2008 : Albert Hall Success

2008 started with a joint concert featuring the band and West Riding Opera. The concert took place at the new City Church, on part of the site of the former Stanley Royd hospital in Wakefield. The building contains one of only two Victorian stages still remaining in England, and was used as the hospital refectory for many years.

The area contests in March was excellent for the band, with their performance of Eric Ball's Festival Music being placed fourth. (Contest Report) This, combined with the fact that two of the bands placed above us were pre-qualified for London, meant that the band were invited to compete at the National Finals in the Albert Hall in November. This was the third time the band had qualified for the contest, attending in 1999 and 2006. This contest was the last performance with us of John Ward, our Flugel player of many years, who was leaving to take up the baton conducting the Milnrow Band over in Lancashire.

Following the departure of John Ward, the band quickly gained a new flugel player in Sian Carradus. Sian was formerly from the Sellers band, which had recently folded after many years of top flight contesting.

In the middle of March, the band played a "Music from the Shows" concert in the Blackburn Hall, in aid of Rothwell Rotary Club. This was well received by the capacity audience.

At the end of March, the band played at the evening reception of the wedding of Paul Argyle and Lucy Gilvarry. Paul, the band's soprano cornet, has been a member of the band from a very early age.

In April, the band played an excellent concert at Lidgett Park Methodist Church in North Leeds. (Photos) The band also used this concert to launch their Patron's Scheme where in return for a donation, members receive a quarterly newsletter containing information about the band and advance notice of the band's concerts.

May was a busy month for the band. It started with the annual free Old Folks Concert in the Blackburn Hall, and was then followed by the band taking part in the Whit Friday March Contests over in Lancashire. (Pictures). The band had an excellent evening, with wins at Delph and Uppermill, three further second places and a third. The band's winning performance at Delph was filmed by John Whitmore and is available on YouTube.

At the end of May the band travelled down to Cambridge for the All England International Masters competition. Off a number two draw, the band were placed seventh (Contest Report), slightly disappointed to be outside the top six.

June started off with a Race Night, held at the Rugby Club to raise some funds for the band's trip down to the finals in London, which raised £555. Next up was a concert in Morley Town Hall with the Skelmanthorpe Male Voice Choir.

We were saddened to hear of the death of former Treasurer Bob Carrington at the end of June. Bob joined the Temperance Band as a boy during wartime and gave over much of his spare time to the band, writing a centenary chronicle book about the band's first 100 years in 1981. Much of the content of this book can be found in the history pages on this website.

At the very end of June the band took part in the English Nationals contest playing a new Robert Redhead piece called Infinity. (Contest Report). Off a late draw, the band were placed seventh.

2008 marks 600 years since Rothwell was awarded the Royal Charter, and so this year features several celebratory events. As a mark of this, the band once again marched at the head of the procession at the carnival in early July.

The last concert of the year took place in Wakefield Cathedral in mid July and featured the band alongside the excellent Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir. This was a repeat event after the same combination came together last year and once again the combined groups performed Ben Oliver's new work for Choir and Band, Do Not Go Gentle/Death Is Nothing At All. The concert was attended by various dignitaries including the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire and seven Bishops from around the world on their way to the Lambeth Conference. The audience left thoroughly entertained by the band and choir and there was some excellent feedback from the special guests at the reception held afterwards, attended by conductor David Roberts. A review of the concert is available.

Over the summer there were the usual round of player changes. Bob Blackburn, formerly a baritone at Grimethorpe joined on Eb bass, whilst Emily Dodsworth joined on Repiano cornet. Rich Golding moved onto the Flugel seat as Sian regretfully had to leave us.

In September the band played for the British Open in Birmingham and were stunned to be placed last (Contest Report) This result in combination with last year's ninth, means that the band has been demoted out of the British Open and will compete in the Grand Shield in 2009, to try and win their place back in the Open.

The band launched a 100 club just after this contest, which again was designed to raise funds for the trip to London and for the ongoing expenses the band has including paying for their rehearsal space and new music.

In October the band travelled down to London for the National Finals. After an good draw (not early for once!) the performance was well received by the judges and the band were placed sixth, an excellent result. (Contest Report) The band beat the reigning champions Grimethorpe, who could only manage seventh after drawing to play number one.

Towards the end of October, the band had two concerts. The first was part of the Open Door Music Festival in Kippax and took place at Brigshaw School. The next was for Aireborough Rotary Club in Yeadon Town Hall. This event was conducted by Frank Renton, of BBC Radio 2's Listen To The Band programme, and the hall was full for an excellent evening of music. Some pictures are available from the evening courtesy of Barry Wilkinson.

In November, the band played at Kirkby Overblow Church in Harrogate. The capacity audience really enjoyed the show the band put on, and went home thoroughly impressed with the band's performance.

After a march for the Rememberance Day service in Rothwell, the band's next event was at the Frontier Club in Batley, where they started a charity event hosted by BBC Radio Leeds in aid of Children in Need.

December began with the usual Christmas Concerts in the Blackburn Hall in Rothwell. This year, both concerts sold out well in advance and featured the usual favourites including Hail Smiling Morn, Carlton School Choir and Kathy Kearsley with the kids. This year's stand out performances were Sandpaper Ballet (featuring Lewys Rowles and Richard Glascodine's dancing) and the marathon cadenza in Frosty The Snowman from Ed Hodkin, which ended up with the entire audience singing the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The band christmas dinner and award ceremony was an excellent evening. Richard Golding won the most improved player of the year award, Paul Argyle won the performance of the year award, and Ed Hodkin won the player's player of the year. All awards were voted for by the band members themselves.

The last full band concert of the year was the Festival of Nine Lessons and carols in Rothwell Church. This event was once more very well received. The band also played carols around the Christmas Tree in Rothwell on Christmas eve and were out and about like usual on Christmas Morning playing around Rothwell.

The band assembled once more during their Christmas break, to play for the wedding of Kenny Argyle and Toni Marsh. Christmas music was played before the bride arrived, and she then walked in to Vitae Lux. They left the ceremony to the strains of the Imperial March from Star Wars, through an arch made of light sabers.

2008 was a very good year for the band with some excellent performances, both on the contest and concert stages. The demotion from the Open back to the Grand Shield was a small setback, but the band took it on the chin and will be pulling out all the stops to regain their place in the British Open, by aiming for the top two at the Grand Shield. The excellent result at the Albert Hall went some way towards making up for the Open result.