The Thompson twins have written a short account of the tour: "For 6 days at the end of July the SYO went on tour to Belgium. We stayed in a youth hostel near Ypres. During the day we visited lots of different places in Belgium."
(Ypres in West Flanders had the misfortune to be located in the path of the planned German sweep across Northern europe in 1914 onwards. Intense and sustained fighting led to hundreds of thousands of casualties - some due to poison gas - over the next three years, and the near-obliteration of the town. It was rebuilt using reparation (compensation) money, and today is twinned with Hiroshima. The Cloth Hall, below left, was one of a number of buildings reconstructed in its original 13th century style, and now houses the Museum of Flanders Fields.) |
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| "On the second day we travelled to Antwerp, where we caused a traffic jam whilst attempting to get two coaches round a tight corner! Here we performed a concert in the beautiful gardens of Rubenshuis." |
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| "We also played a concert in St Saviour’s Cathedral in Bruges, where we received a standing ovation. Highlights included Karla Powell playing Mozart’s oboe concerto and hearing the sound of the second orchestra in ‘Fantasia on a theme from Thomas Tallis’ drift from the back of the Cathedral." |
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Left: The Ghent Youth Music Festival, in which SYO came second, ahead of Berkshire Maestros!
Right: Consenting adults |
| "The next day we played ‘The Planets’ in the Ghent Festival. We were voted second, with ‘The World Youth Choir’ beating us by only 0.17%!
Other outings included visiting a museum of musical instruments a museum of cocoa and chocolate, the European Parliament and the exhibition 'In Flanders Fields'. " |
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Ocarinas to harps: the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels is one of the best collections in Europe, housed in a former department store. |
| "We also attended a last post ceremony at Ypres, which we all found a moving experience.
On behalf of the orchestra we’d like to thank all the staff who came with us and everyone else who made this tour possible." -
Alison and Fiona Thompson |
