IT WAS a great night for the town. It was a great night for music.
There were flags, fireworks - some of them musical - and a crowd determined to enjoy itself. And it wasn't difficult.
In the spectacular setting of St George's Square - a classical backdrop difficult to beat - Huddersfield Choral Society and the Orchestra of Opera North provided a night to remember.
Thousands of people packed into the square last night to hear an encore of the programme which earlier in the day had delighted the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as they sat in the early summer sunshine in the heart of Huddersfield.
The flag-waving party mood of the afternoon remained as people crowded into the concert area created outside the historic railway station to hear music chosen to reflect what everyone knew the evening would be - The People's Prom.
There had to be the big, well-known set-pieces, the musical mastery of Handel, Verdi, Puccini and the emotionally charged Shostakovich.
But there was room too for the movie magic of Klaus Badelt with his Pirates Of The Caribbean theme, the jauntiness of Sousa in his Liberty Bell March and the sheer power of Eric Coates in The Dambusters March.
Dr Ingrid Roscoe, the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, had delighted the crowd by confiding that she had never known a day quite like that she had just spent in Huddersfield with the Queen.
She said: "Huddersfield has worked so hard today to bring this amazing event about. Coming into the square made one's heart beat faster than it had ever done before.
"The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had a marvellous time. They didn't want to leave, but they had to go to Scotland where the Queen had to speak to the leaders of the Scottish Parliament."
And the crowd roared approval when she added: "The Queen said she'd rather stay in Huddersfield than do that!"
The arrival on stage of a very Scottish compere, the ever-popular Gordon Stewart, almost brought the house down before the concert had even begun.
Gordon, who for 15 years was Kirklees Borough Organist, introduced what he described as "the sound of Huddersfield".
And it was a sound to be proud of as the musicians, conducted by Opera North's music director Richard Farnes, were cheered as they played Glinka's overture Ruslan and Lyudmilla.
Then came the moment that many in the crowd had been waiting for. And it was worth the wait.
As the choir sang their first notes, in Handel's Zadok the Priest, there were gasps at the sheer power of that distinctive Huddersfield Choral sound.
Two giant video screens relayed close-ups of rapt faces of musicians and singers and happy smiles among a crowd brimming with young and old, families, students and even one contented little boy cosy in pyjamas ready for bed after his big night out.
It was a big night for many more, particularly the soloist, the soprano Linda Richardson, whose beautiful, honeyed voice was at its spine-tingling best in the classic, Summertime, from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
Voices of Kirklees, a choir of 42 youngsters representing schools from every area of Kirklees, opened the concert with a selection of songs by artists including Brian Adams, Eva Cassidy and Des'Ray. Soloists May Gomersal and Freni Perry proved that the Huddersfield sound is in safe hands for the future.
A happy John Denham, president of the Choral Society, who said he and the choir had had a cracker of a day, did not disagree.
And as the choir and orchestra moved into the final phases of the concert, with the Choral's signature piece, the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, followed by the classic Last Night of the Proms' collection of Fantasia On British Sea Songs (arr Wood), Pomp And Circumstance March (Elgar) and Jerusalem (Parry), the square all but erupted.
The crowd sang, waved flags, whistled and cheered. And when the orchestra reached the climax of the concert, playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, fireworks exploded into the darkening night sky.
The timing was perfect, the effect unbeatable.
A cracker of a day? Absolutely.
