News Summary

This is a summary of older news items for this web site, with links to more details further down the page or elsewhere on the site.  Note that some old links on this page may no longer work, or may no longer be active. 

28th November 2008	Players please note that there is no HSO rehearsal in December.  The next rehearsal after the November concert is on 9th January 2009.  See the rehearsal schedule for details.
23rd November 2008	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for November 2008 is now available.
10th October 2008	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for October 2008 is now available.
3rd October 2008	Havant Symphony Orchestra’s CD recording of the Maurice Blower Symphony in C will be played on Radio 3 as part of the Performance on 3 programme from 7:00pm to 9:15pm on the evening of Tuesday 14th October.  This was arranged through the Play to the Nation project, where amateur orchestras were invited through the Making Music organization to submit a recent CD.
3rd October 2008	In the Guide Awards for 2008, Havant Symphony Orchestra are heading the short list for the Best Classical/Jazz category.  Your vote could help them to win this award - see below for details.
28th September 2008	Many thanks to Jason Lai and to Jeanine Thorpe for their special contributions to such an enjoyable HSO concert at Hayling Island!
14th September 2008	Congratulations to Sue Perkins and her mentor Jason Lai (who will be conducting the HSO concert at Hayling Island) for their well-deserved victory in the Maestro series!
5th September 2008	The 2008-2009 Bob Harding Bursary has been awarded to Jessica Cottis.
2nd September 2008	See below for some exciting news from Sandra about Jason Lai, BBC2’s Maestro programme and our Hayling concert.
8th August 2008	The concert dates for the 2009-2010 season are now available, to help forward planning.
12th July 2008	The web site has now been updated ready for the 2008-2009 season.
6th July 2008	The soloist for the September 2008 Hayling Island concert is Jeanine Thorpe, one of the students recently featured in BBC2’s Classical Star.
26th June 2008	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for July 2008 is now available.
26th June 2008	Information about the Havant Symphony Orchestra CD is now available.
6th June 2008	Added list of Bob Harding Bursary holders.
5th June 2008	Added reviews page, initially based on the sample comments in the 2008-9 brochure.
1st June 2008	Various web site improvements completed.
31st May 2008	Programme of concerts for 2008-9 now available.
13th May 2008	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for May 2008 is now available.

The News Guide Awards 2008

3rd October 2008

In the Guide Awards for 2008, presented by The News in association with the Kings Theatre, the Havant Symphony Orchestra are at the top of the short list of nominees for the Best Classical/Jazz category “thanks to their fine world premiere of a newly-discovered symphony by Maurice Blower and to an enthralling performance of Malcolm Arnold’s rarely-played fifth symphony.”

You can vote for HSO (or any other favourites in each category of the Guide Awards) in any of three ways:

1. Vote by post using the form in the Friday edition of the News.
2. Vote by SMS text, using the instructions in the News.
3. Vote on-line by going to the News web site http://www.portsmouth.co.uk and following the Guide Awards link on the main page.

All votes must be received by midday on Friday October 10, 2008. Full details can be found in The Guide with the Friday edition of the News.

News from Sandra

2nd September 2008

Dear All

Calling all players in - and listeners to - the Havant Orchestras.

Hope you have been watching Maestro!!! on BBC2 for the last few weeks.

Our Guest Conductor at Hayling on 27 September, JASON LAI, is SUE PERKINS’ mentor and as of this evening (2 September) she is “top of the list”!!!

Please watch NEXT Tuesday (9.00pm) for the FINAL and VOTE FOR HER!!!!

BUT ALSO make sure of your tickets to see JASON show “how it’s done” at Hayling by phoning Margaret Packe on 01243 377430 or calling at Hayling Island Community Centre as soon as possible. (We are sending out details to all local newspapers and CAPACITY IS LIMITED so we want all our regular supporters to have a chance to book tickets first.)

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Incidentally, Jason was our Bob Harding Bursary Holder about 10 years ago.

PS the AGM is on FRIDAY 5 September at St Faith's Church Hall and tickets will be on sale - also our CD of the Blower Symphony.

Look forward to seeing you there as well.
Sandra.

Web site improvements

1st June 2008

Some significant enhancements have now been completed to this web site:

• Most pages have been revised to make them easier to navigate and read, with the main links bar behaving more consistently between different pages.
• Concert programmes are now shown in a similar format to the brochure (and using the same colour scheme) and can be browsed through in sequence.
• There are many additional links in the site, such as to soloist’s web sites.

For those interested in the further details, some of the changes were as follows:

• Buttons and links are now defined as text in most cases, rather than being images, so they will automatically adjust in size and layout to match the text size.
• All images containing meaningful information such as headings now have alternate text available for accessibility purposes.
• The site now mostly uses Style Sheets to control appearance rather than JavaScript.
• All pages have been validated for conformance to W3C HTML 4.01 transitional standards, including for example alternate text where appropriate for images.