2010 : Stage and Screen

2010 started with a cancellation – our first rehearsal of the year was called off due to the snow. Then, the second one was called off as well. We finally managed to meet back at our third attempt, though the car park at the Rugby Club was treacherous, being mostly solid ice! It was somewhat difficult to drive on.

We had a couple of player changes over the Christmas break including Jack Telfer moving from second to principal baritone, and Jim Ely joining on second Euphonium. Glyn Kearsley also rejoined to take the second baritone seat. We also received £10,000 from the local council which was used to pay for some much needed new instruments, including a couple of trombones, a horn and a baritone.

David Roberts was travelling over to Norway for weekends throughout January, where he was taking Sandefjord band to their National Contest on the 6th February. Unfortunately towards the end of January David fell ill – a rare occurrence – and he had to miss out on a weekend’s rehearsing. Undeterred, he was soon back over in Norway and at the contest the band took first prize with their own choice test piece Eden. Fortuitously, Rothwell were playing Eden at the English Nationals contest in June, so David now had a head start on the rest of the conductors involved.

Our first concert of the year presented music from stage and screen at the Blackburn Hall for the Rotary Club. The capacity audience really enjoyed this event, which included music from The Magnificent Seven, Cats, West Side Story and 633 Squadron.

The band then knuckled down to working on this year’s Area Contest Test Piece, English Heritage by George Lloyd. Helpfully, David Roberts took part in a recording of this piece with the Black Dyke Band many years ago, in the presence of the composer, so he had some idea of what the composer’s intentions were.

Our preparations for the contest were marred by a selection of problems. We had more trouble with the weather, and various ailments occuring in key band members.

Given that we had pre-qualified for the Albert Hall after coming in the top four last October, there was very little pressure on for the contest, but we were still determined to do well. We prepared just as we would any other year, and put in the same amount of rehearsal. The team was bolstered by Geoff Brothwell on the front row of cornets and the return of Tim Hammond. Andy Riley played on the back row in the seat vacated by Neil Cole who left at Christmas to spend more time with his young family.

By contest day the band were playing really well, we though even better than last year. We were quietly confident of defending our title in style. The band were very relaxed about the whole day, and there was much hilarity in the changing room.

Our performance on stage was very good. Everything came out just the way we’d planned, and we felt that the band’s sound shone through. The quiet section was very musical. The audience reaction at the end was amazing, with cheers from all around the hall, not just from our supporters. James McCabe on principal cornet got the biggest cheer.

The contest started a little late and there were slightly more bands than last year, three were promoted from the first section and only two bands demoted. This all added up to a very late night, and we were still listening to the speeches and results at gone 11.00pm.

When the results were announced and we came out third, the band were actually quite disappointed! However, it was a fantastic achievement. (Contest Report)

Many people in the hall had the top four in a different order, with us or Black Dyke to win followed by Brighouse and Carlton Main, but the men in the box has things differently, and it’s their opinion that counts.

Immediately after the Yorkshire Area, the band returned for a week of intense rehearsal before their performance at the Stroud Festival on 20th March. We’ve been taking part in this concert season for a few years now, which contains performances of many of the best bands in Britain, but this will be the last. Unfortunately, due to high fuel prices and a drop in audience numbers the season’s organisers have decided to stop putting on the concerts. We were always assured of a warm welcome at the concert in Stroud, usually after we’d annoyed the local police by jamming up the town centre with the coach!

The band held a mini beer festival in early May to have some fun and raise funds. An entertaining evening was had by all at the Rugby club, with pub games and a quiz. £162 was raised.

After this, the band knuckled down to some more hard work preparing to record their new CD. This was recorded over the weekend of 8th and 9th of May at Rothwell C of E school and featured music from stage and screen. Show music includes Cats, West Side Story, No Business Like Show Business, Another Opening Another Show and Singing in the Rain. Film music includes The Magnificent Seven, 633 Squadron, Dance with Wolves and The Mask of Zorro. By popular request we also recorded I’ll Walk With God from The Student Prince, which is always a favourite at our concerts. We would like to thank Michael Bartlett, the band’s president, for the donation which allowed us to record this CD. We must also thank Brian Jones and Al McNichol who once again engineered the recording. They were ably assisted by Dal, who at one point was on the school roof trying to shut a window so we could avoid the sound of lawnmowers on our CD. He was also a dab hand with gaffer tape when required to make the vibraphone mechanism quieter!

The weekend recording session was good fun and the band were on good form. We did so well that we recorded more pieces than we expected to on the Saturday and so finished early on the Sunday.

The next event for the band was the annual Senior Citizen’s concert in the Blackburn Hall, Rothwell. This event features a choir in the first half and then the band finish off the night. We played much of the music recorded for the CD and Dan Eddison, our young trombonist, played his first solo with the band, Shout, which was very well received.

The band were out and about on Whit Friday, this year taking in the Lancashire sunshine rather than the torrential rain of 2009. The band performed well and took third place overall in Saddleworth. The band managed eight contests and were fourth at Delph, third at Greenfield and Lees & Springhead, second at Grotton and first at Diggle and Dobcross. Hepworth won overall, with Brighouse and Rastrick second.

Next up for the band was the English Nationals at Preston on 26th June, playing the difficult test piece Eden. The content was run with just nine bands. The main reason given by the bands that withdrew was financial – the winning band needed to find almost £25,000 to compete in the European Championships in 2011 which is due to be held in Montreaux, Swizerland. At the content, the band were placed a very creditable third, with the Fairey band winning. (Contest Report)

For this contest, our ranks were bolstered by two foreign players helping out on the front row. Christopher Røedvang is a member of the Sandefjord Band that won on the same piece under David Roberts in January. He was joined by Jef Vermeiren from Belgium who used to play for Willebroek and is the current British Open solo champion.

Our summer break this year was different, in that it actually included three band jobs. The first was the Great Yorkshire Show. The band did a sterling job, playing various slots throughout the day from 10am through to 5pm, with some very positive comments being received from the visitors to the show. The band were invited to appear live on BBC Look North, but that would be meant staying on the site until 7pm, and many of the band members left home at 7am to make sure they got to the venue on time through the busy traffic. The band unfortunately had to decline the invitation due to fatigue!

Our first band wedding of the summer was for Andy Marsh, our principal euphonium. Andy travels down from Durham for band rehearsals, so the entire band made the reverse journey up the A1 to play for his wedding to Anne. The venue was a Catholic Church in the centre of Durham, and the band were playing on a balcony at the back of the church. The photo top left is of the band playing – it was a little cramped!

Our next wedding was a non-band one, but it took place on the same day and in the same church as our bass player Ben married Sarah, so we decided to take the job on. The groom is a member of the Royal Marines and turned up in the back of a transit van, complete with ribbons! The bride was just over half an hour late for the wedding due to the late arrival of the hairdresser, but all went well and the couple had a fanfare from four marines trumpeters before they left the church with the band playing them out.

Just an hour or so later the band were back in Rothwell Church for Ben and Sarah’s wedding. The bride was thankfully on time for this wedding! During the signing of the register the congregation were entertained by Ed Hodkin playing the bass solo The Sun Has Got His Hat On, which went down well.

Over the summer we had a player change on the bass line. Nick Collier took up a new job down in Oxford and so had to leave us. In his place cames Steve Peacock. Steve was a member of Grimethope Band for many years on both Cornet and Horn, but has now decided to try his hand on Bass.

On 4th September the band took part in the British Open contest at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, were they came an excellent sixth. (Contest Report) Unfortunately we were without our regular Soprano Cornet Paul Argyle, as he had been sent on a course with work and was unavailable to play. We secured a quality replacement in Martin Britt who has recently played the piece in New Zealand, but he was only available for three rehearsals.

This result removes our worries about relegation from this contest back into the Grand Shield. After our fifteenth place last year, another bad result would have dropped us down again, but sixth consolidates our position amongst the best bands in the world.

The piece, On The Shoulders of Giants by Peter Graham, was easier to play than Eden, and we managed to rehearse it up in just two and a half weeks.

The contest was won by Tredegar, who have only just been promoted to the contest from the Grand Shield. It is believed that this is the first time that a band has held both the Grand Shield and British Open titles at the same time. The Fairey Band are also on good form at the moment; after their success at the English Nationals they followed it up with a second place at the Open. The defending champions, Cory, could only manage fifth place off the dreaded number one draw.

The band then knuckled down to work rehearsing Terra Australis by Martin Ellerby for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall. The band were again placed fourth, the same result as last year. (Contest Report)

We normally take two coaches down to London for the weekend as there are so many supporters accompanying us, but
this year the expense proved too much. A compromise was found with us managing to secure a large double decker coach. It was good that we were all together!

We travelled down to London on the Friday afternoon, and had arranged to rehearse in the Coldstream Guards Bandroom at Wellington Barracks near Buckingham Palace. This was an excellent venue for us to rehearse in, not least because a full set of percussion equipment was available to use. After running the piece through we returned to the hotel and retired to bed (or the bar) before our early morning on contest day.

This fourth place means that we have again pre-qualified for the National Finals in 2011, but we didn’t get any prize money at all!

Our new CD, Stage and Screen was released in September, and a track from it was featured by Aled Jones on Radio 2. His Good Morning Sunday show has a “Brassed-off” slot, and the band submitted their CD. It was well received by the audience and we had many orders for the CD off the back of the broadcast.

Just after the Nationals, David Roberts was out in Denmark conducting the Svogerslev Blaeserne band to the Danish Nationals Championships. David was ably assisted by his wife Catherine who helped out on Horn. The band weren’t as dedicated as us, and David struggled to get the players to enough rehearsals. They were both surprised at the differences in contesting between England and Denmark, with the players having to take their own music stands onto stage. The band came fifth at the contest, and were very happy with their result.

In early November David was busy again adjudicating part of the British Open Solo Championships. This featured soloists from all over the world, including our very own James McCabe who eventually came second. Jef Vermeiren from Belgium, who has helped us out at many contests this year, was the defending champion, but could only manage third place this year.

The next band event was the Brass In Concert contest up at the Sage in Gateshead. We didn’t do well here last year, the
Entertainments format being a bit different for us. We improved on last year’s tenth place, but could only manage eighth overall. (Contest Report) Our programme was: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Tour de Band, March: Simoraine, Estrellita (featuring Andy Marsh on Solo Euphonium), Eliza Doolittle v Fats Waller and Fantaisie Brilliante from On the Shoulders of Giants.

The Eliza Doolittle piece was arranged by Richard Glascodine from our back row of cornets, and featured him and three other dancers out front. He was joined by Mark Lowe, Steve Peacock and Jack Telfer. Mark and Jack did a homage to Anton Du Beke and Ann Widdicombe. We could see many members of the audience laughing hysterically but others didn’t seem to get it!

Our Christmas season started with our two sell out concerts in the Blackburn Hall, Rothwell. These events were a great success, despite our lack of preparation due the the adverse weather. Ed Hodkin was in form again playing his usual brand of never-ending solo, whilst the band’s encore of Twelve Days of Christmas had the audience leaving in high spirits.

On the weekend following these concerts the band held their annual dinner and awards ceremony, which this year started with a Fish and Chip supper. The major prizes went to Vikki Holland for Most Improved Player, Catherine Roberts for Performance of the Year and Jack Telfer for Player’s Player of the Year. Thanks must go to Jack and Ed Hodkin for their hard work presenting, and to everyone who helped make the evening a success. A good time was had by all.

Following this event, we started our busiest Christmas for some time. First up was the concert at Leeds Parish Church which saw the band perform with the St Peters Singers, Leeds College of Music Choral Society and the Choir of the Parish Church. The following night the band were at Leeds Town Hall, where they performed to over 2000 people at the Lord Mayor’s Carol Concerts. This event was run twice, once at 6.30pm and once at 8.30pm, to cater for the demand for tickets and featured the band performing with Leeds Philharmonic Chorus and Alan Horsey on the Organ.

Our last big event was a concert with Bradford Festival Choral Society at Bradford St George’s Hall. It was a change to play a concert in this venue – it’s somewhere we usual only get to play at for the Area contest! This was an excellent concert, with the second half aimed at the childen in the audience. Children were asked to provide jokes which were then read out. There was one from a Mr D Roberts – “How many third cornet players does it take to change a lightbulb? None – they can’t get up that high!” There was lots of dressing up – the choir conductor did the entire second half in a Reindeer constume and the choir’s (male!) piano accompanist was wearing a fetching red dress. Children were asked to identify instruments and then were sent hunting around through the band to find hidden presents. An excellent time was had by all.

Just before Christmas the band were again featured on the Aled Jones show – this time a track from Christmas Collection was played.

The final full band event of the year was the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Rothwell Church. A good (if somewhat chilly!) evening was had by all.

The band were out and about as usual on Christmas Morning, entertaining around the Rothwell area. This year, a record seventeen players took part, with eight supporters helping out with driving duties.

It’s been a good year on both the concert and contesting front. We look forward to the challenges that 2011 brings.