Bedford Girls’ School once again gave breathtaking performances at the Bedford Festival of Music, Speech and Drama (5th – 12th March 2022).

After performing virtually last year, our talented students were thrilled to be back in front of audiences for the special centenary festival.

Held at Bedford Corn Exchange, BGS entered a wealth of students into numerous Music and Speech and Drama categories, ranging from full choirs to solo singing and orchestras to oboes. Programmes included verse-speaking, mime, Shakespeare and more.

The Bedfordshire Festival is well regarded in the local area, having been founded in 1921, and providing a showcase for talent in the amateur performing arts in the county. After last year’s celebrations were postponed due to COVID, the organisers marked the centenary event this year.

There was plenty of talent on show from across the whole school, with a huge entry from Speech and Drama, resulting in students being awarded a total of 34 1sts, 32 2nds and 27 3rds.

Our Musicians entered 56 Classes, with students being awarded 15 1sts, 12 2nds and 4 3rds. 9 Merits, 28 Commended, 6 Distinctions and 6 Outstanding. The Talented Bel Canto claimed the Bedford Choral Society Cup (Awarded to the best overall Choir in the Junior Categories), They also claimed The Stella Mathers Cup for winning the Junior Choirs - Upper Sixth and below, The Horace Geeson Bowl for winning the Choral Groups - Any ensemble category. We also had great success with one of our newer choirs Genesis, a choir for popular and Musical styles. They competed in the Light Opera or Modern Musical Ensemble class and won on their first time at the festival.

In addition to the achievements throughout the week, a selection of leading performers were invited to the showpiece Gala Concert on Saturday evening, including Bel Canto Choir. Flora Eggleton (Year 6) won the Jane Whitbread Cup for the most outstanding Junior Performer. Masha Ermakova (Upper Sixth) claimed two prizes - The Borough of Bedford Challenge Bowl for the most outstanding Senior Performer and The Woodfine Lousada Prize for the most outstanding Speech and Drama performance.

Mrs Redford (Head of Speech and Drama) said: “At long last the Speech and Drama students were able to perform for a live audience at the Bedfordshire Festival and the delight was evident from both performers and audience. The whole week was a celebration of individual achievements and pride in our subject.

“Our results were phenomenal and were testament to the amount of work the students and staff had invested into making the Festival the success it undoubtedly was. We are immensely proud of what the students achieved and although winning is not always the final goal, each one of them reached their personal best, and came away from the experience having learnt from the expertise of their adjudicators and sharing each other’s performances. Well done to all who took part.” 

Mr Keating-Roberts (Director of Music) said: “It is such a thrill to see so many live performers, bold enough to step out onto the stages and perform in front of judges and audiences, which for many would have been for the first time. I was so impressed with the range of styles and genres on display and the talent was simply fantastic from all the performances we encountered at the Festival. The celebratory atmosphere the Festival has created gives a real sense of camaraderie among all the performers. It is an invaluable experience for our students to develop their performance with careful and supportive feedback from the Judges.

"It was also a great opportunity for our students to see a wide variety of choirs, ensembles, soloists, styles and genres from across Bedfordshire and surrounding Counties. It is evident that Music and the Arts are thriving despite all of the barriers of recent times and this is testament to the fantastic organisations such as the Bedfordshire Festival championing the Arts, the incredible hard work of all those involved, the encouragement of parents and the tenacity of students and performers to follow their interests with passion and zeal. I hope that all of our students that have been involved are rightly proud of all they have achieved."

View photos here. 

View the full BGS Speech and Drama results here. 

View the full BGS Music results here.