Thurrock Marching Brass Raise The Roof For Other Charities
On Friday 7 October, the management team behind the recently crowned British Cadet Champions, Thurrock Marching Brass put their extensive skills to good use and produced the inaugural concert that brought together some of the best bands and acts in Essex at the Thurrock Civic Hall. The aim was to bring awareness to Aicardi Syndrome, a debilitating illness that often renders the sufferer severely handicapped and with no ability to communicate, and to raise funds for beneficiaries who provide support and who have a direct impact on young Millie Crocombe specifically.
Millie is the 10 year old sister of active Thurrock Marching Brass member, Ellie who is part of the dance and performing arts colourguard section of the young band. We were introduced to Mille and all fell in love with her, and with her brave family; and after chatting we discovered that although severely disabled due to Aicardi Syndrome, Millie responds positively to music. The idea of putting on a concert for Millie was floated to the family who thought this would be a great way to raise some awareness of an incredibly rare illness. Millie’s Concert was then born as a conceptual idea and the TMB management started to construct an evening’s entertainment and fundraiser event in Millie’s honour.
Support from the local Thurrock and Essex banding community has been immense, and one by one performance slots were filled. A wonderful array of different talent was brought together for an evening’s entertainment for all. Huge thanks to our very own Thurrock Marching Brass, Curtis Cronin, Essex Marching Corps, High Voltage Big Band and Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps for giving their time freely in support of this event and what a spectacular showcase they all provided.
The Crocombe family selected four beneficiaries for Millie’s Concert 2016, all of which were introduced by extremely impactful video messages throughout the evening. Little Havens Hospice, Children of St. Mary’s Intensive Care, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Beacon Hill Academy have all played a significant part in young Millie’s life and the work that each of these great organisations do is simply stunning for so many youngsters. They are certainly worthy recipients of anything raised on the evening through the concert.
We even had a wonderful message from Ant & Dec to wish everyone the very best for the evening.
The presentations of the four beneficiaries can be found at the following locations:-
Millie’s Concert – Millie, TMB, Ant & Dec: https://youtu.be/RgMsUnicc4E
Millie’s Concert – Little Haven’s Hospice, COSMIC: https://youtu.be/Uwl-xU2yxaQ
Millie’s Concert – Great Ormond Street Hospital: https://youtu.be/g9rS89AlPk0
Millie’s Concert – Beacon Hill Academy: https://youtu.be/GNT0xsRtOeQ
The performances from all the acts were incredibly well received by everyone, including TMB’s president, the Mayor of Thurrock, who we would like to thank for joining us for the evening. The finale was an incredible sight with all the acts performing to Hey Jude on stage together in a mass bands piece lead brilliantly by Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps Band Director, Paul Binder.
A truly wonderful evening and one that raised an amazing £1,940.26 for the four beneficiaries giving them a sum of £485.07 each.
Speaking of the evening, Thurrock Marching Brass’ Chairman, Paul Morgan comments “Anyone that has ever had the privilege of meeting young Millie instantly falls in love with her. She is an amazing little girl and although she cannot communicate in the same way as those of us lucky enough to have the benefit of speech and free movements of our limbs, it is clear that she is taking in everything around her, and when you see her smile, your heart melts. Looking after and caring for someone suffering from Aicardi Syndrome, an incredibly rare illness with only 300 cases globally recorded, Millie being one of those, takes great courage and determination. Millie’s family have that in abundance. They are an inspiration to all of us, and those important support services surrounding Millie and her family play such an integral part in their lives on a daily basis. To put on a concert in their honour feels like the very least we could do. It has touched us all and when the idea was floated around, there was only one person who we could call on to make everything happen. TMB Trustee Steve Hall, TMB’s Show Director for DCUK Essex and other large successful events, took the reigns of this project and created a magnificent evening that included some brilliant fundraising efforts. I cannot thank Steve and his incredible team enough for all their efforts and for the success of the evening. The first of what we hope to be an annual event. Our Corps Director, Jay Lindner, who initially came up with the idea of a concert for Millie, and his brilliantly talented team brought to the stage the final performance of the British Championship winning production “Under New Management” which was just fantastic to see and enjoy one last time before the 2017 production begins. Thurrock Marching Brass are incredibly proud to have been able to bring this event to the fore, and I would like to close by thanking Tony and Gemma Crocombe, Millie’s parents, for their support, bravery and for being an inspiration to us all. I look forward to the 2017 Millie’s Concert, but for now we have added content relating to the evening on our web site at www.thurrockmarchingbrass.org for everyone”.
Thurrock Marching Brass is proud to perform as much as they can within the community.
