It was, to the appreciative audience who attended the ‘Evening of Champions’ concert organised by the Dobcross Village Community, an event that truly lived up to its name … and more. Tickets sold out weeks before the night, but those who were lucky enough were treated to a rare, memorable, uplifting, and often surprising, feast of musical delights - right here on our doorstep at Holy Trinity Church - which looked spectacular...

People arrived early - eager to bag themselves a good seat and were rewarded with a delightful recital of light music by Dobcross organist Sheila Cooper, who later performed a dramatic, haunting version of the overture to ‘Phantom of the Opera’.

Tim Newbold of the DVC thanked everyone for coming and handed over to our compere for the evening - David Morris - the first of our champions. David, in his own inimitable style, brought laughter coupled with two thoughtfully balanced sets showcasing his peerless whistling dexterity. David’s performance again furthered his campaign to have the human whistle recognised as a musical instrument deserving of its place in the concert arena. The audience heartily agreed.

There was a fantastic, rousing debut performance by the Northern Brass Collective. All players with this exceptionally talented brass quintet have held principal seats in the nation’s leading brass bands. On the night they stunned the audience with their eclectic programme and it gave Laura Hirst of Albion Farm (cornet) a wonderful, personal opportunity to share her extensive musical depth with an audience on her home ground, allowing them to appreciate why she was chosen by Brighouse and Rastrick Band to be the first female member in 130 years.

We were still savouring the Collective’s fine performance only to be lifted again by the vibrant young Absolution Saxophone Quartet. Their tight, carefully-crafted choice of music included Histoire de Tango, Claire de Lune and the foot-tapping Gershwin classic, I Got Rhythm. Their mind-blowing “Lone Arranger Goes Sax Mad!” was preceded by a challenge to the audience: How many tunes could they identify in this ultimate ‘mash-up’? This caused much debate in the pub afterwards!

And then, a huge tidal wave of music, dance and perfect stage craft filled our hearts and minds … enter the unique Cottontown Chorus. They trouped in, one-by-one, until almost 40 men filled the stage to entertain us in an amazing, mind-blowing tour de force.

It would take a small low-loader to carry the number of medals, accolades and Barbershop championships they have already collected for sterling performances across the globe.

So in readiness for competing against the world's finest in America next year, this world-class chorus gave our little village a fabulous treat that will be remembered for years to come. In return, we marvelled, cheered, wept and clapped their amazing performance until our hands ached. A costume change for the second act transported us to the rooftops of Mary Poppins’ London and an unforgettable, specially arranged medley of popular songs from this much-loved musical - ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee’, ‘Step In Time’, Feed the Birds’, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, and the spectacular finale ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ which filled the church with brightly coloured kites flying high up through the atmosphere along with rapturous applause, cheers and shouts for more from an audience on its feet.

Not wanting the evening to end, the audience and performers trooped off to The Top House after the show, where the landlord had prepared a pie supper for the chorus – many of whom were visiting Dobcross for the first time. Mike Wayne has written to the Diary to say: “All the guys from Cottontown had an absolute ball on Saturday – we were bowled over by the lovely warm welcome and the amazing reaction to our performance.”

Tim Newbold and Michael Powis of the DVC said when organising the event that they wished to bring to Dobcross an evening’s entertainment worthy of a West End stage. From the reaction of the audience, this was clearly achieved. Roll on the next show!