The stage came alive this week with over 30 schools from the Western Bay of Plenty participating in the annual Tauranga Primary Schools' Music Festival. This year's festival was dedicated to drummer Rex Tomich who passed away in late July.

'Rex was a very well-known musician in Tauranga and we were lucky enough to have him as part of the music team for over 15 years,” says Selwyn Ridge School's music teacher and co-producer for the festival Andrea Meredith.

The festival has been a highlight for Rex, who frequently gave up his annual leave to give time for rehearsing during the day with the school children, during the week of the event.

The theme of the festival for 2018 was ‘It's about Time', which provided an interesting topic for teachers who sourced songs to fit. ‘If I could turn back time', ‘Time Warp', and 'Step in Time' were a few of the songs sung by choirs from each of the schools.

The massed choirs sang ‘Seasons of Love', ‘Yesterday Once More', ‘My Grandfather's Clock', ‘Rock Around the Clock', ‘One Moment in Time', ‘Time in a Bottle', ‘At the Same Time', ‘Thousand Years', ‘Stand Up' and the NZ National Anthem.

Soloists and dancers from the schools also added to the night, as did stage manager Adele Marsden who provided some on-stage antics and the much-loved humour she is known for.

The Tauranga Primary Schools' Music Festival Society was formed in 1956 by a group of dedicated teachers, anxious to see the children of Tauranga had opportunities to enjoy the experience of making music together. The driving force behind the formation of the society was local Principal, the late Fred Pinfold.

The first festivals were staged in the Tauranga Boys Gymnasium, Tauranga Intermediate Hall and the old Town Hall, and formed the basis of the present festivals, with programmes of massed, semi-massed and individual school items. In 1984, the society moved into the newly completed Baycourt, where, with one exception, it has performed ever since. Patron of the society is Malcolm Blow, who was head of music at Otumoetai Intermediate School from 1970 to 1994, and has had about 40 years involvement with the music festival.

The festival has run each night this week, Monday through Friday, with six to seven schools performing each night.

Musical co-director and conductor Carol Storey

The massed choirs on stage at Baycourt

Murray Mason on guitar

Steve Ancell from Selwyn Ridge School on guitar