School ‘bangers’ performed back where they began

You may remember belting out assembly songs like He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands while sitting crossed-legged on the hall floor of your primary school.

Now they are being sung at festivals like Camp Bestival by the Dorset-born music teacher James B Partridge.

The 34-year-old’s Primary School Assembly Bangers set was so popular at Glastonbury this year organisers had to shut the field.

Mr Partridge said going to school in Dorset and performing at Poole Lighthouse was what inspired him to start the sing-alongs.

“I started singing with the Bournemouth Symphony Youth Chorus and then with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus for a long time at the Poole Lighthouse as well,” he said.

“That was a very special place to experience live music and kind of set me on a path of being a professional musician.”

He attended Stanley Green First School, Oakdale Middle and Poole Grammar.

Last year he went back to his primary school for its 70th anniversary.

“I actually judged the school talent show and it was the first time I had been in that assembly hall since I left in the mid 90s,” he added.

He started his school bangers set while teaching online during Covid lockdown and posted a video for his pupils to sing along to.

“I put up a video which was my top 10 primary school bangers as a joke for my friends and family and it really kicked off,” he said.

When lockdown lifted, he held his first sing-along event which he said “snowballed organically and now I am back in Dorset where it all started”.