2014
Want to know where to see us in December?
Check out the calendar to find out where we’ll be playing in and around Chichester this December. Small groups will be playing carols and Christmas music around the city throughout the month, but you can see the band in its full glory in two upcoming Christmas concerts!
Saturday December 6th (7.30pm) – A Night Before Christmas: an evening of festive music in the beautiful surroundings of Boxgrove Priory. (See our calendar entry for further details and ticket information).
Friday December 12th (7.30pm): Music for Christmas Time – our annual Christmas Concert in St Paul’s, Churchside. Tickets on the door, or reserve by contacting secretary@chicityband.co.uk
A big welcome to our new Musical Director!
We are delighted to welcome a new face to Chichester City Band – our new Musical Director, Tim Cooper.
Tim brings with him an impressive pedigree, having served as Director of Music of The Band of the Blues and Royals from 2007 until retiring from the Army in 2011, and we are really looking forward to having him with us.
Tim joined the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1977 as an oboist. After training he served with the Glosters in Germany, Cyprus and UK. In 1983 he became an instructor at The Prince of Wales’s Division School of Music, and was then selected for the Bandmasters’ course. On graduating from The Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, he was appointed Bandmaster of the Gordon Highlanders in Berlin. In 1994 he joined The Band of The Life Guards as Bandmaster and completed the five-month Household Cavalry equitation course.
Tim was commissioned in 2000 and returned to the Prince of Wales’s Division as Director of Music of the Lucknow Band. He was appointed Director of Music of The Band of The Blues and Royals, RHG/D in June 2007 and promoted to Major for the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Parade.
After a very successful career in the Army, Tim retired in April 2011 and, fortunately for us, settled on the South Coast. We count ourselves very lucky that he has decided on Chichester City Band as his next conducting challenge, and we are really looking forward to working towards our autumn/winter concert season, and to the new contesting year. (We’re only hoping he doesn’t have any ambitions to get us playing on horseback!)
Welcome, Tim!
Time to say farewell…
Nearly two years ago, we found ourselves without a conductor when our previous Royal Marine MD, Ross Hunt, was posted to Scotland. As we were in the run up to a busy Christmas season, we were fortunate to find a very experienced temporary replacement in Ted Howard, who came out of retirement to cover the post for (supposedly!) six weeks. That ‘temporary’ assignment stretched out rather longer and Ted found himself staying on to be our Musical Director, and in the process working extremely hard to help the band rebuild after an unsettled period where we said goodbye to a few players AND had to move band rooms!
Well, the time has come for Ted finally to enjoy his retirement properly, and he is stepping down on August 3rd, after our participation in the WW1 Commemoration event in Chichester, and the closing concert for the Hotham Park Country Fair in Bognor.
Ted started his involvement with brass bands when he joined his school band, Netteswell, in Harlow, Essex. After leaving school, he spent twenty years in the army serving with the bands of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment and the Royal Military Academy Band Corps. Having played in brass bands, army bands, orchestras, dance and jazz bands and also a German ‘oompah’ band, Ted has had a great deal of experience with all types and styles of music – he even appeared (sporting lederhosen!) with his tuba in an Annie Lennox video.
Ted also has enormous experience within the brass band movement, taking up conducting brass bands in 1985. As well as his stint helping rebuild Chichester City Band, he has had success with other bands, including Cosham Concert Brass (now Denmead Brass), New Forest Brass, The Cobham Band and Epsom and Ewell Silver Band. Over that period, Ted has taken brass bands to the lower section National Finals on five occasions. He is also a member of the National Association of Brass Band Conductors and has sat on the Executive Council.
With all of that experience, we have been extremely fortunate to have him with us for so long and we want to express our HUGE thanks for the tremendous amount of work he has done for us, and for sticking with us through interesting times! We are sure he will make the most of any well-earned spare time he has (including – we hope – at least the occasional visit back to conduct or play his tuba)!
Thank you, Ted!
Time To Remember
This weekend also saw the Band supporting the Selsey Lifeboat Service remembering and giving thanks for those who keep us safe on the water
First World War Commemoration
Sunday 3rd August will see the Band take part in a service commemorating the outbreak of the First World War in Priory Park. The park was presented to the people of Chichester by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon as a memorial to the First World War. The short service will start at 11.30am. The firing of a saluting gun and the sounding of the Last Post will mark the start of two minutes silence.
Summer Fun
The Band were delighted to play again at the Sidlesham Fete, culminating in the obligatory tug-of-war. See our Facebook page for more pictures!
Summer Season 2014
The Band are now planning another busy summer season! Keep an eye on our website for details of forthcoming events!
Chichester sunshine!
The Band enjoyed a great play-out this morning at the Cross in Chichester. A big thank you to the many people who came and listened and for their generosity! Thank you also to our deps including Alf Hughes waving the stick.
Selsey Cricket Club – The Sir Patrick Moore Cup
The Band had a great time playing at Selsey Cricket Club which held the Sir Patrick Moore Cup between the Selsey Comets and the Lashings All-Stars . The Club celebrated it’s 180th anniversary and the Band marked the event with a recital of Sir Patrick Moore’s piece – “The Cricketers”.
Summer Concert: A Night to Remember
A lovely evening’s entertainment to kick off the Festival of Chchester, with a selection of favourite melodies, old and new. Some lovely solos and duets, some nice summer Pimms to refresh everyone during the interval, and the usual excellent raffle. The evening was rounded off with a rousing Sussex by the Sea, accompanied by our audience in good voice! Our next visit to St Paul’s will be our Christmas concert on Friday 12th December. Look out for more info in due course…
The final countdown to Stevenage
The Band are currently enjoying extra rehearsals at St George’s Church, Chichester in the final build up to the London & Southern Counties regional qualifying contest on March 16th.
Pictured are the bass end of the band getting in one of several weekend rehearsals.
2013 Christmas Concert
Come and enjoy our Christmas Concert at St Paul’s Church, Chichester for a mixture of festive and non-festive music.
There will be mulled wine and mince pies at the interval and a raffle with many prizes!
2013 Barnham Commuity Hall
We played today in the very shiny new community hall in Barnham. Well done Barnham for building it! It even has a stage that fits a full band! Thanks as ever to our front of house helpers!
2013 Remembrance Day
Chichester City Band will be playing at the Remembrance Day service on Sunday 10th November 2013 at Litten Gardens
Chichester City Band moves to new website
As of June 2013, this has become Chichester City Band’s official website.
From here, you can find everything you need to about the band, including news and updates, band information, concert information, photographs of the band, contact information and much more!
Bear with us for a few weeks as we get the new site into a fully functioning state, but additionally if you notice any major issues or have any requests for functionality, do not hesitate to contact the designers at admin@chichestercityband.co.uk.
Welcome to Chichester City Band’s new website!
Welcome to our new website. Here will be information on players, the band and upcoming events.
More content soon!
2013 Area Contest rehearsals well underway!
Having well rested over Christmas and New Year the Band is now well into rehearsals for the Area Contest at Stevenage on Sunday 16th March. Sectional rehearsals are taking place on Michael Ball’s Chaucer’s Tunes.
2013 Midhurst Grange Centre Concert
Saturday evening saw our latest concert at the Grange Centre in Midhurst. A good size and appreciative audience heard a great program from the band featuring performances from our lead players including Iona Harrison and a duet from Michael Levett and Michael Foreman on Euphonium.
2013 In memory of Barbara Webb
The band is very sad to report the recent passing of Barbara Webb. Barbara was the wife of trombonist Don and mother to cornet player Martin and former member of the trombone section, Kevin.
Barbara was a tremendous supporter of the band over the years. She was very proud to support the band at some of our most memorable contest performances. These included the National Finals appearances at Wembley Conference Centre in 1995, Symphony Hall Birmingham in 1997 and the Royal Albert Hall in 2000.
Barbara was a stalwart member of our concert front of house team and could always be found selling raffle tickets at our Christmas and Summer concerts.
The band would like to extend our condolences to Don, Martin and Kevin. If anyone would like to make a donation to St. Wilfrid’s Hospice in Barbara’s memory that would be much appreciated.
Brassbandathon thanks
Brassbandathon 2013
Looking forward to the 2013 Brassbandathon being hosted by Worthing Silver Band at St Paul’s Centre, Chapel Road, Worthing on Saturday 5th October. Concert starts at 10am. Nine local brass bands appearing. In aid of Children in Need.
Goodbye & Hello
Since we last saw you, we have unfortunately had to say ‘goodbye’ to our MD, Ross Hunt, who (after two great years leading us) is preparing to go to his next posting as Bandmaster with the Band of HM Royal Marines Scotland in the new year. We will really miss Ross and hopefully he’ll miss us too We’re sure you’ll join us in thanking Ross for doing such a great job, and in wishing him the best of luck for the future.
Fortunately for the band, we have managed to persuade a very experienced MD to step into Ross’s shoes. Ted Howard started his involvement with brass bands when he joined his school brass band, Netteswell in Harlow, Essex, and then spent twenty years in the army serving with the bands of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment and the Royal Military Academy Band Corps.
Ted has a great deal of experience with all types and styles of music, having played in brass bands, army bands, orchestras, dance and jazz bands and also a German ‘oompah’ band. (We understand that he even appeared – with his tuba and sporting lederhosen – in an Annie Lennox video!)
Ted took up conducting brass bands in 1985 and has had considerable success, taking brass bands to the lower section National Finals on five occasions. He is a member of the National Association of Brass Band Conductors and has sat on the Executive Council.
We have a new home
Over the last few years, one of our biggest challenges has been finding a suitable (and cost effective) place to rehearse. A brass band needs a lot of space to set up and play, and we also have lots of instruments and music to store. For some time now, we have rehearsed in a school gym and have had to rent a garage for storage (not to mention having to distribute things around various band members lofts and garages!). So you can imagine how thrilled we were to be offered the opportunity to have our very own dedicated rehearsal room!
Our flugel player, Ian Ravenscroft, works for F&G Transport in Bognor Regis, and when they heard about our need to find better space, they offered us a room big enough for the whole band, with its own storage AND kitchen (indispensable for those very important tea breaks!). We moved into our new home a few weeks ago and are already settling in really well. BIG thanks to F&G Transport from all of us in the band for giving us a home of our own!
Goodbye John (03/2012)
John Williams – 1940 to 2012
John was born in Derbyshire and had a yearning for the Marines from an early age. He attended the weekly Sea Training School from the age of 10 and joined the Marines itself at 14. When he went along for audition he told them he wanted to play cornet. They said “too popular, too common, what about bass’. He tried that. Just one small problem he couldn’t.
His legs were too short and wouldn’t reach the ground! He settled for French Horn and never looked back. What a handy player he turned into.
He was with the Marines until 1982 which included a year serving on HMS Devonshire which took him to many fine destinations including America.
His final posting was Lyrnpstone and this is where his involvement in brass bands began. He played with, and conducted Totnes; in the early 80s he went to Portsmouth City. This was a very special time as he met his soul mate, Mary, He had four very happy years with Brighton (Buses) Silver. He then took over Oxted and from Oxted to Mid Sussex Brass. It was during this time that he was diagnosed with cancer,
John being John he never allowed the cancer to come between him and his banding and took Chichester City for the next ten years.
John was appointed musical director of Chichester City Band in the summer of 1997 and conducted the band at the Nationals at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. In 2000 the band got through to the finals again and for the first time the band played at the Royal Albert Hall.
In 2002 John took the band to the finals at the Rivera Centre in Torquay.
In May 2003 the band crossed the channel and performed for two nights in France at the Arpajon music festival which is just northwest of Paris.
John and the band members were delighted with the reception that the band received.
He won in excess of 40 trophies with them and his service to the Band was recognised by Chichester City Council in 2001 when they presented him with a Civic Award in recognition of the contribution he had made to the life of the City. The band recognised his work with them by giving him Life Vice Presidency.
John became the SCABA Chairman in 2006 and was a very active hands-on Chairman.
Unfortunately due to his ill health he resigned in 2010 and was immediately invited to be the SCABA President. Once again he proudly represented SCABA attending as many engagements, contests and meetings as his health would allow.
John’s funeral will take place on Tuesday 10th April at Chichester Crematorium (P019 7UH) at 12 noon. Family flowers only but donations to St. Wilfrid’s Hospice, Grosvenor Road,
AGM (27/3/2012)
Annual General Meeting – 27th March 2012
The attendees of the AGM paid tribute to long time Musical Director and Life Vice President John Williams through the observance of a minute’s silence. John passed away on Sunday 18th March 2012 after a long battle with cancer.
Don Webb, our second trombone player, is awarded a Lifetime Vice Presidency of Chichester City band for his service and dedication to the band. Don is a great ambassador for the band and has established excellent relationships with our Patrons and friends and works tirelessly to increase out band audiences and establish new avenues of funding.
Bob Ainsworth, currently on bass trombone, is awarded the Bandsman of the year award for his selfless contribution to the band. Bob, as well as being a great musician, is the band’s librarian and has given over his garage to the band library. He never misses a rehearsal and is wiling to move instruments as necessary to meet the needs of the band.
News Update (01/12
Christmas is usually an active time for the band and 2011 was no exception. We undertook the traditional Carol playing session around the streets of Chichester as well as the lighting up of the Christmas Tree at Selsey and our annual Christmas Concert.
The Christmas Concert this year was something of a departure from the norm as we hosted Vectis Brass from the Isle of Wight. The band benefited from a workshop given by our M.D. in the afternoon, the benefits of which were then shown in a joint concert with Chichester Brass in the evening. This was a hugely entertaining concert given before an even larger than usual audience.
As well as the attraction of Vectis brass, the audience may have been larger than usual due to a radio broadcast we had made that morning on Spirit Fm. The band had been invited to the studio by presenters Milly Luxford and Vicky Edwards and played several carols live on-air. Ross Hunt was also interviewed about the work the band does locally and what plans we have coming up.
Ross spoke in his usual eloquent manner and it appears that further invitations to the studio are planned. Our radio session can be heard here.
Towards the end of the year we saw the addition of Chris and Mary Teague and Ian Ravenscroft as well as the moves of Chris Taylor to Soprano cornet and Martin Webb to the front row cornet bench. These additions and moves have really seen the band improve immensely and we are all looking forward optimistically to continuing the success we achieved last year.
2011
Inner Wheel Donation
On the 5th July 2011, I was invited to attend the AGM of the Chichester Inner Wheel at Lavant Village Hall. The new president Lynne Plowman asked me to give a talk on the history of the Chichester City Band and possibly play some brass band music.
As it was a Tuesday afternoon it was not possible to get our members there, so Martin took a days holiday from work and after my talk we played some duets of well know brass band pieces. This was well received by the ladies of the Inner Wheel. After we had completed the performance Lynne Plowman announced we were to be one of her two charities for the year .
A year has gone by and on the 3rd July 2012 I was invited again to attend their AGM to receive a cheque. The ladies had worked very hard during the year to raise money for the two charities and the band received a very generous cheque of £500. When I told the band members they were very delighted with the generous
Don Webb – Life Vice President – Chichester City Band
1st Section Promotion (19/3/11)
Ross Hunt Leads the band to First Section Promotion
The Band attended the Stevenage Area Contest on 19th March & gained a very respectable 5th place (out of 18) in the second section. Our rendition of Resurgam, a challenge for any Second Section Band was well received by the adjudicator, with our soloists Geoff & Shaun both putting in good performances. The band would like to thank Ross for all his hard work, a great guy who delivered us into the First Section on his very first contesting experience ! The band celebrated in traditional style in “The Bell”, where Ross was presented with an engraved tankard
Sad Loss (1/2/11)
Jean Le Bourlier –Woods Vice President of the City Band since 2004 and Patron, passed away on the 1st February 2011 at St Wilfred’s Hospice. (One of her Charities)
Jean was born in Edmonton, Enfield, on the 5th October 1935. Her early life was dominated by the army. Her father serving with the Royal Sussex Regiment. As a young girl the family lived for a short time in India, where her father was on active service. It was when he was posted to Chichester inn the 1950’s that Jean came to the city that become her home for most of her life. Her army connections of course, were to influence much of her later charity work, not least with “Help for the Heroes”.
Jean completed her schooling in Chichester, followed by a course in Business Management in the late 1960’s. She opened the city’s first coffee bar and became the youngest business woman in Chichester.
Following her marriage to the artist Michel Le Bourlier, Jean moved to Paris, where she lived for five years and became very much a part of the “art scene.” Somewhat later Jean became familiar figure in the summer months, with her annual exhibitions of contemporary paintings in West Sussex, just outside the Cathedral.
In the 1980’s she became a member of St George’s theatre club in Chichester and took part in many of their productions. In the 1990’s Jean and her husband became landlords of the Ship Inn in Itchenor and were very well known for their good food and hospitality. In 1999 Jean stood for the City Council, representing East Ward and held office of Bailiff, Deputy Mayor and, following her re-election in May 2003, became Mayor of Chichester.
In 2007 she was invited to become Vice President of the Chichester City Band and she was always very supportive and attended most of our concerts.
The last occasion we all meet up was in October 2011 after the band had won at Folkestone. She came along to our rehearsal and was included in the band photo with the trophies, which can be seen on the band website.
We will miss her support, but she will always be remembered at the band.
2010
New MD 11/10
Ross Hunt appointed Musical Director
We are sad to report that our Musical Director, Russ Young, is having to leave us. He has been appointed to an exciting new role in the Royal Marines Band service in Scotland, and though he would have loved to have stayed to take us forward and build on our success in Folkestone, a twice-weekly commute from Fife is perhaps a little too much to ask of any MD! The band has very much enjoyed working with him this year and are very sorry to lose him. However, we wish him all the very best in his new job, and thank him for his commitment and dedication.
All is not lost, however, as Russ’s colleague in the Royal Marines – and our current Band Master – Ross Hunt, is stepping in to the breach as MD. Those of you who attended our concerts over the past year will already have got to know Ross & have seen him in action. He is well liked by all the band members , a very talented musician & has played a large part in the bands recent successes. We are very pleased that he has agreed to take over as our new MD.
We look forward to more success in the coming year with Ross in charge!
We are also pleased to welcome the following new players, Alex Clifford on 3rd cornet, Howard Smith on Eb Bass & on 2nd Baritone Gary Robinson. With a particular thank you to Gary for running so successfully our recent concert, having just taken over the band’s marketing role.
We Won (16/10/10)
We Won!
The band won the SCABA 1st section at Folkestone on 16th October 2010. We played Five Blooms in a Welsh Garden & Adjudicator Peter Roberts thought it to be well rehearsed, effective & well played by all. All the band members would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Russ for all his hard work & enthusiasm – he is a winner in every sense!
Further success followed when our brand new principal solo cornet Shaun Street was awarded Best Instrumentalist & Geoff Penfold was awarded Best Euphonium.
SCABA Entertainments Contest, Crawley 0n 16th May 2010 Section A
Chris Davis OBE, agreed to take the band to the contest at short notice. Chris performed nothing short of a miracle, by putting together a fantastic programme in just 5 weeks with the band. We worked hard & the band felt confident when we took the stage. Our programme consisted of Gaudete, The Boy from Menaem, Cute, Mid all the Traffic & we finished with Signature. Our principal solo cornet Iona again did us proud, with Chris’s own arrangement of “Through the Eyes of Love”, which the adjudicator really appreciated. We were awarded 3rd place, a proud moment for the band, particularly as we beat some championship bands along the way. The band would like to extend its grateful thanks to Chris for all his hard work.
2006
20 AUGUST 2006 – JOHN WILLIAMS IS BACK
The band are pleased to announce that John Williams is back as musical director of the band. He has already taken the band to play at fetes and concerts and the audiences have welcomed him back and enjoyed listing to his choice of music and his unique sense of humour!!
30 MARCH 2006 – DISAPPOiNTING RESULT AT THE AREAS
Our first contest together produced a rather disappointing result however there were some positives to take from the performance. This is the first contest the band has taken part in for quite a while and for a few it was their first ever contest, with this in mind it was not a bad showing.
15 JANUARY 2006 – INTRODUCING LAWRENCE BUTCHART
Lawrence Butchart has taken over as the new conductor of Chichester City Band. Lawrence started playing euphonium at the tender age of 8. It was not long before he discovered a real liking for all things brass and eventually, when he left school, he joined the regimental band of the Scots Guards under Major Duncan Beat. After leaving the Guards, Lawrence went seeking fame in the coalfields of Yorkshire where he spent time as principle Euphonium at Markham Main Colliery Band.
Since moving to the South Coast, Lawrence spent almost 10 years as principal Euphonium at Bournemouth Concert Brass, following which he was heavily involved in the reforming of Poole Borough Band, before joining the SWT Woodfalls Band. He spent 15 years at SWT Woodfalls, the last five years as Bandmaster and 9 years as MD of the Woodfalls Junior Band.
2005
A short stay
It is with great sadness that I have been asked to write my first and final contribution to the newsletter. As you are in no doubt aware, I will be leaving the post of MD at the end of the year due to relocation to Plymouth. I have been asked on many occasions what I am likely to miss the most about my time in Portsmouth, it is of course the men women and young adults that make up Chichester City Band. Their commitment and enthusiasm is second to none and as for their musical standard, that speaks for itself. Chaired by Chris Hatton, the committee has also been a pleasure to work alongside, always supportive, never critical and totally professional.
As all brass bands there will always be ‘ups and downs’, but I leave happy in the thought that should a problem arise their qualities and assets will ensure that their future is secure, I am disappointed however that I will be unable to be a part in this.
Finally, I’d like to thank the band for their friendship and wish them and the new musical director. Every success. I shall continue to follow the band and I look forward to hearing them perform whenever time allows. (Dean Farrah, Musical Director)
The band would like to thank Dean for all his hard work and we all wish him every success for the future and hope our paths will cross again.
2003
2003 Chichester band was a mixed year in many respects. The band performed a variety of different concerts, continued their fine contesting performances and also saw some comings and goings in the band’s personnel.
The Area qualifying contest at Stevenage for the National Championships were disappointing for the band as they thought that their performance of “Passacaglia” deserved a higher placing. However, their 9th place in the competition cemented their standing in the 1st Section and provides a realistic chance of promotion to the Championship section in 2004.
It was an unusually quiet year for the band in terms of contesting as the only other contest in which the band competed was the Crawley Entertainment Contest. The band were the highest placed 1st Section band for the third year running, however the band had hoped to improve on 4th place which they had also achieved the year before. The contest was notable for the band performing in a “big band” formation with snazzy shirts to match! This style of concert was repeated during the year at concerts and proved to be very popular with audiences.
New faces to Chichester City band this year have been Simon Saville (brother of Mike who plays trombone) on Solo cornet. Jo Causer on Repiano Cornet. Roy and Linda Taylor who are husband and wife have joined on Solo Cornet and Second Baritone respectively. John Bailey and David Tutty have come in on EEb and BBb bass and at the end of 2003 father and son Euphonium team Jeff and Gez Penfold joined.
While these changes to the personnel may have been unsettling at times it is generally thought that the band is now in a very strong position to make the next step up to the Championship section.
2001
Chichester City Band started 2001 as a First Section Band. To climb the final step, we travelled to Stevenage on March 18th to the Regional Qualifying Contest for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. Although we were not successful in gaining a place at the finals this year, we have consolidated our position in this highly competitive section.
We were on winning form at Hove Town Hall for the Southern Counties Spring Contest. We won almost every prize on offer, best march, best bass trombonist (Mike Saville), best horn section (John Kidby, Jo Eddy, Irene Boyall, Jane Bourne), best bass section (Bob Ainsworth, Dawn Sturgess, Ian Frost, Colin Bourne) and best conductor (John Williams).
Once again, members of the training band were to the fore at this year’s Chichester Music Festival. Six CCTB members won their respective solo classes; Ruth Hartley (flugel horn), Rebecca Williams (tenor horn), Nicholas Bishop (euphonium), Gary Booley (tuba) Jonathan Pett (trombone), and Ashley Bill (trombone).
In collaboration with the Selsey Operatic Society, we recorded a CD of Christmas Music in aid of St. Wilfrid’s Hospice. All proceeds from the sale of the CD went directly to the Hospice.
John Williams’ service to Chichester City Band was recognised by Chichester City Council at a special ceremony at Chichester College of Arts, Science and Technology on Wednesday 6th February. John was pre- sented with a Civic Award in recognition of the contribution he has made to the life of the City.
2000
The big news for the band this year was that we qualified for the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 21st October. We won our place at the qualifying contest at the Gordon Craig Theatre Stevenage on Saturday 18th March. This is the first time in the band’s 103 year history that we have qualified to play at the Royal Albert Hall.
After qualifying for the finals of the National Brass Band Championships, we notched up one win and a second place. At the Southern Counties Entertainment contest we came second, this was the first time that we had competed against championship section bands. At the Southern Counties Spring Contest we not only won but came away with the march prize and a further three trophies. Our musical director John Williams was awarded the conductor’s trophy, John Kidby, Irene Boyle and Mary Williams won the best horn section and our bass trombonist Mike Saville walked off with the prize for the best trombonist.
We emerged as one of the top bands in our section in the country after finishing eighth in the National Brass Band Championships. The band was competing in the final against sixteen other bands that had qualified from eight different local area qualifying contests giving a total of one hundred and eleven bands across the country. Musical Director John Williams was happy with the way we played and all band members thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic experience of playing in such a famous venue.
Adjudicators Alan Hope and Tony Swainson gave some very positive comments on the band’s performance, giving particular credit to John Williams for his stylistic interpretation of the set work Abstractions by the Norwegian composer Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen. Soloists within the band were also complimented and both adjudicators felt we created a good atmosphere in our performance.