In my opinion, the downplaying of the younger CWYM groups continues

(Post made at 1130 UK time on 06 Mar 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

Further to “The younger groups have got the short straw in the CWYM Summer Concert on 1 July 2017“, something which seems to be happening again in the 2018 Summer Concert, there seems at the time of writing to be no Facebook event, no poster, and indeed little mention (apart from in the list of concerts on the CWYM website) of the March concert (on 18 March, with no time stated) by the Wessex Fanfares and Wessex Starter and Middle Strings.

Furthermore, rather than having an external venue (as has happened for the last several years), the younger groups (which are the future of the WYO) are being relegated this year to playing at the Bournemouth and Poole College.  This seems a throwback to the situation about 10 years ago, when the feeder groups just had an informal concert at St Andrew’s Hall at the old Constitution Hill site, with little room for an audience, and not much of a sense of occasion.

This seems a pity.  When I was chairperson of the SWYM Committee, it was always our aim to integrate the groups as far as possible, and to minimise any feeling of “them and us” as between the WYO and its feeder groups.