A wonderful concert

Last night witnessed another 'first' for Stone! The young Japanese virtuoso violin player Atsuko Sahara delighted a packed audience in the Crown Hotel ballroom and I was privileged to be there. I have four or five discs of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and know the work backwards but she still managed to impress upon it her own style and interpretation. it was a delight!

And from a practical point of view the evening was a learning curve for anyone thinking of trying to organise a Music Festival next year! First of all there can be no doubt that there is a demand in and around Stone for quality classical music. This performance was sold out some time ago and I understand there was a waiting list of almost a hundred. So whenever anybody at Stafford has the courage to tell us what ' the worst kept secret' of all time involves in the way of a new community building on Westbridge Park, they should bear in mind that a theatre space for an audience of three hundred must be part of their plans!

And the other lesson is that anyone organising an event in the ballroom should remember two things, namely, that the room has no air conditioning or adequate ventilation - I was dripping!- and more seriously, that the ballroom is not accessible by the disabled. I suspect you may read something about that soon!

But what a lovely evening. Congratulations to Tim Toft for organising the concert - I'm sure he'll be asked to do another soon!