Princess Helena College

Princess Helena College welcomed 41 pupils from Queen Margaret's School in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday for a joint musical celebration. The concert started with pieces by groups and individuals from each school and culminated in the massed choirs singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

Mrs Cynthia Neaum and Mrs Sandra Hall, the Directors of Music at each school, had worked for nearly a year to set up the event and to arrange a joint programme that complemented both styles of music. Mrs Hall explained, “It was an interesting challenge to co-ordinate the two styles of singing and interpreting music but we succeeded in creating one unified voice, even from two different sets of accents!”

Anesu Nyatanga from QMS said, “It's been amazing. We've come half way round the world to discover new friends”. Brittany Mayo also had a great time: “QMS is a real community and it was so lovely to visit another school with a similar feel. We loved the history of the school, too.”

The Canadian pupils had also visited Edinburgh, York, Derby, Stratford, Oxford and London before performing their final concert at Princess Helena College.

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