Lights….Camera…. Brass Action! 🎥🎺🎬

Last night was another great rehearsal preparing for our upcoming ‘Music of Stage & Screen’ concert (Sunday 26th April incase you’ve not bought your tickets yet 😉).

While we’re busy putting together our Hollywood-worthy programme, we thought we’d give a few hints as to what films and musicals could be making a cameo appearance…

Tickets are still available and we’d love to see you all there as we bring Hollywood and Broadway to the West Midlands!

5th place! We are delighted with that, after a performance which had moments of magic and moments of less than magic! Well played all our fabulous soloists, who really excelled on the stage. Bravo!

What a wonderful open rehearsal tonight at our home at the Severns Club! We were so pleased with the excellent turnout and support from our local community and banding friends. Thank you so much for coming!

The band enjoyed our performances and giving an opportunity to hear behind the scenes of what an SoS rehearsal is like! Hopefully, it wasn’t too traumatic for those present! We were delighted to have given two, consistent performances which were our best yet (so far)! We have loved working on the piece “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” by Philip Harper.

We want to offer a huge thank you to our adjudicator for the evening, Nathan Groombridge from Langley Band, for his considered thoughts, guidance and encouragement, which were (as always) very much appreciated!

We have one final rehearsal on Friday, before we visit Bedworth for our contest day on Sunday!

The stage is set for us to share with the incredible Black Dyke Band! What a wonderful experience, just the final performance remains

An exciting morning ends with am incredible joint rehearsal with Black Dyke Band and the many talented musicians from across the country. Sounds amazing, especially with the Organ! Concert starts at 3pm!

Our fabulous cornet section – Having a fantastic workshop at Huddersfield Town Hall this morning.

Last night we had our AGM, where the band carried out the final steps on our journey to become a registered Charity. This will help secure the future of the band. We reflected on a successful musical year for the band in both concerts and contests. This year we also moved to our new home at the wonderful Severns Club and took part in a number of new concerts and engagements in different locations and with different musical partners. Of course, it was also a year which was tinged with the sadness, as we mourned the loss of long-standing member, Roland Deakin.

We ended the AGM considering the future: how to grow our organisation, how to share our love of brass band music and serve the community here in Stourport. As we embark upon the next stage of life for the band as a Charity, we are excited about what the future will hold for us.

We also celebrated the hard work and effort of our outgoing Chair, Lynne Hill, who stepped down at this year’s AGM. Lynne has been chair since 2017 and has led the band committee through the challenges of COVID and near-homelessness to come through stronger, more secure and successful in our musical endeavours. You can see her in the photo below receiving a thank you from our new Chair, Cornet player Nicky Kerridge. Thank you Lynne!

We came 10th, not the greatest result, but we played really well, really great comments and came off having done what was asked. However, we stay in the Second Section, so can be proud of that! Another year and we go again next year. Well played to all bands, especially those placed this year.

An excellent performance, very proud as a band today. However it is received by the adjudicators, we can be happy and satisfied. We danced through the music (literally in places) and had fun. Well done everyone!

It was a privilege for the band to be able to play at the Celebration of the life of Roland today. We gave him a good send-off, being able to play before the ceremony. We look forward to honouring his memory as we compete at the Midlands Area Championships tomorrow.

The band have enjoyed rehearsing the set test piece “Friendly Takeover” by Oliver Waespi, and hopefully we will do our best on stage – after that, it’s up to the adjudicator. However we play, we know that someone will be looking down on us and enjoying our performance.

Rest in peace, Roland. X

A wonderful day – we came 3rd in the Second Section at Wychavon Festival of Brass and won most Entertaining band with our James Bond inspired set!

A brilliant, brilliant day!  Well played all – especially our soloists.  Also, a big thank you to all who made the day possible.

SoSBB has packed up its music, kit and moved across town to its exciting new rehearsal venue at The Severn’s Club. Excited to start the next chapter in its story, SoSBB is looking forward to meeting in its new venue. The Severn’s Club, formerly Stourport Workmen’s Club, has a history tracing back to the early 19th Century.

Gathering together on a sunny Saturday morning in August, a group of band volunteers sorted, organised and packed music, kit and all the band’s effects and drove across town to its new home to be met by the warm, welcoming team at The Severn’s Club. However for the size and volume of items to transport, SoSBB could not do this move on their own and Romsley-based fit-out and refurb specialists Calztec Ltd very kindly provided a van and Becky to support us.

Calztec Ltd, an award-winning contractor, undertake commercial and industrial refurbishment projects for property professionals in the public and private sector. The company didn’t hesitate to offer their support for the community-based band. Their representative, Becky, formerly a SoSBB tenor horn player and life-long ‘friend’ of the band, was delighted to help. Our sincere thanks to both Calztec Ltd and Becky for their fantastic help.

SoSBB’s musical director Oli Wilson commented “The band has a fantastic suite of concerts coming up this Autumn and as we head into Christmas – some of which are in great new venues so we’re all looking forward to settling into The Severn’s Club, getting back to rehearsals after a short summer break and learning some exciting new pieces for our future audiences.”

Darren Richards, the owner of Severn’s Club – Stourport-on-Severn, added “We are thrilled to welcome Stourport-on-Severn Brass Band to our venue. The Club has always been a hub for the local community, and having the band rehearse here is a perfect fit. Music has a special way of bringing people together, and we are sure the band will put on performances at the Club that will be very popular with members and the wider community. We look forward to supporting the band as they continue to entertain and enrich the town with their performances.”

The band’s next concert is on Saturday 12th October at 2.00 pm at The Civic, Stourport. Tickets are available at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/stourportonsevernbrassband

Midlands Area 2024

We came 11th!  Second section again next year!

We were very proud of our performance, it had bounce, flow and zip as directed!  Really proud of the whole band.  Thanks for those supporting us and the encouragement.

Band Social

Following their hard work in the build up to the Midlands Area the band had a well deserved night off practice and had a great night bowling together!

We worked hard towards the Midlands Area Contest where, following our promotion last year, we competed in the 2nd Section.

A brilliant rehearsal with Maestro Matt Green, working on our Area Test Piece, Triptych by Philip Sparke.  So much good work and some amazing sounds!  Glorious!

SoSBB had a great time entertaining shoppers at Tesco In Stourbridge on 23rd December 2023.

We were delighted with our result coming 2nd in the Wychavon

Festival of Brass  2023 where we performed a Strictly Come

Dancing Set in the third section.

     We were very proud to also win the Most Entertaining Band, Best Percussion and Best Baritones!

Thank you to our friends, family and supporters, we couldn’t do it without you x

 National Finals Day – Sunday 17th September

We played really well. Not perfect, but musical and we tried to paint the picture of the music.

Like the MDs jacket, it may be an acquired taste… other bands have opted for a more robust style than us, who knows what will be right. An enjoyable day anyway. Very proud to be a Stourport Bander. Thanks for the support!

Stourport Band is made up of a lovely group of family and friends, here’s a few of them on Contest Day!

So proud to say:

“We are Midlands Area Champions!”

Off to the National Finals and then back to

the Second Section for 2024!

Our MD, Oli Wilson, spoke to Brassing Around following our victory, read about it here.