Sir,
We write to you today to suggest that the performance of The Greenhill School Orchestra at The Symphony Hall, Birmingham, on July 8, is a total vindication of the support given by those who have recently fought for the continuance of the performance role of the Music Department under the direction of Paul Rapi.
We attended the performance where Greenhill was subjected to competition from four other of the UK's finest school orchestras at the National Festival of Music for Youth. Greenhill's young musicians excelled in their performance and came home with the 'Larry Westland Award' that puts them at the top of the UK's schools orchestras!
Let us be in no doubt that Greenhill's orchestra, together with the commitment of the school's Music Department and the county's peripatetic tutorial staff, has put Pembrokeshire, and particularly Tenby, to the top of the table in the UK's schools' musical achievement.
Congratulations, therefore, to Paul Rapi for his enduring commitment, and to all who have dedicated time and effort to the success of these young students.
Surely it has to be a 'smack in the eye' for those that seek to reduce the peripatetic input into this school orchestra and which is now acknowledged to be of the finest in Great Britain.
Thank you, Paul, and your students.
Joan and Harvey Luke,
Tenby.