The Albert Hall and a Promenade Concert conducted by Tenby's Grant Llewellyn drew a coach-load of Griffons and their friends to London on September 2. Joining them in the audience were travellers flown in for Boston from the event and no-one was disappointed. With the work involved in two premieres and a five-movement Shostakovish symphony, the majority of conductors and their musicians would have been heading for the hills at a fast trot, but Grant and the National Orchestra of Wales rose to the challenge magnificently, rightly earning praise from, notoriously, the toughest of critics. Joby Talbot was there to receive plaudits for his 'Sneaker Wave', specially commissioned by the BBC, and Alan Hoddinott had the warmest of welcomes after hearing David Childs, play for the first time in London, the euphonium concerto written for him. David is a music student in Cardiff and already acknowledged a master of the instrument. In the Shostokovich composition, the NOW could display the full scale of their musicianship and it was terrific. As for the Griffons, they had the opportunity to sing-along silently with Ruthie Henshall as she performed songs by Kurt Weill, but under orders from Grant, their president, not a note was actually heard from the Pembrokeshire travellers!
