Term Dates

Autumn Term: 30 September 2025 – 25 November 2025

(Christmas Concert 2 December 2025)

Winter/Spring Term: 6th January 2026 – 24 March 2026

Easter Break – no rehearsal 31 March 2026 or 7 April 2026

Spring Term: 14 April 2026 – 12 May 2026 (Spring Concert 19 May 2026)

Summer Term: 26 May 2026 – 23 June 2026 (50th Anniversary Concert 28 June 2026)

Update

14 December 2025

Dear all,

Our heartfelt thanks for an excellent Christmas Concert on 2nd December 2025, at All Hallows’ Church. We had a great turnout, and all pieces were very secure indeed. Our extra players were much appreciated, particularly in the viola and double bass sections. The trombones were in fine form for Verdi’s Nabucco Overture. A lot of the music was chosen by members of the orchestra, and was well received by our audience, including film music, musicals, opera, baroque, romantic, new pieces, Christmas lollipops & medleys and our usual singalong carols. We would also like to give a special shout out to our volunteer helpers, who took charge of the ticket sales and the post concert buffet/drinks.

As is tradition, we have proposed a post Christmas meal at our usual Toby Carvery in Aigburth, on Tuesday 6th January, before rehearsals come back in full swing on 13th January 2026. Please let Guy know if you are coming along so that we have an idea of how many to book for. It is a great chance to catch up after the Christmas break.

We have 3 concert dates planned for 2026, which are Tuesday 19th May, at All Hallows’ Church, our 50th Anniversary concert at the Prescot Festival, Prescot Parish Church on Sunday 28 June, and indeed the next Christmas Concert, which will be Tuesday 1st December, at All Hallows’.

We are already working on the programming for the May/June concerts, however if there is a particular piece you would like to see in any of these concerts, please let Rob, or our Music Librarian, Paul Holt, know, so that they can source the music from the Library over the New Year break.

We are looking to create a 50th Anniversary Display for the concert in June. If you have any photos, press cuttings, old concert programmes, from over the years, that bring back the memories, please do let us know at the earliest opportunity. It would be wonderful to see how we have progressed over the years.

As usual we still have vacancies in the Viola section, Double Bass, Bassoon and Brass in general (especially Horns and Tubas). Extra string players in general are always welcome. If you know of anyone available on our concert dates, or looking to join an orchestra in the New Year, then please pass details to Rob or Guy and they will be in touch.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas, and a well earned rest, with best wishes for the coming Year.

Rob, Laura & the SLO committee

Dear all,

It seems no time at all since we were ready to start a new term, and now our Christmas concert is just 5 weeks away! Some of the pieces included in our festive programme are Handel’s Water Music (Suite No 2), Judith Bailey’s Noel, Verdi’s Nabucco Overture, and the Mendelssohn Nocturne.

We hope you’ve enjoyed working through the Rimsky Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol, Debussy’s Petite Suite, and Borodin’s in the Steppes of Central Asia; those pieces will come back in while we focus on the Christmas Concert repertoire. The full programme will be confirmed at rehearsal.

Section leaders, we would be very grateful if you could take the lead in organizing enough copies of music as needed for your sections once the full programme has been confirmed. It would also help if you could try to encourage as many members as possible to return to rehearsals.

We are continuing to source extra players to fill current vacancies in the orchestra, particularly for the viola and double bass sections, however if you know of any French Horn/Tuba players that are available for our concert on 2nd December, please do let Rob or Guy have the contact details.

As usual, if you are unable to make rehearsal, please let Rob know, as it helps with rehearsal planning. Please note, although it is half term this week, rehearsal is still going ahead as planned tomorrow. Our esteemed leader, George Taylor, will be taking the baton in Rob’s absence. Thank you George!

See you at rehearsal,

Rob, Laura and the SLO committee

Update 10 August 2025

Dear all,

We hope you had a good summer and are looking forward to starting the new term. It seems a long time since the extra rehearsals after the Spring Concert in May, where we did some more work on Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, From The New World. It was great to welcome family and friends of the orchestra to our rehearsal venue, the Synagogue, to listen to a run through of the full symphony.

Rehearsals will start back on Tuesday 16th September. Please note that due to the Jewish New Year celebrations, Rosh Hashanah, the Synagogue is not available to us on Tuesday 23rd September. We discussed at the last rehearsal that we would have a meal at the Toby Carvery Aigburth on Tuesday 23 September instead. Please let Guy know if you are coming to the meal, so we can let the Toby Carvery know in advance.

The Christmas Concert date is Tuesday 2nd December 2025, at All Hallows’ Church. Please make every effort to attend as many rehearsals as possible, particularly in the run up to the concert, and let Rob know if you aren’t able to attend rehearsal, as this helps with rehearsal planning.

As usual we have ongoing vacancies in the orchestra, these are: 2 French Horns, 1 trombone, Violas, and Double Basses. String players in general are always welcome. Unfortunately, we are unable to take on any more flute players for the time being. We will update this post if the situation changes.

We’re looking forward to trying out lots of new music this term, including an arrangement of “What’s This?” (Elfman) by our very own trumpet player Tom Mason, and a piece composed by our esteemed leader, George Taylor.

See you at rehearsal,

Rob, Laura & the SLO committee