I’m sitting in a lay-by near Market Drayton, at 8pm on a damp but clear night, wondering what to say about this year’s Picnic Proms in the Park.

I said I’d like to write about it, and now the Advertizer is chasing me for 300 words because there’s a print deadline looming. I sense the editor is getting irritated, so I pulled over and tried to focus.

So here’s my best shot.

This year we really tried to lift our game.

I think everyone who attended last year’s Proms was delighted with all aspects, so there wasn’t any real pressure to upgrade the event in any way. But we prefer the hard road – we tried to surprise everyone with all sorts of special extras that weren’t included in last year’s Proms.

We scrapped the regular marquee and threw expense to the wind – quite literally, it turned out – and hired a pretty impressive dome that looked remarkably like a huge UFO, especially as it became almost translucent as the darkness descended.

The orchestra were far more ambitious – not just with the musical programme, but wanting professional vocalists.

That, combined with working with a new lighting and sound company, all helped ensure there were huge uplifts in quality. The performers, the speakers, the fireworks, the staffing... it lifted the bar so much that next year I believe we will have an event of a standard that will warrant televising.

For dedication, though, I must admit my efforts looked rather sickly in comparison to some of those who really dig deep and work terrifically hard.

People like Derek Jones of the Wrexham Symphony Orchestra, and so many others – like the conductor, the members of the orchestra and the Ironworks team. And not to forget Terry Waite, who drove from Suffolk and back on the same day to attend. And the RAF and our High Sheriff of Shropshire. And Wrexham’s mayor and mayoress.

And Elan Catrin Parry, who is billed as the new Katherine Jenkins, just 15 years old and already nicknamed the Songbird with a delightful voice.

For anyone who missed this year, there’s always next time – it will certainly become a yearly fixture.

It’s enormously patriotic and leaves everyone feeling quite emotional and proud to be British. It also reminds us we have a lot to be proud and grateful for – our freedom, our loved ones and feeling blessed to be alive and together.

Watch this space. We hope to give London a run for its money over the coming years.

We want Shropshire and the surrounding counties to become enormously proud of what’s happening here on the borders.