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Earlier this evening, I attended the Legacy Concert hosted by Bedfordshire County Council, at the Bedford Corn Exchange.

The Concert was to celebrate an end of an era; as Bedfordshire County Council is set to be abolished. In a few weeks time we will see two new Council’s; Bedford Unitary Council (BUC) and Central Bedfordshire.

The Concert has sparked an enormous amount of debate locally, as many thought it was wrong to have such an event. Well, whilst I have been critical at times of Bedfordshire County Council, I do believe that they should celebrate their success. In fact,there are not many organisations that can say they have served our local community for 120 years.

Tonight, I believe was not about politics, it was about the 100 or so young people from our County who have achieved so much as members of the Youth Orchestra. It would have been very unfair on them to have had a performance without an audience. A number of parents even came up to Peter and I to thank us for supporting the event.

However, missing from tonight’s event was a civic representative from the Borough Council - no Mayor, no Deputy Mayor, or Speaker. It has been rumoured that the Mayor sent a strict instruction to all Borough Staff and Civic representatives, banning them from attending. In my view, this is the kind of petty politics that people are fed up with. If the Mayor was so dead against the event, why has he taken the County Councils Money; the event was held in a Borough Council owned building!

Turning back to the event…

The Concert was narrated by Mr Nigel Lutt, from the County Archives and Record’s Office. Nigel was an excellent narrator, with his usual dry sense of humour; however, he was upstaged at one point.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Madeline Russell, sang a repertoire from the Gilbert and Sullivan Musical the Mikado, yes you have guessed it, “I’ve got a little list” â€" and she unrolled a scroll displaying the words “We love Bedfordshire.” At this point County Council Officers where cringing, the character she was playing was, the Lord High Executioner. She rattled off a very long list of people she has been to war with over the past years including; a man called Field, a bloke who lies about the County Council on his blog, a newspaper editor called Lowe, a cartoon character drawing journalist and a number of calculating Councillors. Well, she is certainly going out with a bang…

The evening continued, but hearing Madeline singing was certainly one of the highlights.

Just before the grand finale, Madeline gave an address and thanked everyone who had been part of Bedfordshire County Council’s history. She even paid tribute to “one old lag” Andrea Hill the former CEO, however the sound system did crackle at this point. I think I may of miss-heard Madeline. Did she say lag, or was it something else…

The evening concluded by an amazing performance of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. The Orchestra and Choir was conducted by the extremely hardworking Richard Hart. It was truly amazing!!

Tonight’s concert was great fun; it was a wonderful musical experience. I pay tribute to all the young people who took part.