Update 6th December 2006
CAROLLING SEASON
STARTED ALREADY:
The band played at Hanbury Hall near Droitwich
and swelled the band coffers by a fabulous £156.50! - not bad considering
the band played outside without warm clothing for approximately 1 hour 15
minutes
and had to stop to let the local junior school sing for a bit! Thanks
to those who braved the cold even though they were expecting to play indoors.
(Rate of collection - £45.20 per hour taking account of the playing fee
donation)
Sainsburys in Kidderminster was next on Thursday 7th December and the
band collected £195.44 which is a tremendous amount in 2 and a
half hours considering there was gale force conditions and many pegs
had to
be used!!
(Rate of collection - £78.18 per hour)
Next up on Thursday 14th December was a new venue for the band but not
new playing conditions - St.Peters TESCO in Worcester and gale force
winds
again!
The store
has
an 8pm noise curfew with the local residents and the band managed to
collect £140.84 in about 2 hours - not bad. (Rate of collection
- £70.42 per hour)
Sunday 17th December brought around an old favourite with many - Arley
Train Station on the Severn Valley Railway for the Santa Specials. A
split band (am and pm) played carols from 10am until all passengers had
seen Santa at 5.15pm and the band collected a whopping £629.70!
(Rate of collection - £86.86 per hour - the best so far). Click
here for photos.
Update 21st November 2006
ST GEORGES CHURCH: The band played at St.Georges Church on Saturday 18th November to a wonderful audience. The programme included solo items from Jo Foskett, Roy Osborne and Rob Lee and was probably the most challenging concert programme the band had played. It included some old favourites (Doyen, Danny Boy) and some test pieces (Music For The Common Man, Laudate Dominum). The audience certainly seemed to enjoy themselves and the band played an encore of Star Lake. A good evening all round. Click here for pictures (thanks to Lizi's dad)
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: The band helped out at the annual Remembrance Sunday march at Claines, Worcester. The band have marched for many years with 12-15 players but this year there was 18! It was also incredibly mild for a November.
PONTINS: The band made the annual trip to Prestatyn, North Wales, for the Pontins Championships. It was the first year the band had played in the First Section which meant playing in the ballroom and not in the "Lunar Bar". The performance started very well but there were quite a few individual errors and "was not our greatest" said the MD - the band were expecting a poor result. The adjudicators, Roy Roe & Barry Thompson, place the band 16th out of the 21 bands that entered (4 withdrew before the contest). Roy Roe seemed to quite enjoy the performance in places, but Barry Thompson didn't. At least the band didn't come last. The evening festivities on the Friday & Saturday nights were enjoyed by most (not sure Emma's head was too clear on Saturday morning!). Chris & Dunc even had a 'Dance Off' on the dance machine in the arcade. Look out Strictly Come Dancing!
(Click image to the video - 5MB)
Update 9th October 2006
NEW HOME: The band have moved rehearsal rooms to Areley Kings. It is an important move for the band as they would be the main occupants of the rooms and have no guaranteed rehearsal space for the last 2 and a half years. The new rooms are at Areley Kings Old School and consist of a large reharsal room (32' by 18') with storage for percussion and music library, a kitchen, toilets and most importantly 24-hour access to the property.
Several members of the band went to the
new rooms at 2pm on Sunday 8th October to lay carpet (thanks to Brintins
carpets for the large donation) and put up curtains in a bid to improve the
acoustic performance of the room (ie.
it
was too
loud!!).
Jo, Emma & Sue were chief seamstresses, Dunc & Rob were chief
curtain pole erectors, Kate & Chris were chief ironers, Neil and Chris
were laying
carpet up the walls (yes, the walls!), Roy was chief electrician, and Sheila
& Keith delivered the filing cabinets. Thanks also to Kathy (Roland's
wife) who came along and helped out and to Rich Snape who took baby Ben for
a walk to keep him out of the way (apologies if I've forgotten anyone). -
(Pictures and videos available here)
(click image to see us in The Kidderminster Shuttle)
NEW PLAYERS: Lizi Killick (solo cornet) joined the band after Wychavon and has made a big contribution to the front row since Rich Snape decided to leave cornet playing. Lynne Hill will be joining the band for Pontins and brings some welcome assistance to 2nd cornet player Ali Hatfield.
MUSIC FOR YOU: The band played 2 superb performances on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th October in Kidderminster Town Hall for the annual charity Music For You concerts. Dai Maplestone was invited back to conduct the band and the programme appeared to go down a storm with both audiences. The band played a similar programme to their Wychavon contest with the addition of Doyen to close the performances. The evenings were finished off with several drinks and a curry! Click here to see the siamese twins the band bumped into!
(click image to see us in The Kidderminster Shuttle)
Update 19th September 2006
VARIOUS!!: (I must update this more often than every 6 months)
APRIL: Two successful jobs in April, one
in West Park Wolverhampton and one at Dudmaston Hall near Bridgnorth. We
also welcomed Chris Hughes onto Bb Bass to complete our Bass section that
has had only 3 members for over 5 years!
MAY/JUNE: Two quiet months with only two concerts. One concert at Arley Kings
Village Hall and another successful bandstand in West Park Wolverhampton.
JULY: Stratford Park started off this eventful month well. Next up was Fladbury
Walkabout and then an extremely enjoyable evening concert in the open air
at the Arcadian Centre in the Birmingham to entertain the "revellers" on
various Stag & Hen nights! July also saw the departure of Barry Pope from
the band as MD. Many thanks to Barry for his work with the band during the
past 16 months or so, which included a solid 12th out of 17 at the Regionals
for the band's first outing in the First Section. Sue Pope also informed
the band that she was leaving and we also said goodbye to Hannah Dickinson who
has gone "Down South" to become a teacher at a boys school. To
complete the trio of player departures, Richard Snape (former band manager
and chairman) has left the band to concentrate on his new career as a teacher
at Haybridge High School - although he keeps popping back to Dep for us.
AUGUST: David Morgan has stepped in to help out the band since Barry's departure
and we are extremely grateful to him at such short notice. His first job with
the band was Droitwich Lido Park and the audience were very apprecirative on
a hot summer's day.
SEPTEMBER: Evesham Park saw much better weather and a larger audience than last
year
where
we
had
to
abandon
half way through due to torrential rain. Wychavon Festival was next up in Evesham
where the band performed for 20 minutes in the Public Hall. The programme opened
with Cortege from Mlada and continued into Demelza with Jo Foskett playing the
solo superbly. Next up was Cartoon Classics and the huge amount of percussion
kindly leant to us by the Staffordshire
Band, many of it being played for the first time on stage. The band
continued with Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart and finished with the march Punchinello.
The
band and David were pleased with the result of 7th out of 10 for the first entertain
contest in the 1st Section.
Update 14th March 2006
REGIONALS: Not much has been happening
since Christmas, except lots of rehearsals on Voyage Of Discovery by Goff
Richards. The band even had many sectionals, a new experience for many players.
The extra rehearsals must have made some impact as the band were placed 12th
out of 17 beating some regular 1st Section bands. Not bad for the band's
first ever 1st Section competition. Thanks to:
- all the supporters who braved
the cold weather and made the trip up to Burton
- Hannah, Roy, Len,
Martin & Simon for coming back to play
- Kate Morgan for moving to percussion
- Helen Howard for sitting out the contest (too many players)
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