Battle of Britain concert 2025
It’s a caterer’s worst nightmare – more people turned up than expected.
The Cambridge Brass Band started the concert with Aces High. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Organisers were delighted nonetheless on Sunday at the Battle of Britain concert in the Cambridge Town Hall put on jointly by the Cambridge Brass Band and the Cambridge Little Big Band.
Entry was free but the crowd of 200 raised $1200 for the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Cancer Society and kept the Hato Hone St John cadets busy serving afternoon tea.
Secretary Anne Ferrier-Watson gave fair warning: due to the large turnout, guests would be limited to one savoury and one sweet. But in the end, there seemed to be enough to go around – sausage rolls go a long way when sliced just right.
Hato Hone St John cadets helped with the afternoon tea, from left, front row: Sofie Hall, 11, Benji, 11 and Mikayla, 10 Crimlis, Kenzie Matthews, 13 with at rear Peter Fox-Worthington and Justine Webb-Elliott. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The crowd loved the 90-minute concert. Favourites included Glenn Miller’s In the Mood, the Andrews Sisters’ Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and standout performances by vocalist Hannah Doherty, especially her renditions of Orange Coloured Sky and Over the Rainbow.
The crowd was a mix of ages, though the older members clearly knew the words to classics like Ain’t Misbehavin’, Moonlight Serenade, The White Cliffs of Dover and When You’re Smiling.
Ashwin Singh on the bass while in the background Lindsay Weir plays a sax solo at the Battle of Britain concert. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Lindsay Weir, left, and Teresa Thornton during their solos in the Battle of Britain concert in the Town Hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The traditional Māori love song Pokarekare Ana struck a chord with everyone.
Master of Ceremonies David Phillips gave a heartfelt plug for past members of the Cambridge Brass Band to reconnect. The band’s 150th anniversary is just two years away.
“New players are always welcome too. We need horns, cornets and percussion players,” he said, encouraging former members to return.
The Cambridge Little Big Band, decades younger, was formed in 2016 by musical director Rob Hocking to provide Cambridge High School students experience of a different musical genre.
See: Here come the bands
Musicians from the Cambridge Brass Band and the Cambridge Little Big Band stand during the Battle of the Britain concert in the Town Hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
In the Mood, part of the Cambridge Little Big Band, from left Lindsay Weir, Teresa Thornton, Keith Rodgers and Garry Johnston. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
