The choir left Plume School at 8.30am on Tuesday 7th July and travelled to Llangollen in Wales for the international competition. In the afternoon the choir took part in the Parade of Nations around the town and luckily enough the rain stayed away! Once the choir arrived at their home for the night there was enough time for a quick rehearsal in the car park, it wasn’t very warm though! 6.00am on Wednesday 8th July and the choir are in for an early start ready for the preliminary round at the town hall in Llangollen. This year there were eight choirs competing for three places on the main stage, unfortunately for the choir they didn’t gain a place this year but all were extremely proud of managing to get as far as they did. The choir had plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere the festival brings to the town and meet people from different nations. Later in the afternoon the choir performed on one of the many outdoor stages in the festival ground leaving the audience asking for more. After this Gemma, Maria, Bex and Willow had to attend a rehearsal for the Peace Concert they were to take part in that evening. They were later joined by the rest of the Plume Choir and some other choirs for a workshop about a selection of vocal techniques led by Ralph Allwood of Eton College. This was fun and gave the choir another opportunity to meet more people taking part in the festival. After some time to grab a bite to eat the choir watched a world music concert and showed off their dancing skills!! Finally before heading home the choir went to watch the Peace Concert in the main pavillion, some members of the choir took part in this concert as part of a massed choir with young people from many nations singing   together, for them it was a great experience and the choir enjoyed watching too. They finally left the festival ground around 10.30pm and arrived back at the Plume at 4.00am-a very long day for all but well worth it!

Bex Nobes