2008 Pepper News

Ashlyns School recreates Sgt Pepper album to start celebrations for 20 years of Pepper Concerts

Celebrations to mark the 20th Pepper Show season got off to a nostalgic start when students from Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted raised the roof with their evocative re-creation of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in early May.

Ashlyns students along with singers and musicians from Greenway and Bridgewater Schools and guests from Berkhamsted Pepper shows performed the iconic 1967 album with great flair. They successfully captured the diverse range of musical styles required by John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s masterpiece and pulled it together into a psychedelic and atmospheric 50 minute performance which delighted audiences over three nights.

Pepper Founder, Robert Breakwell, said, ‘I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the start of Pepper’s 20th year. It was a privilege and incredibly nostalgic to be part of the sensational performances at Ashlyns and we’re so grateful to the school and its talented students for agreeing to stage the album in the Pepper show’s anniversary year. Pepper’s links with Ashlyns go back to its earliest days with many of us who were involved in the original event being ex-Ashlyns students. I am proud that those links are stronger than ever 20 years on.’

Funds raised by the Ashlyns Pepper show will be shared between the Ashlyns School Association, The Pepper Foundation and the Simon Blackett Bursary Fund set up in memory of past Ashlyns pupil, Simon Blackett who provided sound and lighting for many of the Pepper shows including the first, but who sadly died in 2005. The Bursary Fund will provide financial support for Ashlyns pupils wishing to pursue a career in stage lighting and sound.

© Photography by Paul Lunnon

27th August 2009

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