Wish us Luck!

January-2024-Happy new year

Happy New Year from Sherborne Town Band. Can you believe another year has flown by and what a year it was for us!

Like all organisations the band has had its highs and lows, we have had to say our last goodbyes to two loved and integral people of the band- our president Mr Stuart Hunter and our secretary Jo Derrick. These lovely and dedicated people were part of the fabric our musical community and were friends and family to all of us, they will be very sadly missed. We have also had constant prayers and positive thoughts for our principal cornet, Ian (Moley) Miles who has overcome massive personal illness to finally join us at the remembrance parade at the end of 2023. There wasn’t a dry eye in the band when Ian took his rightful place to play the last post and sunset at the Abbey.

2023 started with the normal post-Christmas tired lips- after the carolling, the abbey concerts, the Christmas tree festival and the boxing day tradition of playing in the Yeatman to the patients and the hard-working staff.

The beginning of the year starts with the ‘contest’ piece, contest I hear you say-brass bands contest??? Yes, thousands of bands across the UK (all sectioned like football) (youth, 4th,3rd,2nd,1st and champion sections) learn and perfect a piece of music -each section is given a different piece. We were in the 1st section in the southwest and headed down to Torquay on a rainy day in March to contend. We were down with Moley being ill but had great support from local musician David Bertie, some new members from ‘up north’ and two new American members who just couldn’t comprehend that a couple of adjudicators would sit in a box and listen to around 100 bands. And no, we didn’t know what time the bus would be coming back, Seth and Barbara!

After a good performance but feeling a little flat we discovered we had been placed 3rd and the points system gave us an invite to the National Finals of Great Britain and promotion to the champion section! This was fantastic, unexpected and as the chairman with his head in his hand said, well I can’t write what he said but expensive was in there somewhere!

Dave Shead our enthusiastic conductor had to work us hard to practise a new piece for the finals, put on concerts over the spring and summer and in September we travelled to Cheltenham to do our best. We were proud of our performance and had amazing feed back from our travelling fan club (my mum) and great remarks from the adjudicators, we were placed 19th. I’m going to spin this for the Sherborne community as 19th out of the 100 or so bands in the first section, in the whole of the UK! It’s a fantastic achievement and especially against all the odds.

One thing we all noticed was that other bands representing different areas of the UK made our band seem, how do I put this delicately? Um, well … we seemed quite mature which has led us to focus on our youth section. The best thing about brass bands is how accessible and levelling they can be. Male /female and older/younger, it’s all about the talent.  We have a group of budding learners led by Jim Bennett but would like to expand this section and promote the youth band by offering this for free from, well now-January 2024. We do have a few instruments available and will be seeking fund raising, donations and possibly sponsorship opportunities. With the cost of living so high, sadly music lessons can be an expensive and the next generation of brass players will be missed if we don’t help. We hope that by offering free group sessions more children can have the opportunity to experience music, benefiting the children, the schools, and the wider community. But to sustain this idea we will need the support of Sherborne and the local areas. Instruments are expensive and maintaining them a constant task so look out for future promotions.  

We would like to welcome Jonny Andrews as our new president and thank the Sherborne council for their continued support.

We also need to fill some vital sections in the main band so please contact us if you are a high standard brass player, especially cornet/soprano players or percussionist that would like to join our hard-working band, fun loving, music making band.

So, with that said the members of Sherborne Town Band would like to wish Sherborne a Happy New Year. Thank you for your support over 2023 and your continued support over 2024.

Here we go again… Summer 2018

Well, here we are once again at the beginning of June.  We have just completed another successful Long Sutton Friendly Society Club Day… in the blazing sunshine I might add!  What a wonderful affair and the 200th Anniversary of this wonderful tradition.

We move swiftly into June and July where we see three more open air concerts in the fantastic Pageant Gardens, this year ALL featuring our wonderful Youth Band!!  Roll on 17th June (father’s day), bring your Dad, bring your picnic and enjoy the band!

We also made the press on numerous occasions recently and enjoyed a little sunshine (a lot!) at the Sherborne Castle Country Fair.

I include a few photos, and hope that you can all join us for the upcoming concerts!  Happy Summer holidays and Happy Banding!

2016 – a busy year ahead…

Well, a belated ‘Happy New Year’ to all our supporters, and a huge thank you to all of you for supporting us and listening to our music throughout 2015.  We had a great year with lots of enjoyment had by all, playing at fetes, summer park venues and much more.

We are busy already practising for the Area Contest in Torquay, this March – with Steve busy tackling those ‘hard to play’ areas with each section of the band, we are sure to go and play our hearts out and do the best we can.

Looking ahead into 2016, we already have a busy calendar, and its not even February yet!  We have already got dates on the online calendar for our Last Night of The Proms, Christmas Concert and other Summer events.  Please have a look at the concerts and mark on your own calendars!  You can even download the calendar for your computer or smart phone and import to your devices, if you so wish!

We are also excited for Youth Band as they have a busy year also, which starts primarily with the Youth ‘Makes Music’ concert in March.

We will of course be visiting the Pageant Gardens for 3 more glorious entertainment concerts, in June, July and August.  These have been so successful and well received in the past three years, we love playing to the public in the parks, and thanks for all the lovely comments last year.

Well, its onwards and upwards with the contest rehearsing, and then it’ll soon be time for the annual Band Dinner!  No doubt pictures and a blog post about this will be posted in late March.  Good luck to everyone at the West of England contest in March, from STB.

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It’s that time of the year again – Last Night of The Proms 2015

Well here we are again, at the end of a very busy [as per usual] summer season of concerts, weddings and many other occasions.  The year has been a good one for the band so far.  Steve Rogers has taken the band through the year with gusto and real enthusiasm for music and entertaining the public.  I think the series of three open air Pageant Gardens concerts really showed off the band to its best – well done to all involved and especially Steve for all the hard work with music and rehearsals.  A huge thanks to Sherborne Town Council for supporting these events.

It is that time of the year again where we are busy getting things ready for the Last Night Of The Proms – 26th September.  It is sure to be another great concert, so get your tickets early – tickets on sale from end of August via Sherborne Tourist Information Centre and via the website.  We regret, due to closure, tickets will not be available from Sherborne Photographic.  Tickets will, of course, be available on the door.

It was fantastic to receive a cheque for £250 for our new set of music folders, which are a much needed item for a band and something that gets easily marked and broken over the years.  They will look smart and hold the all important sheet music – you can see them in their glory at the Sherborne Historic Vehicle Rally on Sunday 30th August.  Thanks to rotarian Brian Hellyar who made the presentation to Natalie Miles, our band Secretary.

Happy New Year!

Well, the first news post of the year, and what a year it has been.  Looking back on 2014, the band has seen some amazing successes.  New players and have arrived, some have left us, but we stand healthy and ready for the challenges of the new year.  This includes – of course – The Torchbearer!  We are all looking forward to the rehearsals ahead of January and competing in March at the Riviera Centre, Torquay.  What would a year in banding be without a day trip to the English Riviera!

So, the new website is launched and I hope that it will be received well in the community and beyond.  It has been designed for ease of use, on both traditional PCs and tablet / smart devices in mind.  If you have any comments / suggestions, please do e-mail me at [email protected].

Other happenings this year include the boiler finally being replaced – we can enjoy warm rehearsals now, as the cold weather comes in.  Thanks to the Hall and Woodhouse fund and Sherborne Rotary for their contributions to this, and also the Sherborne Town Council for their support over the year.

I think the image gallery below sums up the year of 2014 for STB.  The open day was a fantastic success and we are already working on organising the next.  The Youth band have gone from strength to strength and the Music In The Park concerts were better than ever and thoroughly enjoyed by the public.

Thanks once again go to our supporters and sponsors during 2014.  We can’t provide the service we do without these people and, of course, the general public of Sherborne and surrounding areas.

We hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoy a healthy and happy 2015.  We’ll see you in the park or at the Proms!

It’s nearly Christmas!…

Well, as summer comes to an end I can quite confidently say that it was been a great one!  The band has played a busy schedule of concerts and private events throughout summer 2014 and we have seen success in our recent recruitment campaign, as well.  We are still performing most weekends as we approach October.  With a short break in November, with exception of the remembrance day parade, we’ll be playing every weekend again, before you know it because it will be Christmas!  Sorry – I have mentioned the ‘C’ word!

At the beginning of the summer period we decided to go ‘big’ with our ‘Sherborne Town Band Needs You!‘ campaign, to try and interest a few more players to fill some empty seats.  It’s worked well so far and we are confident and hopeful that more players will come along as the campaign expands.  The brass banding world is a tough one and it would be fair to say that every band is finding current times difficult, but we are stronger than ever as I write.

We have also had great success (better than ever before!) with our Last Night Of The Proms concert.  On 20th September the Digby Hall was packed with enthusiastic audience members who clearly enjoyed this annual, patriotic evening!  It was also a great pleasure to have the town Mayor, Jon Andrews at the concert.

It’s great to write so positively about the current status of the Sherborne Town Band – there’s more to come as we will be busy as usual over December this year, so please come and support us in the town centre on Saturday mornings, or pop along to our ‘Christmas Sing-A-Long’ on Saturday 13th December (tickets available from November).

I leave you with some of the comments from the Last Night Of The Proms.  See you out and about in December!

 

“Fantastic – a great concert of variety and entertainment! “

“Excellent that the Youth Band were so involved – keep this up!”

“Wonderful concert as always – thanks so much, I enjoyed singing at the end!”

 

Band Dinner and Fundraising success!

Well, its been a busy few months in Sherborne.  After the contest weekend we prepared for our annual Band Dinner.  The dinner was a great night out and a good chance to socialise outside of the band room, for a change!  The pictures can be seen on the STB Facebook page – I have been busy tagging you all – sorry!  It was also a great opportunity to thank Paul Cosh for all his hard work over the past years with the band – as he has now stepped down as Musical Advisor to Sherborne Town Band.

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It was a couple of weeks after the dinner that we held a great fundraising afternoon at the Quicksilver Mail in Yeovil.  The Freetime Old Dixie Jassband from Holland came over to entertain us for the afternoon.  The crowds turned out on a wonderfully sunny Mother’s Day afternoon and the band made a substantial profit, to add to the much-needed money pot.  Thanks to all involved, including the staff at the Quicksilver.  The afternoon was a great success and the band were amazing!  Find the videos and pictures on Facebook / Youtube.

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Contest is over… bring on the summer!

Well, we have slogged away at the mighty St. Magnus over the last few months, and it was a fantastic day at Torquay on the 9th March.  The band played extremely well and everyone enjoyed a beautifully sunny day, after playing first!  8th place was a great result and the band stay in the Championship section for another year.  What a great achievement for all involved.  The bus was packed full of family and friends, supporting the band, all the way to the stage. The full results for the West Of England can be found at:  http://4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?year=&criteria=Results%3A&id=18322#.UyoSZvl_t1Y

We now look forward to a great summer season, with lots planned.  Take a look at the events list on the main website:  https://www.sherbornetownband.co.uk/events.html 

The band are looking forward to an exciting program of music over the coming months – to give you a flavour – The Muppets, Cry of the Celts, Glenn Miller, and many more!  We will be in and around Sherborne throughout the summer as well as visiting Wells, Shepton Mallet, Martock and Midsomer Norton.

The annual band dinner will see us all get together and enjoy a well deserved drink or two, and we are saying a grand farewell to our long standing Musical Adviser / Director, Paul Cosh.  Paul has been involved with the band for many, many years and his father was a founding member.  His work and efforts will be hugely missed and we wish him a relaxing “retirement”!

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Above:  The band hard at work on the morning of the contest and Paul Cosh at the baton once again.  

Open Day, Saturday November 16th

Well its been a long time since I last blogged, and a lot has happened since then.  We were extremely happy with the Last Night of The Proms concert and how that went, and would like to thank all who came and made it such a great evening.  A special thanks for newly appointed Musical Director Steve Rogers who did a grand job in getting the audience involved.  It was also mentioned what a great programme of music the band played.  Some comments included:

“Fantastic Last night of the proms concert.  And the youth band were fantastic!!!  Well done all.”

“And what a fine night it was too!”

“A fantastic concert!”

We now look forward to our exciting Christmas schedule and all of the wonderful carol playing we will be involved with – it is a great time of the year and we always look forward to it very much.  Keep an eye on the blog for photos and videos!

We also have an exciting November with our Open Day.  This is a chance for us to show the local community what we’re all about, our wonderful facilities and a chance for potential players (youth or senior) to come and find out all about STB!

The day will be from 10am-2pm on Saturday 16th November 2013, at the Band Room, Terrace Playing Fields, Sherborne.  (DT9 5NS).  We hope to see as many people as possible – tell all your friends.  Come and have a blow, a cup of tea, a nose around and a chat!

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