Over 160 guests attend Tonbridge School’s annual Community Concert
We were delighted to welcome The Worshipful the Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling Councillor Chris Brown and The Deputy Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling Councillor Kim Tanner, alongside more than 160 senior guests, to this year’s TCA Community Concert, which has taken place at the School for over 40 years.
The 2026 concert retained its characteristic blend of talented performances and entertaining interludes. The comperes, Harry (PH5) and Tristan (WW5) took charge from the off, adding background context and charm as they took turns to introduce each piece. They subsequently shone in their vocal duet of Everybody Needs Somebody from the movie The Blues Brothers, accompanied by The Blues Band, which brought the concert to a close.
The musical programme was a game of two halves, with the first half showcasing a range of classical pieces from Bach, through Mozart, Rachmaninov, Vaughan Williams, Jacob Gade, and closing with an energetic performance of Berlin’s Putting on the Ritz by the Sax Quartet, arranged by Tristan.
The boys served tea and cake to all guests during the interval, which also saw a lively raffle, with prizes for ‘closest birthday’ and ‘most senior member of the audience’. We were delighted to welcome new guests, as well as last year’s most senior member, sharing the prize this year with two more members of our audience who were celebrating their 101st and 100th year respectively. A rousing rendition of Happy Birthday ensued, accompanied by Sebastian (MH5) on the piano.
The tempo increased throughout the second half, starting with the smooth jazzy vocals of Toby (OH4) accompanied by the Jazz Ensemble, then acoustic arrangements of The Verve and Oasis, performed by Tiarnan and accompanied by Oscar (both OH4), before Gordon (SH3) returned to contrast his earlier operatic performance with a toe-tapping rendition of The Beatles’ Do You Want to Know a Secret? before the Blues Band delivered their no holds barred finale, complete with trademark hats and sunglasses.
We are grateful to the boys, staff and parents who contribute to the successful running of this much-loved concert, from creating a superb programme, to the logistics of driving our guests to and from the School.
James Fisher, Deputy Head Co-Curricular, said:
This year’s concert was a fitting tribute to Juliet Burnett in her final TCA concert before moving on to a new career in marine ecotourism at the end of the year after over 15 years leading the community action programme at Tonbridge – her son co-ordinated much of the music and the cohort of boys she has recruited and inspired through the Community Council acted as perfect hosts for our visiting guests. The joy shown by boys playing in the concert was infectious to the audience, whether it be 18th century baroque violin or 1990s Britpop.
