hago Concert Archives

18 November

We journeyed to a new venue - Weeke Community Centre just north of Winchester

There are photos from the event in our Photo archive. The concert raised about £450 for The Fusion Fund - their big building project.

11 November

We were invited back for the third time to Salisbury Methodist Church

There are photos from the event in our Photo archive. The concert was amazingly well attended and raised £763.80 for The Listening Place, a counselling service.

15 June

We played at St George's Waterlooville as part of the Waterlooville Music Festival

This was the final festival under the leadership of Fr Mike Sheffield who retired soon afterwards.
He has left an inspiring legacy - a vibrant festival that pulls in massive audiences each day of the festival.
Happy retirement Mike!

30 March

We played a short Concert at a local Sheltered Accommodation

15 December

We played our now-traditional Carol Concert at a local Sheltered Accommodation

7 July

We were invited to play a fund-raiser for St Michael's Chalton, mid-way between Petersfield and Horndean

Our team was strengthened by a guest appearance from Arne Brattland

11 March

We played at Petersfield Festival Hall as part of the Petersfield Music Festival

Visit our 2016 gallery for photos of the event

17 December

We played our now-traditional Carol Concert at a local Sheltered Accommodation

26 September

We were invited back to Queen Mary Hall by Basingstoke Lions, this time for a full-length concert.

Our team was strengthened by guest appearances from Arne Brattland and Debra Adamson

18 June

We played at St George's Waterlooville as part of the Waterlooville Music Festival

For the first time in ages we don't have any photos of the event.

11 April

We returned to Petersfield Festival Hall, this time as guests of the Petersfield Lions, taking the middle of a 3-act spectacular.

19 March

We were booked for a private concert at Homewater House Waterlooville - what a fantastically fun evening that was!

18 December

We played our now-traditional Carol Concert at a local Sheltered Accommodation

16 October

We were booked for a private concert at Homewater House Waterlooville - what a fantastically fun evening that was!

27 September

We were guests of St John's Church at Rowlands Castle, for a concert in aid of their Church Rebuilding Fund.

And since, by cruel coincidence, the Church was closed because part of the ceiling had fallen in, the much-needed fund-raising took place next door in the light and spacious modern Church Hall.

5 July

We played at the Community Centre Hayling Island.

Our concert was in aid of 3rd Hayling Scouts and supporting their representation at the World Scout Jamboree.

29 March

We played at Queen Mary's Hall, Basingstoke in a concert for Basingstoke Lions.

We took the first half of the concert, and the Basingstoke Rock Choir took the second half.

15 March

Invited back for our fourth visit, we played in the lovely venue of Cornerstone - Hythe URC - on the edge of the New Forest.

Our concert was in aid of their Outreach appeal and we raised £280 after the cost of the excellent refreshments was deducted.

1 March

The Dorset Guitar Society booked us to play at the Kinson Community centre, Pelhams Park, on the outskirts of Bournemouth.

6 February

The Mayor of Eastleigh booked us to play at The Point Eastleigh, in aid of his fund-raising appeal.

19 December

With Christmas a few days in the future, we returned to Nicholson Gardens, one of Portsmouth's Sheltered Housing complexes for an evening of Carols and some good-natured heckling!

23 November

Another "return concert" - this time at Four Marks - our third fund-raiser for "Friends of Boundaries Surgery"

The organiser wrote

Just a note to thank you and the rest of the HAGO for giving us such a wonderful concert on Saturday. Both Peter and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and thought the programme of music a really nice mix. There may not have been a full house but those in the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it too. We have had some good positive feedback.

You will be interested and hopefully pleased to know that we cleared £470 after your expenses so we were very happy with that. A tremendous result in the end so thank you for all your help in achieving this.

We really appreciate you all playing for us and giving up your Saturday evening - specially on a Dr Who night and in a cold church!

Thank you once again and very best wishes with your forthcoming concerts and future fundraising.

9 November

We returned to the Methodist Church at Salisbury for a second concert in aid of "The Listening Place" - a counselling service for the residents of Salisury, raising £585 for their Appeal.

On Twitter

Very good performance tonight in Salisbury - thank you! :-)

On Facebook

My family and I had a fantastic time listening to you all tonight ... I could have listened all night but I know you had to get home ... Thank you, hope to see you again ...

31 October

We again played a short concert for the residents at St John's Court Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. We last played there aout 5 years previously

19 October

We played a fund-raising concert for the Havant-based "Off The Record" charity, which provides counselling and advice for young people.

The concert raised a magnificent £959 after expenses...

The organiser wrote

Hello Derek and the wonderful guitar players of HAGO, what an amazing concert you gave in aid of Off The Record on Saturday. It was a full house.

Good luck with your future concerts - you do a cracking job entertaining and with on-going fundraising for worthwhile charities across the south. Keep up the good work.

Best wishes to all, Tina

29 June

We returned to Cambridge again for another joint concert with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra.

See more photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

15 June

We played at West Sussex Guitar Club in aid of their Club funds, raising £167 for them.

Audience feedback included

"Brilliant concert Derek and HAGO - enjoyed every minute. By the way, that beautiful old guitar belonging to Brian Whitehouse that we spoke about in the interval is a Santos Hernandez"

"Hi Derek, Thank you for the great evening. It was certainly a memorable evening."

"Many thanks for a most enjoyable concert this evening."

"What a fantastic evening with the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra (HAGO). Looking forward to listening to them again soon."

"Just wanted to drop you a line to say thanks to you and the orchestra for a really enjoyable concert. As I mentioned to you during the interval the acoustics were so much clearer than at Farnham - the acoustics and intimacy were such you could hear all the individual instruments, the twiddly bits, the harmonies and the crescendo's really did crescend!!"

"Many thanks for a most enjoyable concert - wonderful light music superbly played (& arranged) & a lot of fun for both audience & orchestra."

18 May

Another "return visit", this time to the Royal Star and Garter Home in Richmond, for another moving and uplifting concert with some lovely and special people. This will be our last concert in this magnificent venue - S&G are moving to purpose-built accommodation in Surbiton at the end of July.

Visit our 2013 gallery for photos from the day.

20 April

We played at St Andrews Farnham in aid of Performers Together, and featuring singer Jan Hartley

The concert raised £490 for the Performers Together fundraising project - a new arts facility in Farnham.

"I don't know if you noticed saw me, but I was the on the second row, with a contented smile on my face, absolutely enraptured! All your guitarists were spot on, led by a terrific maestro. "

"What a wonderful concert tonight in Farnham. You are an amazing group of guitarists. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, very much."

20th December

We again played a short concert of Christmas Music for the residents at Nicholson Gardens Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. Always a fantastic evening with lusty singing and lots of good-natured heckling!

26 October

We were thrilled to be invited to open the second act of the Loyal Variety Show at The Kings Theatre Southsea.

This was a fund-raising evening in the memory of Joyce Brown, who was herself a keen fund-raiser for The Kings, and a fan of ventriloquist Steve Hewlett, who set up the entire event.

£2000 was raised, and split 50:50 between the Portsmouth Brain Tumour charity and the Kings Restoration fund.

We've uploaded a video of one of our pieces.

13 October

We had a fantastic concert in Bedhampton in aid of Canine Partners. It was hosted by Havant Rotary Club and raised over £700 for the charity.

"Well done HAGO" (Vincent Lindsey-Clark)

"Great concert last night, loved the music"

"I think it was a sell out or pretty near it tonight. Thanks for working with Havant Rotary Club to raise money for canine Partners."

"We had the pleasure of selling our The Rhubarb Tree wares at the interval of this Hampshire Guitar Orchestra (HAGO) concert for Canine Partners on Saturday. What a great evening! Check out their video, they were brilliant!"

22 September

This was our third visit to Hythe URC, a simply glorious venue and a fantastic audience too...

"Wonderful"

"Really enjoyed the concert"

"Highly impressed"

7 July

Another "return visit", this time to the Royal Star and Garter Home in Richmond, for another moving and uplifting concert with some lovely and special people, this time in the morning, so an earlier start that we're used to!

Unlike last year, we decided that a "Picnic in the Park" was perhaps a poor idea, in view of the many days of torrential rain, but we did find a very accommodating pub just round the corner than not only provided some excellent food, but fabricated a large square table in a separate area so that we could all eat and chat in comfort.

23 June

We played at St George's Portsea at our 100th concert, with special guests Cambridge Guitar Orchestra

The concert raised funds for Havant Women's Aid and featured (wait for it) a pith helmet.

Read our special 100th concert celebration page and you'll see photos and videos from the evening.

"What a fantastic evening we had at HAGOs' 100th concert - in Portsmouth. Thanks to you all"

"HAGO's offering was excellent. We both thoroughly enjoyed it!"

"Very slick - superb!"

"A fabulous evening - great music & entertaining leadership"

11 June

We played at St George's Waterlooville as part of the Waterlooville Music Festival

"Amazing Virtuosity" - the Mayor of Havant, Cllr Shimbart

26 May

We played at All Saints Church Milford on Sea in aid of Naomi House Children's Hospice

The concert raised £678.19 for the Hospice.

"It really was a fun night."

15 March

We played at St Nicholas Wickham in aid of The Rowans Hospice

The concert raised almost £650 for the local Hospice.

"another excellent production - HAGO gets better and better "

15th December

We again played a short concert of Christmas Music for the residents at Nicholson Gardens Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. Always a fantastic evening with lusty singing and lots of good-natured heckling!

9 December

We returned to St Cuthbert's in Copnor. Last time we played, in April 2008, we were in the upstairs room. This time, we were the first concert to play in the refurbished Church.

Thank you all for a wonderful concert last night in Copnor - chilly, but you battled on bravely! You really are the 'best kept secret' in Hampshire!! We need to 'blow your trumpet for you' - will try & get that organised!! Thanks again for a fantastic evening.

15 October

We were invited to the Methodist Church in Salisbury to play a concert in aid of The Listening Place.

The concert raised £395

...our most grateful thanks for the splendid concert that hago presented for The Listening Place funds at Salisbury Methodist Church on Saturday 15th October 2011.

The individual and combined musical sounds from the orchestra were both sweet, enchanting, and in some cases, surprising, with many spectacular multi-note combinations and chords. Please convey our thanks to your members for a very special and extremely enjoyable concert.

When I thanked the audience for coming as they left the church all their comments were very positive for what was a truly enjoyable concert...

2 July

Yet another "return visit", this time to the Royal Star and Garter Home in Richmond, for another special concert with some lovely and special people, this time in the morning, so an earlier start that we're used to!

See photos of the event and our post-concert picnic in our 2011 Photo Gallery

24 June

It was our turn to invite Flautissimo over to our home territory this year, and we enjoyed the chance to play a concert featuring different sizes of flute as well as different sizes of guitar.

The concert was held in St George's Portsea, a wonderfully reverberant and light church.

Audience feedback included

...very good it was too! The ease of which hago play belies all the hard work that goes into it! Well done

...a brilliant evening! Thanks peeps

My first of hopefully… many more Hago concerts was sparkling musical joy. I could have listened to them all night long. To remind me of the lovely music of the evening, I’m even going to change my “ring tone” to Left Bank 2.

11 June

It was our biennial trip to Cambridge again to play a concert with our good friends the Cambridge Guitar Orchestra.

From Tony Ainsworth, their Chairman

Well Derek, just about recovered from the weekend. It was a wonderful occasion and really did live up to my billing of it being the highlight of our year. I think we really do have something special between our groups and it's lovely to see.

21 May

We were delighted to be asked to play at St Peter's Church Titchfield in aid of "The Titchfield Bonfire Boys" and "Friends of St Peters".

The organiser wrote

Thank you all so much for a brilliant evening. I heard so many comments from people saying how much they appreciated your music and enjoyed your humour. It all culminates in a different and special evening.
...
 
Thank you again for your professionalism and supporting us.

5 March

We played at Petersfield Festival Hall in aid of The Rosemary Foundation

Audience feedback included

Fantastic concert tonight again! Thank you.

Especially liked Penny Lane and the Westlife one. Couldn't stop myself from singing along (in my head of course)!

It was very professional. Amazing playing.

16 December

We played a short concert of Christmas Music for the residents at Nicholson Gardens Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. Always a fantastic evening with lusty singing and lots of good-natured heckling!

18 November

It's a hago tradition that we perform one concert each year in aid of The Rowans Hospice - a simply wonderful and caring place on the edge of the countryside. This time we played again at St Barnabas Swanmore...

From the organiser...

What a splendid concert you performed again for us this year - thank you all so much.
...
Will be in touch as soon as the buckets and gift aid envelopes have been opened - as you know the envelopes are opened by headquarters staff so that will take time!
Kind wishes and thanks again to you and everyone for a great evening.

And in The Portsmouth News...

A concert by a popular guitar orchestra raised hundreds of pounds for the Rowans Hospice, Purbrook.
The Hampshire Guitar Orchestra performed at St Barnabas Church Swanmore and raised £784.34

23 October

Yet another "return visit", this time to the Royal Star and Garter Home in Richmond, for another special concert with some lovely and special people, this time in the morning, so an earlier start that we're used to!

9 October

We were invited back to Cornerstone - Hythe URC for a return visit as part of their monthly concert series.

Audience feedback included

...it was a wonderful evening and thank you for such a wide range of music and styles

26 June

It was our most pleasant duty to perform with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra at St George's Portsea, as part of the Portsmouth Festivities.

See more photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

17 June

We were invited back to St George's to play a concert in the Waterlooville Music Festival. Phil Jones and Douce Ambiance started off the concert which was billed as a special "Double Guitar Bill"

Audience feedback included

Absolutely magnificent
Enjoyed every minute
Fantastic - never heard anything like it

22 May

It was a great thrill to play at The Olivier Theatre, Bedales School Petersfield, in aid of "Friends of Sheet School"

Audience feedback included

Everyone I spoke to had a great time, and quite a few people said they wanted to see HAGO again...

Great concert last night. Left Bank 2/Vision On was sounding particularly sweet – love to learn that!

I enjoyed the Concert on Sat. at Bedales. People around me were really having a good time as was I.

17 April

We played at Emsworth Baptist Church in aid of their Building Fund.

One of the audience wrote

We thoroughly enjoyed your concert on Saturday. You got a good reception from the audience as well. Thank you. See you at Waterlooville

20 March

It was a great thrill to play a concert with Flautissimo at the Turner Sims Concert Hall.

Sue Butler (Secretary) wrote

...it was a great concert and we look forward to working with you again...

17 December

We played a short concert of Christmas Music for the residents at Nicholson Gardens Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. Always a fantastic evening with lusty singing and lots of good-natured heckling!

19 November

It's tradition that we perform one concert each year in aid of The Rowans Hospice - a simply wonderful and caring place on the edge of the countryside. This time we played at a new venue - St Barnabas Swanmore...

From the organiser...

An absolutely brilliant Concert as always - thank you to everyone for making the evening possible and for supporting The Rowans Hospice.
Peter Kelly (vicar of Swanmore) has written to me: "Everyone here thoroughly enjoyed HAGO yesterday".

And in a later email...

I can now confirm that Hago were kind enough to raise £807-41 at the recent Concert held in Swanmore supporting The Rowans Hospice - we are absolutely delighted with the result and would like to thank everyone for making this possible.

May I take this opportunity of wishing all at Hago a very Merry Christmas and many best wishes for the New Year.

17 October

Following on from our April concert, Sir Michael Moore asked us over to Portchester as part of the concert series at St Mary's Church, in the grounds of Portchester Castle.

The concert was a sell-out, and we performed sideways on in the main body of the Church to give the audience the best possible sound.

The concert raised £1250 for Church funds. The organiser wrote

That was quite EXCELLENT (his capitals)
We've had many nice comments
Best wishes

4 October

It was a great thrill to be invited back to Portsmouth Guildhall as guests of the Milton Glee Club again at their autumn celebration concert.

The MGC's Deputy Chair wrote...

I enjoyed your programme and sense of humour. I found Eternal Flame played by your guitars very moving indeed.
...
I hope we can perform together again in the future.

3 October

We were invited to return to the Church of the Good Shepherd at Four Marks near Alton, to perform a second concert in aid of "Friends of Boundaries Surgery"

After the concert, the organiser wrote on Facebook...

Wonderful concert at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Four Marks in aid of Friends of Boundaries Surgery on Saturday evening. Those people who weren't there missed a treat.....

19 September

We played at St Peter's, in the centre of Petersfield, raising £760 for the "Away From It All" holiday scheme for disadvantaged families,

The organiser wrote

Derek
Many, many thanks...it was a brilliant concert and yes they were a cool audience.
Anyway it was a fun night, we made money and lots of people looked at our leaflets etc.
again many thanks

4 July

We played at the western Edge of Fareham in aid of Church Mission Funds for St Columba's.

The event raised £235

20 June

It was a great pleasure to spend another weekend in Cambridge sharing a concert with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra.

From Peter Rueffer - CGO MD

Dear Derek
My thanks to you and everyone in HAGO for your marvellous contributions both musically and otherwise to the concert on Saturday.
Its sad that we have to wait another year before we meet again - If only we lived closer to each other.
With best wishes to you all
Peter

13 June

We drove over to Quarley, just west of Andover at the invitation of Four Parishes Arts Society.

Helen Norman, organiser, writes

Good day Derek
I meant to write last week to say how much everyone enjoyed your orchestra and the music that they played. It was a most successful evening and we were able to give a more generous cheque than we first anticipated to the Alzheimer's Society.
Various members of the audience were particularly complimentary.
I hope that all your orchestra members arrived home safely
We look forward to meeting again in the future
Go well and may success follow

16 May

It was a great thrill to be invited to the Royal Star and Garter home at Richmond for a short afternoon concert for the residents.

Heather Robinson, the organiser, writes

Many thanks to you all for a splendid concert on Saturday.
Everyone was buzzing with it afterwards and feedback has been very positive.
You are all such a lovely bunch of people too- a real pleasure to have you.
As you quite rightly said, some of the pieces will stay in our minds for a while to come. You may already know this but the Germans have a word for a tune that 'gets stuck' in your head- they call it an earworm. I have an earworm of Elizabethan Serenade! (Makes a change from some of my usual suspects).

25 April

It was a great thrill to play at West Sussex Guitar Club in aid of their Club Funds.
You can watch some of our performance on video.

Terry Woodgate (Chairman and Editor of the WSGC magazine) writes

Thank you for a very enjoyable concert last night. You could tell from the enthusiastic applause that the audience really enjoyed themselves (mayors included). There was a mix of superb music - much not heard for a very long time and brilliant arrangements. The mix of guitar sizes meant that with some pieces (Elizabethan Serenade) if you closed your eyes you would not have known it was just guitars playing.

Please convey our thanks to the orchestra for a very enjoyable and fun evening. I am sure the new faces in the audience will return. Above all many thanks for helping to sponsor our club! That was a very kind gesture.

2 April

We were invited to play at The Oasis Centre Portsmouth for Age Concern

The organiser wrote

A huge thank you to you personally and to all members of the orchestra for your support of Age Concern Portsmouth once again. It was a most enjoyable evening and your performance was as skilful and entertaining as always

14 March

St Leonard's Church, Sherfield English, puts on concerts through the year, and we played in aid of restoration funds.

The organiser wrote

Thankyou very much for a lovely evening on saturday; the feedback was exellent. They thought the sound of hearing eleven guitars together was lovely not what some expected. We will certainly call you back again. Profit made was 360 pounds thank you 

28 February

The United Reformed Church at Hythe have a regular concert series; we played in aid of their rebuilding fund.

From the URC website

We have also had a wonderful evening being entertained and enchanted by the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra which was supported by over 100 people and contributed £842 to the building fund.

Read a review of this event

18 December

We played a short concert of Christmas Music for the residents at Nicholson Gardens Sheltered Housing complex in Portsmouth. There was a fantastic reception and we were immediately booked again for 2009!

20 November

Our now traditional concert for The Rowans Hospice moved to a larger venue this year - St Nicholas at Wickham. And what a concert - we raised a fantastic £1450 for the Hospice.

The Chairman of the Rowans Support group wrote

Once again you produced an absolutely fantastic concert in support of The Rowans Hospice for which we thank you most sincerely. The Church in candlelight with you all on stage was just superb and many remarked how very special this was...

1 November

It was a bitterly cold evening that saw us drive to the top of an exposed hill at Catherington for their All Saints Concert on All Saints Day at All Saints Church!

The organiser wrote

Please pass on our sincere thanks as well to each and every player. The music was wonderful - you all make it look so easy (surely the mark of a player's skill?) and there were many comments this morning about how varied are the styles you play and how lovely the music was.

There were 77 people in the audience. More than I expected came on the door, which was amazing seeing the weather, and I have given £545 to the church treasurer today. Thank you again for helping us to raise more than I had hoped.

We hope to see the orchestra again on a warmer, summer evening before too long. It isn't always cold in there!
Good wishes and thanks again to you all

18 October

Hot on the heels of the Waterlooville Music Festival (now in its third year), came the Farlington Music Festival, and we were part of the first ever series, at the Church of the Resurrection, Drayton

The organiser wrote

I am writing both on behalf of the organisers and the parish for your concert on Saturday night. The music was very much appreciated by all who came, and we counted 98 in the audience, the best audience figure for the entire festival.

...

So again thank you and your entire team for the wonderful music and such an enjoyable evening. The feedback from the audience as they were leaving was really buzzing. I hope you got some of that directly on the evening.

4 October

The highspot of our performances this year was undoubtedly at the Station Theatre, Hayling Island at a concert organised by HIADS (Hayling Island AmDram Society).

The purpose-built auditorium was pretty much sold out to a wonderfully enthusiastic audience, and we garnered a fantastic review which you can read here.

13 September

September saw us perform a short concert as part of an evening of music held by the Salvation Army in Southsea.

4 July

All Saints Denmead run a regular concert series all year long, and we were delighted to play a concert for them, moreso because we were able to welcome Bruce Paine, who played in the back row of our orchestra, and also reprised "Schindlers List" with us - you can see our original performance from 2005 on video.

There's more about Bruce in our 2005 Bruce Paine gallery.

21 June

It was our most pleasant duty to perform with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra at St George's Portsea, as part of the Opening Night of the Portsmouth Festivities.

See more photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

12 June

We returned to St George's for the Waterlooville Music Festival at the invitation of the organisers to present a full-length concert as part of their week-long festival of music.

Here is a link to the 2008 WMF Festival (correct at the time this page was prepared)

12 April

We played in aid of the Church Regeneration project at St Cuthbert's Copnor, in which the Church has been rebuilt internally to provide a Doctors' Surgery, a Nursery, and several other rooms, including the dome-shaped room in which we played. And despite all these additions, the Church itself still retains a wonderfully open building for worship.

In addition to copious thanks on the evening, the vicar wrote

Thanks again for a great evening. The feedback has been excellent.

8 March

We raised £950 for the United Reformed Church, Hayling Island at our concert there.

An article for their Church Magazine begins...

An evening of guitar music presented by HAGO, the Hampshire Guitar Orchestra, was a sell-out event with the church filled to capacity and proved an immensely entertaining experience.

Read the full review of the event here...

8 December

We returned to St Nicholas, North End, this time to raise money for Chernobyl Children's Lifeline, a charity that provides UK holidays for children living in the fall-out zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power station.

29 November

Our concert at St James Without-the-Priory Church Southwick raised £934 for the Rowans Hospice.

1 November

Park Place is a Pastoral Centre run by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and the Angels. It's a French Order of Roman Catholic Nuns which is now largely made of up Indian Nuns, due to the large amount of Missionary work in India. Their worldwide work is now co-ordinated from Park Place and they work in many medical and educational centres in India, in amongst the families of lepers in Ethiopia and among the street children in Brazil.

The Friends of Park Place organise various events throughout the year to raise money to support their work. Our concert raised £1250

6 October

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Four Marks is a wonderfully spacious and light venue, which saw us playing for the Friends of Boundaries Surgery.

The organiser wrote

First of all Thank you to you and all the orchestra for the fantastic concert on Saturday night. I have had so much feedback of how super it all was - So thank you all very much for coming and providing such a great time for us all. 'Status Quo' was just great - my favourite group who I go to see live....

We made £430 clear for our funds - I waited until I knew the final amount before I sent this. So again thank you.

29 September

It was a thrill to play in a concert organised by Milton Glee Club, supported by the Central Band of the Royal British Legion, at the 2000-seater Portsmouth Guildhall.

2 September

We returned again to the Birdman of Bognor.

There are lots of photos in our Birdman of Bognor Gallery, where you can discover just how daft this event is!

7 July

St Faith's Church in Havant is an historic building with massive costs involved in its preservation. We played a concert there in aid of its restoration fund.

The organiser wrote

"On behalf of the Appeal Committee I am writing to thank your Orchestra for the concert you gave in the Church and I do apologise for not having written to you sooner.

It really was a splendid evening, very much enjoyed by all who were able to be there on the night and, when word got round afterwards as to how good an evening it had been, there were many people who regretted that they had missed it.

We thought your programme was excellent and very varied, and "Rhythm of Life" went down very well, particularly with Sandra, our Church Warden, as it is one of her favourites. We like to keep her happy...!

So, thank you very much for such a very good evening, sprinkled with your jokes which we liked and music we all enjoyed listening to"

23 June

We returned to Cambridge for another concert with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra, directed by Peter Rueffer - see more photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

9 June

Our concert at St Simon's Southsea was in aid of Street Pastors. A Street Pastor is a Church member with a concern for society - in particular young people who feel themselves to be excluded and marginalised - and who is willing to engage such people. The role is one of listening, caring and helping - providing real assistance to those who feel society is ignoring them.

The organiser wrote

It all turned out to be a great evening with everyone really enjoying your unique sound and humour of Hago!
Fundswise it was very successful and after costs we have raised £500 that will sponsor 2 Street pastors to be out on the streets for 2 years!
Hope all goes well in the next Cambridge Concert.

11 May

We journeyed to the United Church in Winchester for a concert in aid of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

The organiser wrote

The grand total is more than I thought it was going to be. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves I think everyone is a winner.

...

I was very pleased with how smoothly things went last night. I don't think it could have gone better - I had lots of helpers, and we were all packed up and gone by around 10:15pm.

And it really was nice to hear the guitar once more.

Thank you. Last night wouldn't have happened without you. I hope you realise how strong a force you are in making these events happen, and giving so much practical advice along the way.

Good luck for all your future concerts,

16 March

We returned to St James Emsworth, this time to raise money for the Salisbury-based charity "Hope & Homes for Children", which is concerned with helping find families for children left in overseas orphanages. Founded in 1994, the charity helps find homes for abandoned children in many poor countries.

The concert was given in the presence of the then Mayor of Havant, Cllr Richard Brown. The evening included refreshments and a presentation by an overseas H&H representative, telling it how it really is.

16 December

Hale Court is one of a number of superb, purpose-built, sheltered housing complexes situated on Portsea Island.

This was our second visit to Hale Court, to an audience that joined in with everything we played, whether we'd intended them to or not, and despite many of the pieces being in the wrong key to sing!

2 December

We were invited to help raise funds for St Nicholas's "Crisis at Christmas" appeal in a concert on December 2nd 2006, in the spacious church in Battenburg Avenue, North End.

An audience of about 70 people raised £340 for their charity, and it has to be said that their "spare clap" in Flingel Bunt was perhaps the loudest we've heard for ages! With a massive Christmas tree behind us making a rather pleasing backdrop, this was our first concert in 2006 featuring some of our Christmas music.

30 November

hago were delighted to play in aid of The Rowans Hospice, raising money towards its running costs.

The tiny church of St James Without-the-Priory Gate, Southwick was full to bursting - all seats sold!

The organiser writes:

I would just like to say a very sincere thank you to you, and to all your group, for giving up their time last evening to present the most wonderful concert in aid of the Rowans Hospice - it was absolutely brilliant and much appreciated.

The atmosphere and comments as people left the Church were very complimentary - I don't think anything quite like 'hago' has ever been performed in this Village before!

The Rowans Hospice Fundraising Director writes:

It really was a great night, thank you and all of hago once again

14 October

hago were pleased to return to the spacious interior and generous acoustics of the Church of the Resurrection in Drayton, this time at the invitation of Age Concern, to play a concert in aid of their local fund-raising.

There's no truth in the rumour that we were simply planning for our own imminent future!

It was great to meet all the team at Age Concern and the staff and volunteers of the Church - what a super bunch. And we were so pleased to welcome a large audience who enjoyed our unusual mix of styles, and the concert raised many hundreds of pounds for Age Concern Portsmouth (ACP)

The concert featured the premiere, if that isn't too grandiose a word, of our latest addition to our repertoire - a real rock classic - Rocking All Over The World.

The Concert raised almost £400 for ACP. Their fund-raising executive writes

On behalf of everyone at Age Concern Portsmouth may I thank HAGO for the time and effort you put into the recent performance given in aid of our charity... we enjoyed the concert and I think it's fairly clear from the audience reaction that they did too, so hopefully they will help to spread the word about how good HAGO really is...

10 September

hago were invited back to "Birdman" to provide music on the second day of the Birdman of Bognor competition 2006.

In 2005, hago played on the pier, but this time we ensconced ourselves in the bandstand on the promenade and enjoyed the splendid weather - with temperatures not far from 25 degrees.

Half a dozen microphones and some hefty loudspeakers ensured that we were audible and we enjoyed a constant audience who stopped by for several numbers on their way to the pier.

See photos in our Birdman Gallery.

8 July

July 8th saw a concert with our friends at Cambridge Guitar Orchestra in the visually stunning and spacious acoustics at St Agatha's Church.

St Agatha's has been described as one of the most magnificent hidden architectural gems in Hampshire.

This was the latest in our traditional "home and away" concert series with CGO. Our series began in 2002, and so this is our fifth celebration of music and friendship, which begins with a buffet tea and invariably ends at a local watering house.

Highlight of the concert for many people wasn't the massive contrast in styles and repertoire that the two orchestras bring to every joint concert, it was the surprise appearance of CGO's new mascot, Derek the Chicken, who, with manic eyes and an overly large beak was said to have more than a passing resemblance to hago's Musical Director, Derek Hasted.

Rest assured that hago will be exacting revenge, but revenge, of course, is a dish best served cold...

Indeed, the passage of time since this page was written does indeed show revenge, as you can see in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra gallery.

13 June

hago were delighted to be invited to perform at the very first of what is hoped to be a long-running and regular series of festivals organised by St George's Church and with the simple aim of raising the profile of live music in Waterlooville. Unusually for us it was a Tuesday evening concert.

We shared our concert with our good friends the Havant Clarinet and Saxophone Choir - HCSC 2, and the two halves of the concert were separated by an interval in which refreshments were available, courtesy of the many hard-working helpers that made the evening run so smoothly.

The festival had events at lunchtimes and evenings for the entire week - from June 11th to June 18th - and in addition to a wealth of good music there were superb floral displays and exhibitions to visit during the day.

Audience comments included

What a class act

I really enjoyed last night

Very entertaining

Press write-ups included

"HCSC had the audience tapping their feet, and HAGO provided a complete contrast ..."
We think it's a compliment!

10 June

Here in hago we've often said how miserable it can be, playing in cold damp Churches in the middle of winter. Well, we got it back in spades by playing on the hottest day of the year so far, up in the rafters of The Maltings Centre at Alton with the evening sun beating down on the roof! This concert raised £928.91 for Project Mali - a fantastic total. We think the secret was that it was held during World Cup 2006, ensuring an audience keen to watch something that wasn't connected with football...

Audience comments included

"A wonderful evening"

"Everyone enjoyed the music, from young to old"

"An excellent concert"

13 May

We were thrilled and delighted to team up with our good friends at West Sussex Guitar Club and with Amanda Cook for another Gala Guitar evening in the lovely and easily accessible St Paul's Church, Chichester.

WSGC's Artistic Director, Sasha Levtov, introduced a large and varied first half showing guitarists from the young and novice level right up to teacher status, and taking in solos, duets, trios, quartets and a massive ensemble with 25 players.

See pictures and hear soundclips in our WSGC Gallery.

Read a review of the event here...

11 March

We were pleased to take part in a joint Concert at St Philip's, helping to raise funds towards the provision of disabled facilities in this architecturally important building.

The first half of the Concert provided a showcase for the local and for the young talent within St Philip's and featured a variety of solo and accompanied solo performances on as big a variety of instruments. The programme tells the story.

Following wine in the interval and a raffle in aid of the Church appeal, hago took to the floor for a real variety of styles all played on our 4 sizes of guitar and featuring some items new for 2006.

The evening raised £202 towards their project.

Audience comments included....

The playing was so sensitive to the mood of each piece, it was a joy to listen to

It was lovely

Absolutely brilliant concert

Your unique and exciting sound was enjoyed by everyone

Great selection of pieces, something for everyone, and a fabulous sound

15 December

We played an evening of Carols and Music for Christmas at St Johns Court Sheltered Housing, in Portsmouth, in aid of the John Pounds Charity.

Less than 12 hours later, the Centre Manager had written

"Lovely to see you last night, the residents are full of compliments, they really enjoyed the music and have asked for you to do it again"

10 December

The flint church at the top of Portsdown Hill - a couple of hundred metres from a stunning view over Portsea Island - was home to our main Christmas concert 2005, and was in aid of two local charity projects...

• The Rowans Hospice day-to-day running costs
• Christ Church's Parish Centre Project

Held on a crisp Christmassy evening, with fantastic views from the top of Portsdown Hill looking south over Portsea Island, the evening raised £397.60 for charity.

12 November

This concert was organised by St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet, in aid of Cecily's Fund, a hard-working charity set up in the memory of Cecily Eastwood.

Cecily was just 19 when she took a gap year before going up to university. Not for Cecily a year in the UK earning money to pay for Uni life - instead left her home in Oxfordshire to spend a year teaching in Zambia. When she arrived in the Zambian town of Kitwe, she found an organisation called CINDI, which helps AIDS orphans.

The sadness in the story is that Cecily died months later, in a Zambian road accident. Her parents, Basil and Alison Eastwood set up Cecily’s Fund in her memory.

To paraphrase a certain football commentator, this was a concert of three halves.

Following a first half with 25 acts put on by members of the congregation, there was a supper and a presentation about the charity. hago played the second half of the Concert.

The concert raised over £1000 for Cecily's Fund. Read a review here...

21 August

We were thrilled to be invited to be part of the Birdman of Bognor event.

You'd better visit our Birdman of Bognor Gallery, where all will be revealed!

7 July

It was a great thrill to welcome New Zealand guitarist Bruce Paine to England and to a wonderful concert at the wonderful St Agatha's Church.

There are photos and a video in our Bruce Paine Gallery.

Classical Guitar Magazine wrote

... I was to witness a fine solo performance for the first half, followed by a riotously good piece of ensemble playing from the Hampshire Area Guitar Orchestra ... more...

1 July

We were invited at short notice to play a concert at the large and impressive Church of St James, Emsworth, in aid of the Refurbishment of their Parish Hall. Well over 100 people attended the concert which was supported by a fund-raising raffle. The event raised £580 for their fund.

Their organiser writes :

Please thank all the members of hago for a wonderful evening. It's good when fundraising can be enjoyable.
...
Thank you again for a wonderful evening...

25 June

A return visit to The Rowans Hospice saw us give our third Rehearsital to raise funds for the Hospice.

Their Director of Fund-Raising, Geoff Page, writes

Last night was great, a lovely atmosphere created by hago once again. I think what works so well for the audience is the relaxed feel for the evening, a varied programme and your informative and witty banter, it even gets them singing.

I really meant it when I said that hago just gets better and better, sitting in the audience all of the parts so carefully arranged came over very well to me.

11 June

We headed back to Cambridge for our biennial concert as guests of Cambridge Guitar Orchestra.

See photos from the event in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra Gallery.

20 May

We were invited to play as part of Havant Borough Council's "Nine Days in May - Making Waves" event. The concert was at St Faith's Church Havant, and the proceeds were in aid of their Restoration Appeal. St Faith's, along with many historic buildings, faces a constant challenge to maintain the fabric of the Church and to protect it from the ravages that weather and the passage of time inflict upon it. The Parish of St Faith's faces the additional, and what should be totally unnecessary, task of repairing the Church after mindless and gratuitous acts of vandalism, committed by those with no respect for the present, let alone the past.

30 April

We were delighted to be invited to share a Concert with Highbury Area Band, organised by Cosham Inner Wheel with the aims of raising money for The Rowans Hospice and to provide a horse for the Fort Widley Equestrian Centre at the Peter Ashley Activity Centre, on Portsdown Hill, just north of Portsmouth.

Highbury Area Band have a well-deserved reputation for musical prowess and their Musical Director, Steve Tanner, produced some searing crescendi and some poignantly beautiful reflective moments in an invigorating and thoroughly enjoyable programme.

Cosham Inner Wheel write as follows

Dear Derek

We just wanted to write and thank you very much for being part of the Inner Wheel Highbury Area Band Concert last Saturday. I think you must know from the enthusiastic applause that everyone enjoyed your spot in the programme immensely. You will be pleased to hear that some of us will definitely try and be at one of your Concerts soon.

On that evening we raised £1030 for our charities this year. We are very pleased as you can imagine.

Best wishes for your continued success.

16 December

We played at Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital in Cosham in aid of their Rocky Appeal.

Appeals Co-ordinator Mick Lyons wrote

"Please accept my thanks, on behalf of the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust Rocky Appeal, for entertaining patients and members of staff ... during the evening of December 16th this year. You were certainly a pleasure to listen to and this has been endorsed by others who attended. The Appeal is aiming to raise much needed money towards the setting up of a purpose built Unique Cancer Laboratory, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom ...You may be interested to know that to date we have raised £910,000 towards our target. The anticpated date for the opening of the new laboratory totally depends on how quickly the appeal can raise the outstanding £1,090,000

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year."

2 December

We played an evening of Carols and Music for Christmas at Hale Court Sheltered Housing, in Fratton near Portsmouth.

The managers at Hale Court donated £100 to a charity of their choosing in respect of our performance there. The money has been donated to Lloyd Scott who is raising money to help research into curing childhood leukaemia.

At the time of our Concert, Lloyd had just completed a gruelling 50-day ride across Australia, perched on a penny farthing, and dressed as Sherlock Holmes.

Lloyd is made of stern stuff, and in the past has "run" the London Marathon in a deep-sea diving suit, and has also completed the world's first underwater marathon - 26 miles in Loch Ness.

You can read more of his exploits on the BBC website

31 July

hago were invited to play at the Bath Guitar Festival by IGF as part of the 1st prize from the sixth Guitar Orchestra Competition of Great Britain.

Held at the Michael Tippett Centre, on the the Bath Spa University Campus, the concert took place on 31st July 2004, on a hot summer's day - just right for sitting in a traffic jam all around Salisbury...

10 July

Cambridge Guitar visited us for a second concert - the first was in 2002 - and we played at the spacious All Saint's Church in Portsmouth.

See photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra Gallery.

6 March

We played an evening Concert at the Parish Church of St Thomas, Bedhampton, on 6th March 2004.

The 12th Century Church, bathed in warm light by uplighters and candles, was a wonderfully intimate venue for a full-length Guitar Concert by hago.

Proceeds from the Concert were given to the Parish Appeal, which is raising money to appoint a Children, Youth and Families worker. Once appointed, they will work with schools and voluntary organisations in the Parish to help those who, irrespective of their own religious beliefs, need support.

The Concert raised £275 for the appeal, which, at the time of writing this page, has accrued enough money for the first year of appointment and is on its way to a second year.

Concert-goers' comments include :

• "Another very enjoyable evening.  The church was a lovely setting."
• "Everyone in hago looks as if they love what they do."

Read a review here...

8 February

hago were delighted to be invited by Highbury Area Band to play a set in the Portsmouth Music Festival Opening Concert, in the presence of The Lord Mayor Of Portsmouth at the Church of the Resurrection, Drayton.

Highbury Area Band are principal sponsors of the Portsmouth Music Festival, and make a large donation towards the expenses of the Festival via the ticket sales at the Opening Concert. The Band, which brings together some of the finest wind band players from the area, can transform itself into the Highbury Area Big Band, and their repertoire blends some of the finest classical music with some of the most foot-tapping up-tempo standards.

The organiser wrote afterwards

Dear Derek and all members of hago,

The PMF Committee thanks you all so much for the excellent performance you gave yesterday in the Festival's Opening Concert. It was an excellent event - so much variety in style, timbre and dynamics, and so much of interest to watch.

It was lovely to have you all with us, and you all looked so happy while you played - obviously enjoying yourselves immensely!
I do hope to hear another performance soon, and look forward to seeing some of you at the Guitar Day.
With my personal thanks as well as that from all the PMF and the audience in general.

With good wishes
Margaret

31 January

We met with our good friends from West Sussex Guitar Club, plus their guest Amanda Cook, to put on this joint concert, which attracted an audience of 148. See photos in our West Sussex Guitar Club Gallery.

Audience feedback included

Thank you - all very moving and encouraging

Just a quickie to say great concert!!   Well done hago

hago's obvious pleasure in performing created a wonderful atmosphere ... matched by really beautiful playing

We all enjoyed it very much

4 December

Our Christmas concert was the first one that was separate from our MD's Guitar Workshop, and took place at the Rowans Hospice, in the form of another Rehearsital, this time with 19 items.

The concert raised over £260 for Hospice funds.

22 November

We journeyed to the Conway Hall, in Holborn London for the 6th Guitar Orchestra Competition of Great Britain.

Read the story on our Guitar Orchestra Competition page...

10 July

Our Summer concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £894 for The Rowans Hospice. At the end, MD Derek was presented with ten chickens.

The Hospice wrote

"Thank you for your letter enclosing donations of £894.64. This is a fantastic sum to have raised and we are extremely grateful ... please pass on my sincere thanks ... for such an excellent result. "

Soundclips from the concert...

• Teddy Bears' Picnic - a snippet played by hago's Amber Saunders & Derek Hasted. Duet score for sale in The Shop!

3 Jul

We played our first "rehearsital" in the Seminar Room at the Rowans Hospice, in aid of their general fund-raising. The audience was a mix of staff, volunteer helpers and a couple of patients, and raised £207.

The event was a chance to preview the pieces we'd be playing a week later in our formal concert in aid of The Hospice.

14 June

Following on from the success of our 2002 concert with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra, we travelled up to Cambridge to perform a concert at the Church of St Edward, King and Martyr, Cambridge, as guests of CGO.

See photos in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra Gallery.

22 March

We were invited across to West Sussex Guitar Club to play a short Recital, followed by a Mini-Workshop that gave WSGC members a chance to sample one of our easier pieces - La Bamba - which is on sale in our Shop.

See photos from the event in our West Sussex Guitar Club Gallery.

Read the review of this event

12 December

Our Christmas concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £1037, split between two charities

• The Rocky Appeal, QA Hospital's fund-raising drive for a state-of-the-art Cancer Lab
• St Richard's Hospital MRI Scanner Appeal

The MRI Scanner Appeal's office wrote

"Thank you so much - your support and generosity are greatly appreciated. Please pass on our sincere thanks to all your pupils and to the members of hago. Wishing you and yours a very Happy Christmas"

11 July

Our Summer concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £731 for The PSP Association.

PSP - Progressive Supranuclear Palsy - is hardly a well known disease, and yet, with sad timing, it had caused the death of pianist and actor Dudley Moore, not long before our Concert.

The Association wrote

"We are absolutely delighted with your very successful fundraising and cheque for £731.70 to go towards the work of our Association ... It was good that a member of our Solent Support Group was there as a guest ... we are - and are likely to remain, a very small charity, for whom collections like yours are particularly important. Please thank all those involved very much."

27 April

We organised the first of a long-running and enjoyable set of concerts with Cambridge Guitar Orchestra at the wonderfully spacious St Agatha's Church, Portsmouth. There are photos of the spectacular interior in our Cambridge Guitar Orchestra Gallery.

13 December

Our Christmas concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton. It was our MD's Silver Celebration - 25 years of teaching here in the Havant area.

The concert raised £830 for the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth's Appeal for Kidney Care

The Lord Mayor, Councillor Elaine Baker, wrote

The Lady Mayoress and I would like to thank you and your players for your generous donation for my 'Kidney Care' Appeal.
As you know, the Appeal aims to raise sufficient funds to purchase much needed equipment for the Renal Unit at St Mary's Hospital and this contribution will certainly help us to do so.

13 July

Friday 13th (what an auspicious date) saw our first independent concert "hago and friends", held at St Thomas' Church Bedhampton.

The concert raised £431 for the Parish Youth Worker appeal, and was held in the presence of the Mayor of Havant, Ron Bellinger

5 July

Our first concert of 2001 was shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £463 for the Mayor of Havant's Appeal

7 December

Our Christmas concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £692 split between

• Canine Partners for Independence
• Wessex Cancer Trust

Canine Partners for Independence wrote

"What a lovely surprise just before Christmas to receive your cheque as a contribution to the work of Canine Partners for Independence.

On behalf of CPI may I say a huge 'thank you' to you and your players for making this donation possible, it really is most kind of you and much appreciated."

13 July

Our first concert of 2000 was shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £1011, split between

• The Portsmouth Samaritans
• The Rheumatology Trust Fund, QA Hospital

9 December

Our first Christmas concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £740 for Headway Portsmouth

10 July

Our first ever concert, shared with our MD's Guitar Workshop, was at St Nicholas Church Centre Bedhampton.

The concert raised £687, split between

• The Bedhampton Parish Youth Worker Project
• The St John's Purbrook Millennium Bell Appeal

The concert was held on a Saturday (rather than the traditional Thursday) and included a large celebratory buffet.