2005 : British Open Success

At the beginning of 2005, Emma Farrow rejoined the band. Emma had previously played second euphonium with the band before leaving to take up a principal euphonium seat elsewhere, and joined to cover the chair left by Jamie. Emma was due to take up a place at Oxford University in October, but was prepared to play until then.

Sophie Rhodes, the band’s second baritone, entered the BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Soloist competition early in the year qualifying for the final before losing out to Brenden Wheeler. Sophie often played with the National Youth Brass Band on baritone, but played euphonium in this competition.

Mark Lowe joined the band on first horn in February, in time for the build up to the Area contest in March. Mark had formerly played with the Wallace Arnold (Rothwell) Band and Black Dyke.

Just before the Area, the band heard that they had been given an invitation to the Masters contest in Cambridge after all. Some of the top bands decided to boycott the contest in protest at the way it had been opened up to be an international contest, where English bands that had supported the contest for years were shunned. Bands that had come lower than the eleventh place cut off last year, were therefore invited back to compete at the new contest. After some consideration, the band decided to accept.

The Area test piece this year was the Overture from Rienzi by Wagner, arranged by Howard Lorriman, who coincidentally was of the judges at the Swiss Open contest the band attended in 2004. This was a fairly straightforward piece for the band, but it required lots of stamina. The percussion parts were extremely easy, but the piece required a total of six percussionists to play the part as written. After some looking around the band dragged Kath Kearsley back out of retirement to play once more, and co-opted Joanna Hammond, one of the spare third cornet players, to join the team. Lucy Beeson was also welcomed back to play the glockenspiel.

On the day of the contest the band met at 3pm to have a short rehearsal and wait for the draw, which was at 3.30pm. They were drawn twelfth, which was good because it was late, but unfortunately between Brighouse and Grimethorpe. After a slightly nervy start, the band then seemed to settle down and the performance improved as it went on. Come results time they were placed seventh, with the top four places going to the four 'big’ bands in the contest (Contest Report).

The band’s Radio 2 recording was finally aired on 18th March. This was the first Listen To The Band performance they had done, and it seemed to be very well received. The band were also part of a new medium later in March, when they featured in a Podcast, where tracks from “The Start of Something Big” were interspersed with an announcer, in a downloadable mp3 from the internet.

At the Easter National Youth Brass Band course the band’s principal cornet, Thomas Hutchinson, was awarded the principal cornet position, improving on his fourth place from last year. The band also had James Hartley, Ben Ridgeon and Emma Farrow (awarded co-principal euphonium) taking part in the course.

On Saturday 9th April, the band held their now annual “Big Band Spectacular”. The night was not a traditional brass band concert, and the audience were encouraged to dance along to the band’s music. The band purchased lots of new music for this year’s event, and played 34 numbers, a handful of which were accompanied by special guest vocalists. The vocal numbers included music from Robbie Williams’ “Swing When You’re Winning” album. The first singer was James Dougal, whose own excellent vocal CD was available to purchase on the night. Also featured was Kenny Davis, who was a finalist on ITV’s “Stars In Their Eyes” and recently took a lead role in a youth production of Les Miserables at the Civic Theatre in Leeds. Joanna Kearsley, Kath’s daughter, joined Kenny on stage to sing the duet “Something Stupid”. Other music played by the band included a Count Basie set, a Glenn Miller set, a Salsa set and arrangements done for the Phil Collins Big Band. The guest band on the night, as in previous years, was the Leeds Grammar School Swing Band, who received an excellent reception from the capacity audience.

The band took part in the famous Whit Friday Marches on 20th May, and took first place at Scouthead in a field of 63 bands. They also took third place at Roundthorn and fourth place at both Grotton and Greenfield.

For the Masters contest, the band had a slight player dilemma, as they were originally not scheduled to take part in the contest. Both Tim Hammond and Andy Riley had committed to work or holidays on contest day, and so replacements had to be found. Phillip Cobb had established himself as one of the finest young cornet players around and was best friends with Tom Hutchinson, the band’s principal cornet, after their time together on National Youth Brass Band courses. He was therefore a natural person to invite, and he played second man down on the front row. Glyn Kearsley (the original conductor from when the band first started in 1984) returned to play baritone with the band, and John Gillam added his considerable presence and experience on bass.

Upon arriving in Cambridge city centre, the bus driver had no idea where to go. The idea of using a map seemed alien to him and at 9.55am, with five minutes to go until the first band had to be on stage, Andy Padgett took care of the situation by paying a taxi driver for the bus to follow him in. The band arrived at the Corn Exchange shortly after 10am, leaving just fifteen minutes to change, get backstage and register…nothing like cutting it fine! After a good performance on stage, off a number two draw, the band were placed seventh (Contest Report).

During the summer the band played for Eileen and Gordon Roberts’ Golden Wedding Celebration. This took place at an afternoon event at the Parish Centre in Rothwell, where the band performed several favourites for the invited guests.

Thomas Hutchinson left the band over the summer, to start his music degree at the Royal Northern in Manchester. He was due to play repiano cornet with the Black Dyke Band during his time there, and the band wished him all the best. Andy Marsh joined at the same time, taking the principal euphonium seat vacated by Emma Farrow on her way to university.

For this year’s British Open the organisers had thankfully chosen only one test piece rather than the three as they had last year. It was a new composition by Bramwell Tovey called The Night To Sing, celebrating VE day at the end of the Second World War. The DUT Yorkshire Imperial Band, who came 17th in 2005, asked for and were granted a bye from this year’s contest. This was due to the date of the 2005 Open being moved in late 2004, and the band having already organised a prestigious concert on the new date. After complaints from other bands who were in danger of relegation from the contest, the organisers decided to demote only one band back to the Grand Shield this year, and demote three in 2006. This reduced the chances of the Temperance Band being demoted, but with Imps withdrawing Rothwell were highest but one on points, with only Tredegar having more. This left the band in a precarious position, meaning they needed to do well and beat Tredegar to stay in the contest.

The test piece was difficult for percussion, featuring almost every instrument the band had and then some more. It required a 'large rainstick’ and a marimba. There are very few bands in the country with a marimba, and the band were forced to practice the part on vibes: the one instrument not needed. The part also called for three triangles to be played simultaneously and, after many a head-scratching moment, a special triangle stand was designed and produced in wood by Tim’s dad especially for the part. Lacking a full complement of drummers (especially with Kenny Argyle’s partner due to give birth imminently), Lucy Beeson was drafted in once more. There were four large percussion parts, and after trying to get someone to play the fourth part locally, the band were forced to fly in Stefan Kurzo (a professional timpanist with the Bern Symphony Orchestra) to help out. Les McCormack had met Stefan whilst they were both tutoring on the Swiss Youth Band course.

The band played very well on stage, but were worried by the draw. They followed on the two lowest ranked bands in the contest, but then were followed by Black Dyke and YBS. When the results were announced, many of the band weren’t in the hall, as there were no bandsmans’ tickets. Those that were there found themselves astounded with the fifth place they were given. This was the best result the Temperance Band had ever had in its entire 125 year history (Contest Report).

Tim Hammond played principal cornet at the Open following the departure of Tom Hutchinson but due to his Army Band work commitments, it was difficult for him to hold down the seat full time. The band therefore recruited a new principal cornet in the form of James McCabe, who joined from the Sellers International Band.

Towards the end of the year the band spent several days preparing two CDs for release at Christmas. One of these, “Concert Collection”, was planned well in advance, but the second, “Christmas Collection” was a last minute addition. Mark Lowe obtained sponsorship from his work specifically for the band to record a Christmas CD, on condition that it was done in time for this Christmas. After two very busy weekends the band’s job was complete and the music was sent off to be produced and pressed onto CD.

Tim Hammond sadly left the band at Christmas to fulfil a life-long ambition and join the Grimethorpe Band, but before he did he took part in a busy Christmas season with sell out concerts in Rothwell followed by the regular event at Leeds Grammar School. The year ended as always with carols around the tree on Christmas Eve and the band playing around Rothwell on Christmas morning.