Check out the photos page for pictures of the concert!

The Children in Need – Y Pant’s Got Talent concert on Friday 14 th November was a huge success. Enjoying an early lunch and missing out on lesson 5, pupils made their way into the Sports Hall, pausing only to have a closer look at the 6 th form in fabulous fancy-dress. (Elvis is not dead and is living somewhere near Pontyclun with his friends Ironman and Batman – or is he?).

Mr Owen Thomas opened the show and got the crowd shrieking with excitement as he brought on the judges for Y Pant’s very own talent show. Mr Harbour, Mrs Jones and Mr Mortimer each brought differing styles and opinions to the show.

The first act really set the standard. Rhiannen Falshaw-Skelly ( year 10) has played violin in front of the school before but we had never seen a performance like this. Her electric violin, with its red and black design bore only a faint resemblance to its classical cousin and with a stunning dress to match, Rhiannen really looked the part. Her upbeat interpretation of Allegretto was a real crowd pleaser and will surely see a few converts to this traditionally classical instrument.

When Ash Evans and Siôn Greaves (both year 9) walked on in day-glo vests and hard hats we thought for a moment they’d come to clear the rubbish away from the front of the stage. As soon as they’d picked up their drum sticks however, we were proved wrong and treated to one of the most innovative percussion sets most of us will ever see. “Tins, Bins and Other Things” was the “does as it says on the tin” name of their act as they proceeded to use rubbish bins, woks, saucepans, a children’s slide and even each others’ heads to bash out their rhythms. The appreciation of the crowd was such that during the silent moments of their perfectly timed routine, you could have heard a pin drop in the sports hall (this surely is an achievement in itself).

After that excitement, Lucy Ross took to the stage accompanied by Mr Marvin Thomas on drums with a beautiful medley of songs including A Drop in the Ocean by Ron Pope, If I Were a Boy by Beyonce, She Will be Loved by Maroon 5, The Man Who Can't be Moved by The Script and No Air by Jordin Sparks. Lucy, also in year 9 (is there a conspiracy here?) has a fantastic voice and as an accomplished musician, put together the whole medley herself.

The final Y Pant’s Got Talent contestant was the band Minority with Ash Evans on drums (again? Does Y Pant have any other drummers?), Ed Jones on vocals and guitar, George Glew also on guitar and Jack Langmead on bass. All are in year 9 apart from George who is in year 11. This band have been playing in their current set-up for several months now and last performed at school at the Y Pant Summer Festival. The song they played Kill the Director by the Wombats proved a big hit with the crowd.

Whilst the judges were deliberating, Miss Clarke, Mrs Knight and Mr M Thomas accompanied PGCE student Miss Sharland in a superb performance of A Little Piece of My Heart.

By the point the tension among the contestants was mounting. Had they done enough to secure the audience’s votes to win Y Pant’s Got Talent? Mr Owen Thomas had the crowd cheering for their favourite act, although it seemed that lots of people cheered for everyone. The two favourites were eventually decided upon: Rhiannen and Tins, Bins and Other Things. Rhiannen had a lot of support in the audience with “We love Rhi” posters in evidence across all year groups.

At last it was down to the judges to cast the final vote. Predictably they had mixed opinions. Mr Harbour loved the rocking soundtrack of Rhiannen’s performance but was won over by the sheer volume and rhythm of Tins, Bins and Other Things. Mrs Jones, unsurprisingly, was not overly impressed with the noise of the bin men and voted for Rhiannen’s classy performance. With the panel hanging in the balance, it was left to Mr Mortimer to cast the final vote. Whilst appreciating the skill of Rhiannen’s act, he expressed his preference for something more physical, and so it was that Ash Evans and Siôn Greaves, with Tins, Bins and Other Things, were pronounced the winners of Children in Need, Y Pant’s Got Talent 2008!

Such was their excitement at winning that Siôn threw his drum sticks into the audience and was then slightly flummoxed when Mr Thomas requested an encore performance. Thankfully Minority came to the rescue with Ash’s spare sticks and we were treated to another fantastic routine.

All in all, Y Pant raised £ 2008.81 for Children in Need with really generous donations made to enter the concert by all pupils. All performers will be back on stage at the Muni on 13 th March 2009 for the Y Pant’s Got Talent extravaganza along with a host of other acts. With a show this good after only a few weeks rehearsal – the final show is going to be something to remember!