Charity concert marks Bedenham anniversary

A charity concert commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Bedenham explosion was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral on Friday April 24.

The Easter tide concert featured the Paamoa Community Choir, accompanied by May Clinton on piano, with instrumentalists Keith Vinnicombe, Ernest Slade and Anne Saxby.

The Very Rev Ian Tarrant, Dean of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, recalled how the RFA Bedenham exploded at Ordnance Wharf on April 27, 1951, killing 13 people, injuring hundreds and causing widespread damage across Gibraltar, including to the cathedral.

All the cathedral’s windows were shattered in the blast, with some fragments now incorporated into decorative panels.

The concert launched a commemorative weekend, which ended with a Sunday morning service that included displays of the panels and memories from people connected to the events of that day.

Paamoa Choir opened the Concert singing ‘Amazing Grace’ with soloist John Cruz, followed by ‘One Moment in Time’ with soloist Sue Penfold. This choir, now in its second year, conveyed the lyrics of the songs clearly and emotionally, really engaging the appreciative audience. Several classical and Spanish guitar tunes followed, played by Keith Vinnicombe, later accompanied by Anne Saxby on flute and Ernest Slade on guitar.

The sound of the classical guitar had both intimate, quiet passages and fiery, passionate expression. This blended nicely with the clear, bright, airy tone of the flute singing out such well-known melodies as Sounds of Silence and El Condor Pasa, which also had some chordal and plucking accompaniment played by Ernest Slade on ukulele and guitar. The 1st half finished with two ladies, Jessica and Marta singing together, before the choir joined in with the exuberance of ‘Lord of the Dance’.

The 2nd half opened with Paamoa Choir singing ‘You Raise Me Up’ in three parts, followed by Keith playing two of his own compositions, ‘Princesa Kristina’ and ‘Playas de Levante’ which had the warm rhythmic plucking imitating the ebb and flow of the waves, creating a lyrical and diverse palette of tone colours. The evening ended with both choir and instrumentalists coming together to sing two well-known hymns, ‘Thine Be The Glory’ by Handel and ‘Ode to Joy’ by Beethoven.

The directors of Paamoa Choir, Cathy, Pam and May, thanked the Dean for the opportunity to perform and help raise funds for works to the cathedral.