Director of Music at Dulwich College took some time to prepare his announcement, it was the turn of the teachers, who belted out a version of Sam Cooke’s What a Wonderful World – the lyrics causing much amusement!

Mr Mayo gave wonderful praise and complemented all the boys on how fluently they knew the music and how confidently they performed – not an easy thing to do in front of one’s peers.

And finally the winners were announced to jumps of wondrous joy….

Unison – Crescent
Part Song – St Peter’s
Overall winners – St Peter’s

Well done to all the boys taking part, and to those who came along to cheer. Of course a big thank you must also go to the accompanists; Harry Chen, Alex Watson, Stephen Lamb, Flik Feng and Benedict Siow who played exquisitely.

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