BBC Proms In the Park, Centre Square, Middlesbrough

THE well-organised turned up at 5.30pm, bought their plastic Union Jack bowler hats and flags and found themselves good vantage points. The later arrivals - armed with picnic hampers and a determined look - marched as near to the stage as possible, testing bonhomie to the limit.

Suspicions were that the oft-mentioned "you'll be on the telly" from host Matthew Davies were probably more behind this tangle of humanity than the strains of the Northern Sinfonia, so excellently led by conductor Michael Dworzynski and orchestra leader Bradley Creswick.

Conversations continued unabated throughout the quieter sections of Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Hubay, Borodin and Grieg before the big screen produced a glorious burst of hats and flags as part of the first half went out to the nation, along with the efforts in Hyde Park, Carrickfergus, Glasgow, Swansea and, of course, the Albert Hall.

Darkness and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake worked its magic until the first strains of the Last Night of the Proms closing section, begun by Land of Hope and Glory, inspired even the most sedate of silver-haired grandmothers into surging forward for one last flag-wave.

The event definitely missed a singer of the stature of Suzannah Clarke, who spent so many years championing this event only to be five months pregnant and unavailable on the big night. Even so, thousands will never forget the fireworks both on stage and off it, which cured many a case of numb-bumitis, as Tees Valley became England's fourth winner on Saturday night.