On Tuesday 8th November, children and staff from St Paul’s CE Primary School went to London for a ‘School’s Proms’ concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The school choir had won a competition and their prize was tickets to the concert. The Royal Albert Hall is an incredible place! Our group sat in the balcony and we had a fantastic view over the auditorium and stage. It can hold several thousand people and has some really amazing features. When we walked in, we could not believe our eyes! It was massive! The sound of the singing and the music was wonderful. Inside, it had huge wide staircases with wooden banisters and thick, soft carpets on the floor. The doors were very thick and heavy.
The Royal Albert Hall is almost 150 years old. Prince Albert made plans to build the hall in 1851 and the work on building it started in April 1867, the foundation stone was laid in May 1867 by Queen Victoria. The outside of the Hall is very beautiful and impressive and was built in the style of historic buildings that can be seen in Northern Italy. It took 6 million red bricks and eighty thousand blocks of decorative terracotta to construct the Royal Albert Hall!
All around the top of the outside wall is a 300 metre long terracotta frieze showing groups of people taking part in a range of artistic activities, crafts and scientific work. Above the frieze, words have been inscribed that explain when the Royal Albert Hall was built and what it was going to be used for.
The building is regularly used for concerts and festivals; there have been some changes to it but the original style of the building is very carefully protected.
None of us will ever forget our very special visit to the Royal Albert Hall.