The celebration of Portsmouth FC’s successful 125th anniversary season continued with a civic reception at the end of April hosted by the Lord Mayor and orchestra Chair Di Lloyd and former conductor Hugh Carpenter were among the quests.
The club’s men’s and women’s teams won their respective leagues this season and will both play in the second tier of English football next season. Hugh is pictured above with the Lord Mayor Cllr Tom Coles and Pompey striker Kusini Yengi, together with the EFL League One trophy.
Di said: “We were both very proud to have been invited to this fantastic occasion. Many of the orchestra and our supporters are Pompey fans so it has been great to have been part of such a successful season.”
In December the orchestra staged the club’s 125th anniversary concert, raising £850 for Pompey in the Community. At the event, the ‘Pompey Overture’, composed by Hugh, was given its premiere.
You can read about the concert here and about when Di and Hugh attended Pompey’s game in February against Northampton to present the cheque to PITC here. It was Hugh’s first match at Fratton Park in more than 50 years!
At the civic reception, a recording of the overture was played to accompany a series of photographs taken by Colin Farmery at the club’s last home game of the season. You can watch the short film (below) which is also available on the orchestra’s YouTube channel.