Around 250 visitors, almost all having little or no previous connection with Ormskirk Parish Church, gathered on 14 June to be treated to country music, both modern and traditional, hosted by Ethan Allen. Due to the event having had to be postponed for a fortnight, some members of the original line-up weren’t available and so the whole programme had been replanned. The result was a superb evening with very positive feedback from the audience members. As one of the warm-up acts, the main performer had decided to give his own daughter an opportunity to showcase her own musical talents, which she did in a couple of items, to great acclaim; still at school herself, she obviously has a very promising career ahead of her! Ethan himself was at pains to point out to the audience that we didn’t get funding from other than our congregation and that they were privileged to be at a concert in so iconic a building, which needed support; a great first concert under the banner of our Heritage Project aims and an equally helpful message being delivered! Grateful thanks are due to Mike Durgan of Proud House Productions and his team, who produced the evening so spectacularly.

‘Country by Candlelight’ – the warmup artists: