I was 11 years old in 1951 and was taken for the first time to see the ballet at the newly opened Festival Hall, but the high point was a meal in the restaurant.  It was my first grand meal out, I think, and the restaurant seemed so grand and so full of light from the enormous windows looking onto the river. Then between 1955 and 1959 I came up with my school choir to take part in the Ernest Read concerts.  We sat on stage as performers and the whole experience was thrilling, especially exploring back stage, whizzing through the pass doors and feeling an important part of such a wonderful experience.  As a teacher later on I brought parties of schoolchildren to listen to the Ernest Read concerts and they were fabulous.  is there anything similar now?